The research groups are collaborative communities across the four GW4 universities, Bath, Bristol, Cardiff and Exeter. All six of the new communities involve researchers from the University of Bath.

The successful communities include a research group which will address the critical relationships between medicine, living well and death; and another which draws upon GW4’s interdisciplinary expertise to explore mental health in children and young people.

Two of six the communities received GW4 Initiator funding, now in its tenth fund call, which offers awards of up to £20K for emerging GW4 research networks to establish themselves through collaborative activities such as sandpits and workshops.

The remaining four were awarded Accelerator funding, between £20k and £75k each, which aims to scale up existing communities to large scale bids and deliver a step change in world-class research.

GW4’s new research communities are as follows:

Initiator

  • The GW4 Value of Death Network (Professor Malcolm Johnson, Social and Policy Sciences)
  • A multi-stakeholder approach to medicines optimisation (Professor Margaret C Watson, Pharmacy and Pharmacology)

Accelerator

  • Investigating Gender Based Violence Intersectional (Dis)Advantages and Legal Duties – A Scoping Study of UK Universities (Dr Tina Skinner, Social and Policy Sciences)
  • Transformative history education: Learning from creative practices in Cambodia, Colombia and Iraq (Dr Lizzi Milligan, Education, and Dr Peter Manning, Social and Policy Sciences)
  • GW4-BCR (Brain Cancer Research). From Daffodils to Drugs. (Dr Lorenzo Caggiano, Pharmacy and Pharmacology)
  • A biosocial approach to trauma and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in young people (Professor Sarah Halligan, Psychology)

Building on success

GW4’s existing research communities encompass a variety of research areas and disciplines, including biofuels, mapping EU politics, mental health, and quantum technologies. These communities work with over 140 external partners such as the Ministry of Justice, Airbus, Sky News and the European Space Agency.

The next Building Communities funding round has been approved and will be open for both Initiator and Accelerator funding. Application details will be available on the GW4 website.