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Apply for an Engage & Involve Grant

What you need to do to apply for a 2024/2025 Engage & Involve Grant.

People taking part in an engagement activity with an artist
People taking part in an engagement activity led by a young peer researcher.

The Public Engagement Unit runs the Engage Grants.

The 2024/2025 edition of the Engage & Involve Grants is a funding call for researchers at the University of Bath to involve people in their research in a meaningful way and/or engage them with their research.

The aim of this funding call is to build connections between wider society and University of Bath research.

In 2024/2025 we have a total of £25,000 available for this funding call.

Public Involvement and Engagement with Research

High-quality public involvement and engagement with research allow people to discover, use, discuss, participate in and/or create research in ways that are meaningful for them.

It is activity that generates mutual benefit to you and / or your research and the people you involve and engage that helps them meet their goals as individuals and within their communities.

Public involvement and engagement with research can happen at any stage of the research life cycle and even after a research project has finished with work to sustain relationships developed during the research project.

When we talk about public involvement and engagement, we know it can encompass a diverse set of activities, the nature of which will vary depending on the discipline you are working in. You may have encountered or be familiar with public involvement and engagement practices, they include patient and public involvement and engagement (PPIE), participatory research and citizen science, to name a few. However, for us at the University of Bath, these activities have several features in common. These activities should:

  • relate to active and specific research

  • involve people outside academia in spaces or at times where they can choose to participate

  • be relevant (in terms of interests, needs and goals) to the people involved and/or engaged

  • be beneficial for the people involved and/or engaged as well as for you and / or your research

A key outcome of any public involvement and engagement work could be to help inform your approach or understanding of what responsible research and innovation looks like for you.

Funding available

The total funding available for the Engage & Involve Grants 2024 is £25,000, and we are looking to fund various activities of different scales. There are three levels of funding available:

  • Small – four grants of up to £1,000

  • Medium – four grants of up to £3,500

  • Large – one grant of up to £7,000

What we're looking to fund

We are interested in funding activities that improve the connections between research and society. Here are some examples to illustrate what we mean by this:

  • creating a pop-up stall in pharmacies in Bath to find out from pharmacy users what medicine safety issues are important to them to inform a research agenda

  • hosting a series of workshops with young farmers to listen to their experiences of using biotechnology to help shape a funding proposal

  • working with a community-based partner to co-create a funding grant application

  • working with a group of young people to develop materials for their peers to share and disseminate outcomes from a project on sexual health

  • working with people with brain injuries such as stroke to co-design and prototype an exercise game (exergame) for movement rehabilitation

  • co-creating an exhibit on sustainable transport solutions that will be taken to science festivals with a group of science centre professionals

This is not an exhaustive list, and activities are not limited to these examples, they are intended to illustrate how a grant could be used to fund activities across the research lifecycle.

Before you consider applying for an Engage & Involve Grant, we’d like you to think about the purpose of your activity. We are using this version of the International Association of Public Participation Spectrum of Public Participation as a guide to help you consider the purpose of your activity.

Who can apply

This call is open to staff members in the Research & Education and Technical & Experimental job families (any discipline or career stage) and doctoral students.

Doctoral students must secure permission from their supervisor(s) to apply for this award.

We welcome applications from all Faculties and the School.

Assessment criteria

We aim to fund a portfolio of different types of activities across the spectrum of public participation, from across the three Faculties and the School, at different stages of the research cycle and level of experience of involvement and engagement of those applying.

The panel will be assessing applications based on the following criteria:

(please note - the questions that follow each criterion are indicative of the types of questions the panel will be asking as they assess your proposal, you should not aim to answer the questions directly).

  1. How well does the proposal meet the aim of the engage and involve grants to build connections between wider society and University of Bath research?

    • Is there a clearly defined public and is the proposal relevant to them?
    • What are the proposal’s aims: how will the work benefit you and the public group you’ve identified?
    • Does the proposal demonstrate mutual benefit?
  2. Is the proposal achievable within the time and budget?

    • Is there a clear budget outline?
    • What is the budget being spent on?
    • Where there is public involvement, how is that expertise being valued? i.e. how much of the funds is going towards community partners or towards public contributors directly?
    • Is the timeline realistic?
  3. Is there a clear link between the research and the proposed activity?

  4. How is the applicant planning on reflecting and evaluating their experience and that of the people they are involving and/or engaging?

    • Are there tools or approaches to evaluation mentioned in the proposal?

How to apply

Applicants need to fill in the Engage & Involve Grants application form.

If you need support filling out this form, then please feel free to drop us a line public-engagement@bath.ac.uk and we can complete this form together.

Submissions

Application forms must be emailed to public-engagement@bath.ac.uk no later than 4pm on Friday 6 December 2024 with ‘Engage and Involve Grants’ in the subject line.

Assessment process

If you have an idea for an activity, then please come along to one of our information events.

The Public Engagement Unit is hosting an information session online and in-person on Wednesday 13 November 2024 at 1pm.

We will also be hosting informal advice sessions. Please contact public-engagement@bath.ac.uk to reserve a slot for these drop in surgeries.

In-person advice surgeries at Wessex Staff Hub on:

  • Wednesday 13 November, 1-3pm

  • Thursday 21 November, 12.30-2pm

Online advice surgeries:

  • Monday 11 November, 12-2pm

  • Tuesday 19 November, 2-4pm

  • Tuesday 26 November, 1-3pm

Applications will be reviewed by a panel made up of:

  • Members of the Public Engagement Unit and Research & Innovation Services

  • Niyah Campbell - Senior Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement Lead, University of Birmingham

  • Monica Greco - Head of the Department of Social & Policy Studies, University of Bath.

  • A community organisation representative

A member of the Public Engagement Unit will be in touch as to the outcome of your application the week commencing the 16 December 2024.

Successful projects will be invited to a creative workshop to support you in developing your project ideas in January 2025 (date TBC).

Deadline

Completed application forms must be received by 4pm on Thursday 5 December 2024.

Reporting

Successful applicants are required to report on their learning, outcomes and experiences to the Public Engagement Unit.

We have a reporting form we use, but we are happy to accept a project report in a format that is appropriate to the applicant and the project.

We have found that projects of this scale usually take up to 12 months to develop and deliver. If you are planning a longer project, please make the case within your application.

Key dates

  • Call opens – Tuesday 29 October 2024

  • Information session – Wednesday 13 November 2024, 1.15pm

  • Call closes – Thursday 5 December 2024, 4pm

  • Grant starts – January 2025

  • Reports due – 31 January 2026

Engage and Involve Grants application form

Apply for an Engage and Involve Grant

Enquiries

If you want to learn more about the Engage and Involve Grants, drop us a line.


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