THE TURNER KIRK CHALLENGE FUND

Funding call 2024

The Turner Kirk Sprint Challenge Fund has been established to bring together conservation scientists and mathematicians from Imperial's Centre for Environmental Policy (CEP), Department of Life Sciences (DoLS) and Department of Mathematics (DoM) to address unsolved challenging conservation problems towards further development of transformative and tangible solutions.

The Challenge

The fundamental idea is to kick start a project that is innovative and high risk to address a conservation challenge with support from the mathematical sciences for enhanced understanding and rapid intervention, and may have potential for future research.  The seed fund is an opportunity to take a leap of faith and experiment with a new idea for up to 7 months.

The Fund

The 2024 Turner Kirk Trust Sprint Challenge Fund is £50,000. One or more projects will be awarded.

The successful team(s) will be awarded funds to address their conservation challenge for up to 7 months.  

The funding can be used at the teams’ discretion, provided it enables new and collaborative research that would not otherwise be achievable.

The outcome will need to include a follow-up activity plan based on the Sprint Challenge achievement to drive forward and catalyse further action.  

Expectations

• Awarded proposals and team members will be added to the Imperial Turner Kirk Trust (TKT) Challenge news and community webpages
• Project delivery to start in July 2024
• Interim progress report – midway through the project
• Full report on completion
• Participation at the finale showcase event in March 2025
• Production of a media pack/press release post Challenge (support will be provided)

To find out more about the links between mathematics and conservation watch this video by Imperial academic, Professor Mark Burgman, Emeritus Professor of Risk Analysis and Environmental Policy.

Eligibility and application criteria

We welcome applications from multidisciplinary teams of postgraduate researchers and/or academics, comprising of, but not restricted to, mathematicians and conservationists.

All applications will be considered based on the following criteria:

• Proposed activities at the intersection between conservation and mathematics
• One of the PIs must be based at Imperial
• High risk/high gain co-creative ideas and approaches tackling global conservation and biodiversity challenges
• Potential to understand and solve complex scientific real-world environmental issues
• Novel use/application of mathematical tools
• Next concrete steps based on the planned outcomes

To be considered for this opportunity teams are required to submit a short funding proposal of no more than 2 pages in length using the form provided.

The deadline for submissions is Tuesday 18 June 2024.

ICL Turner Kirk Trust Sprint Challenge Fund Application Form 2024

To submit a short proposal and/or a full proposal, please upload the following completed forms to our Qualtrics survey.

Review Panel

Shortlisting of applications will be made by a Committee:

• Dr Ewan Kirk, Turner Kirk Trust
• Dr Patricia Turner, Turner Kirk Trust
• Professor Dan Crisan, Professor of Mathematics (DoM)
• Dr Morena Mills, Reader in Environmental Policy and Practice (CEP)

Shortlisted proposals will be invited to pitch their ideas in person on Wednesday 26 June 2024 at Imperial’s South Kensington Campus.

Ideas Abstract

In advance of the Workshop, individuals are invited to share a short abstract proposal, which will be added to the website.  This is intended as an opportunity to share your ideas, help foster collaboration and engender interest as required.  Please submit your ideas by Tuesday 28 May 2024.

Please note that submission of an abstract is not mandatory for the submission of the full proposal.

ICL Turner Kirk Trust Sprint Challenge Fund Abstract Application Form 2024

To submit a short proposal and/or a full proposal, please upload the following completed forms to our Qualtrics survey.

Workshop event

Information, Brainstorming and Networking Session - Tuesday 4 June 2024 | 10.00-12.00 at the Centre for Environmental Policy

To learn more about the Sprint Challenge Fund, please join us at an introductory workshop on Tuesday 4 June.

This workshop will be an information session, an opportunity to discuss conservation challenges, share ideas and seed partnerships across the Departments.

For all enquiries, please contact Federica Pratola.

Timeline - 2024 TKT Sprint Fund

Key dates are as follows: