All communities are listed below in date order (newest first), and can be searched using key words or fund type.
Our “Featured Communities” are from the most recent round of Generator funding.
Our Communities
Our communities
The GW4 Building Communities Programme aims to build research and innovation communities of scale and capability, delivering a step change in world-class research that could not be achieved by one of the institutions alone. The Programme has two funding schemes:
- The annual Generator Fund which awards GW4 communities up to £20K for 6 month projects (launched in 2020). This replaced the Initiator (up to £20K for 5 months) and Accelerator (up to £75K for 8 months) funding schemes, which ran from 2014 – 2019.
- The Development Awards which support new, and advance existing, collaborations across GW4 by funding single activities or resources with up to £5K. This is a rolling scheme, with no closing date.
More details of both schemes, and how to apply, can be found at the links above.
Building Communities funding supports both the creation of new GW4 communities and the development of the strongest ideas emerging from our existing communities, and is open to any academic area. To date, the GW4 Alliance has invested over £3.4M in 125 collaborative research communities, which have generated £87M in research income. This means that for every £1 GW4 spends on collaborative research communities, GW4 captures an impressive £25 in external research awards.
Research integrity
The GW4 Alliance has adopted the Russell Group Research Integrity Statement of cooperation in cross-institutional research misconduct allegations, which aims to support the efforts of researcher communities to foster research integrity (also known as good practice in research or the responsible conduct of research).
Explore our communities
Featured Communities
Maritime Advancements through Research and Innovation in Powertrains and Power Systems (MARINPOWER)
STEM
Learn More
203 results found
GW4 AI for Dementia Research Community
Development Award
Overview
This project aims to build an interdisciplinary dementia research community across GW4, bringing together experts and early career researchers in AI, data science, clinical practice, biology, and related fields. The goal is to foster new collaborations, develop shared research priorities, and generate innovative ideas. Through this networking, the group aims to position itself for external funding opportunities and establish a fresh, cross-disciplinary vision for advancing dementia research.
Community lead
University of Bath: George Stothart
University of Bristol: Qiang Liu (PI); Patrick Kehoe; Elizabeth Coulthard
Cardiff University: Valentina Escott-Price; Sofia Vougioukalou
University of Exeter: Anne Corbett; Chris Fox; Katie Lunnon; Jonathan Mill
Awarded
August 2025
The GW4 “At a Distance: The Urban Scholarship Elsewhere” Community
Development Award
Overview
Uniting GW4 researchers with global expertise to reshape urban scholarship and strengthen UK perspectives on the world’s cities.
Community lead
University of Bath: Ana Cecilia Dinerstein
University of Bristol: Qiujie Shi (PI),
Cardiff University: Margot Rubin
University of Exeter: Alicia Hayashi Lazzarini
Awarded
January 2026
Rethinking “trauma” and sexual violence
Development Award
Overview
This project uses innovative creative activities as part of a multi-disciplinary workshop to initialise collaborations between academics, survivors, and third sector organisations. Together they will explore and critically examine the meaning of “trauma” and “trauma-informed” care for survivors of sexual violence in the South West.
Community lead
University of Bath: Tina Skinner; Jade Bloomfield-Utting
University of Bristol: Emma Yapp (PI)
Cardiff University: Sophie Hallett
University of Exeter: Natalie Ohana
Awarded
March 2026
