The outcomes of the recently announced calls for the Innovation Fund and the Impact Development Fund have been communicated to applicants, and here we highlight how these resources are being allocated to help underpin our knowledge exchange activity, and likely contribute to future submissions into the Knowledge Exchange Framework (KEF) and Research Excellence Framework (REF) audits.
67 bids were received requesting over £460K, and we were able to allocate resource to around 40 bids. Each bid will receive feedback, and we would encourage applicants to work with GRE to develop or adapt the unfunded bids towards alternative funding opportunities.
The breadth and quality of bidding was impressive, with all faculties bidding and receiving awards. Academics at all career stages engaged – indeed, you may be interested to learn that applications with non-professorial leads represented c78% of the funded bids.
Examples of funded projects include:
Prof Jill Jameson’s (FEHHS) work on co-designing a formal Trust model for improved Community-Police Engagement and Training, a project that was invited by the Met Police South East Borough Command Unit (BCU) and Community Engagement Board;
Alternatives to the current emulsifiers with trans-fatty acids that have been associated with disturbance of the microbiota leading to inflammation and long-term consequences such as metabolic syndrome and to be sought in Dr Aurelie Bechoff’s (FES) project.
Dr Erika Kalocsányiová's (FEHHS) awareness raising project with South London organisations involved in refugee resettlement that address intergenerational communication barriers and pitfalls, and their intersection with culture, as well as drawing in the benefits of intergenerational learning for both refugees and locals;
Srinidhi Vasudevan (Greenwich Business School - GBS) proposal aims to understand financial equity by exploring the issues of transparency, accessibility and availability in the emerging concept of Decentralised Finance (DeFi) which enables mobility of global capital and financing for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The work should bring some clarify to exactly what this emerging form of global capital ‘mobility’ actually entails.
Dr Aduragbemi Banke-Thomas’ (FEHHS) project will use the Google maps platform to quantify true distances and travel times for women seeking emergency care in in sub-Saharan Africa, to enable policy makers and healthcare planners to better manage health care;
The foundations for Market Creating Innovation through gluten-free High Quality Cassava Flour (HQCF).will be laid in Dr Louise Abayomi (FES) proposal that seeks to develop the bland, white, and finely milled flour of cassava roots and its associated high fibre content and calorific energy value.
David Hockham’s PARKE CAFE’S (FLAS) (Practice as Research and Knowledge Exchange Café's) focused around the Woolwich Creative District that brings together academic expertise and research interest with organisations from across Greenwich to co-create projects, discover areas of mutual interest and work towards co-created project opportunities.
Saak V. Ovsepian’s (FES) proposal will develop clinical research with patients and sample collection at the Medway NHS Hospital that uses analytical chemistry measurements to identify innovative biomarkers for perinatal mental disorders in biofluids and thereafter, to enable a new bench-to-bedside initiative to assess the risks and predict the development of postpartum mental disorders such as depression and psychosis in women.
Mohammad Sakikhales’ (FES) project will launch a network with NHS staff, patients and built environment experts to create an engagement and co-creation process, and to identify further opportunities and resource to help decarbonise the Health Service.
The InnoValley project led by Dr Katharina De Vita (GBS) provides challenge-based solutions by bringing together technology and solution providers to co-create the future of football, defining the challenges for the CAFC youth academy in developing players that progress to play at first-team level.
The supported projects interface with a wide range of sectors and should result in generating positive economic, societal, and environmental outcomes.
Unfortunately, there were many other laudable projects that the limited resources didn’t stretch to, and GRE will work with those academics to help identify other funding streams or avenues to develop those ideas.
If you didn’t apply this year and have a good idea, please get in touch to discuss!
Prof Peter Griffiths, Director of Research and Enterprise
Rosemary Nunn, Head of Commercialisation and Innovation
Neil Cormack-Bissett, Head of Research Development Services
