Our Communities
To date (June 2021) the GW4 Alliance has invested over £3.1m in 112 collaborative research communities, which have generated nearly £50m in research income. This means that for every £1 GW4 spends on collaborative research communities, GW4 captures an impressive £16 in external research awards.
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 GW4 research communities by keyword or theme. (All communities are also listed below in alphabetical order).
Aerospace and Advanced Engineering
Creative and Cultural Economy
Digital Innovation
Living Well
New Energy Systems
Resilience, Environment and Sustainability
New Paradigms of Social Protection- Policies, Impacts and Outcomes
INITIATOR FUND
Project period: February – May 2016
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: Rana Jawad
University of Bristol: Patricia Kennett
Cardiff University: Rod Hick
Project overview
This project aims to build an interdisciplinary GW4 community around the international and comparative study of social protection in regions of the world that are often left under-explored in academic research: the Middle East and North Africa, East and South East Asia, Latin America and Africa.
Paramagnetic Species for Catalysis and Materials Applications
INITIATOR Fund
Project period: May – July 2014
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: Mike Whittlesey
University of Bristol: Robin Bedford
Cardiff University: Damien Murphy
Project overview
This project has developed a new GW4 community with interests in the catalytic and materials applications of paramagnetic species.
Photonic Biomimetics
Accelerator Fund
Project period: January 2017 – August 2017
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: Professor Richard Trask
University of Bristol: Dr Heather Whitney, Dr Martin Lopez-Garcia
Cardiff University: Dr Stephen Lynch
University of Exeter: Dr Jacopo Bertololi
Project overview
This project will exploit recent results showing that seaweed develop specialised natural “opals”, 3D closely packed oil-droplet clusters, that show a strong blue iridescence.
Plant-Soil Responses to Environmental Extremes
INITIATOR Fund
Project period: October 2014 – January 2015
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: Kevin Briggs
University of Bristol: Claire Grierson
Cardiff University: Mike Harbottle
University of Exeter: Sarah De Baets
Prototypical Iterations in the Built Environment
Accelerator Fund
Project period: May to November 2015
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: John Orr
University of Bristol: Wendel Sebastian
Cardiff University: Iulia Mihai
University of Exeter: Prakash Kripakaran
Project overview
This community has the long-term vision to change the way that all structures are designed and operated within the built environment. This is crucial if we are to achieve global sustainability in the face of a growing population and increasing urbanisation.
Release the Hypotheses! Tools & Techniques for Experimental Studies ‘in the Wild’
INITIATOR FUND
Project period: July – November 2016
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: Danaë Stanton Fraser, Tim Ibell
University of Bristol: Andy Skinner, Mike Fraser (PI)
Cardiff University: Roger Whitaker, David Linden
University of Exeter: Mark Levine
Project overview
We propose to bring together a GW4 consortium to explore the human world beyond the laboratory in order to improve the resolution, significance, validity and robustness of studies.
The GW4 Domestic Energy Consumption Group
INITIATOR FUND
Project period: July – November 2016
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: Ian Walker (PI)
University of Bristol: Chris Preist
Cardiff University: Wouter Poortinga
University of Exeter: Aleksander Pavic
The Impact of Offshore Windfarms on Marine Organisms
INITIATOR Fund
Project period: May – July 2014
GW4 community leads
University of Bath: Phillipe Blondeli
University of Bristol: Andy Radford, Daniel Robert
Cardiff University: Roger Falconer
University of Exeter: Rick Bruintjes, Steve Simpson, Darren Croft, Matt Witt, Phillipp Thies
Project overview
| | This project has allowed testing of new ideas in the real world which will lead to high impact interdisciplinary publications. A valuable research network of world-known scientists has been created and two research grant proposals were produced and submitted to the Catapult Environmental Programme. There are plans to submit future NERC large grants applications and for GW4 studentships. |