Applications closed
Thank you to everybody who expressed their interest for the Collaboration Kickstarter Seed Fund.
Applications are now closed.
Introducing The Collaboration Kickstarter: A seed fund for engaged research with communities.
The Public Engagement team at Imperial College London are pleased to announce the Collaboration Kickstarter, a new approach to seed funding research that has been co-produced with staff from across Imperial alongside community partners who engage with our research and programs. The pilot project, which launched on 25 September 2024, aims to support Imperial researchers and partners to deliver research collaboratively.
Awarding funds of up to £10,000 to a small portfolio of projects, the Kickstarter will support participatory and co-produced approaches to research in which communities can influence the direction that research is taking. You can read the full Kickstarter Co-production document for a detailed overview of the pilot project.
Expressions of Interest are now closed.
Information for applicants
Applications for the Collaboration Kickstarter Seed Fund are now closed.
We aim to award funds of up to £10,000 to 4-8 projects with collaboration at their heart.
We seek proposals where the applicants include both a named Imperial researcher and a named community partner, holding a deliberately broad definition of 'community partner'. We simply ask applicants to make the case that your particular partnership is appropriate, relevant, and will deliver small-scale research activities in line with the aims and principles of the fund in its pilot year.
September 2024
25 September: The fund will launch and will be open to expressions of interest from Imperial researchers and community partners.
October 2024
2 October: Online information event about the fund. Open to researchers and community members.
9 October: A Community Connection and Collaboration event will be held as part of the work designed to support the development of new partnerships.
November 2024
25 November: The window for expressions of interest closes on 25 November 2024.
28 November: Review of expressions of interest will take place where a panel consisting of members of the public engagement team and two community partners will assess all expressions of interest and invite those with a reasonable chance of success, based on our criteria, to submit a full proposal.
January 2025
10 January: Invited applicants will have until the 10 of January 2025 to submit full proposals.
16 January: Final review of full proposals will take place
17 January: Funds awarded
March 2025
19 March: Quarterly meeting with funded projects and co-production team to share progress, challenges and learning, and strengthen working relationships.
June 2025
18 June: Quarterly meeting with funded projects and co-production team to share progress, challenges and learning, and strengthen working relationships.
July 2025
17 July: Projects close.