Aims/priorities: UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has confirmed it will invest £4.4 million over the next four years in the creation of a series of Community Research Networks across the UK. This will form part of its goal to deliver economic, social, and cultural benefits from research and innovation to all UK citizens.
The funding is intended to help local areas by investing in organisations which can support the sustainable and equitable involvement of communities in research.
According to UKRI, community organisations, charities and local authorities, alongside research organisations play a crucial role in the production, interpretation and use of research. This investment is expected to give these organisations the capacity to collaborate effectively, unlocking the potential of community-centred research and research engagement approaches.
The aim of the Community Research Networks Expression of Interest (EoI) Competition is to support up to 20 initial collaborations with the potential to form a Community Research Network at the implementation phase.
Funding at this EoI phase will support initial collaborations in building relationships and to develop plans for the implementation phase. Only successful applicants at the EoI phase will be invited to apply for the implementation phase in April 2023.
Who can apply? This competition is open to collaborations only. To lead a collaboration or collaborate with the lead, an organisation must be a UK registered charitable trust, registered charity, community interest company, cooperative society or local authority. The lead must not act in any way to gain selective commercial or economic advantage from the outputs of the project.
Research organisations cannot lead but can collaborate. Research organisations are categories as universities, higher education institutions, public sector research establishments (PSREs), research council institutes, independent research organisations (IROs) and non-profit research and technology organisations (RTOs), including catapults.
Grant amount: Up to £500,000 has been allocated to fund collaborations in this expression of interest phase of the competition. IUK expects to fund up to 20 collaborations for an initial period of six months. The total grant awarded for each collaboration is fixed at £25,000.
For the Implementation phase competition £3.5 million has been allocated to fund a minimum of five networks for up to £200,000 each year for three years.
Application process: Applications are accepted from Monday 25 July 2022 until Wednesday 14 September 2022.
Applications are made online.
More details can be accessed at the Innovate UK website.
Deadline: Wednesday 14 September 2022
Contact information: Tel: 0300 321 4357 Email: support@iuk.ukri.org