What is the Wings for Ideas Fund
ECRI is delighted offer the Wings for Ideas Fund again this year. ECRI understands that securing funding is crucial to researchers, and we want to give research staff the possibility of exploring new ideas. The Fund aims to provide postdocs and fellows with the resources to work on research that might lead into a new venture, a product, or a prototype.
We will fund up to £2,500 per project, all funds must be spent by 31 July 2025. This is a great opportunity to use your 10 development days. We strongly encourage you to discuss your participation in this call with your PI and/or line manager.
Timeline and How to Apply
-
Application deadline: 12.00 noon on Friday 8 November.
-
Outcome: successful applicants will be notified by the first week of December.
-
Mid-year reports due: 7 May 2025
-
Final reports: 26 September 2025
-
All the funds allocated in the 2024/25 academic year must be spent by 31 July 2025.
To apply, please complete the Template Wings for Ideas 2025 application and submit your application online using the link in the Guidelines for Applicants Wings 2025 document.
If you have any queries not covered in the Guidelines, please contact Anna Seabourne, a.seabourne@imperial.ac.uk.
Important information
Full guidance including eligibility can be found in the Guidelines for Applicants Wings 2025 document.
Previous years' winners
Name |
Department |
Project |
Kenny Malpartida Cardenas |
Department of Infectious Disease |
Non-invasive paper-based diagnostics of cervical cancer using menstrual blood |
Ruth Reid |
Department of Infectious Disease |
Heat packs for low-resource point-of-care diagnostic devices |
Name |
Department |
Project |
Adam Fellows |
National Heart & Lung Institute |
Advancing Engineered Pulmonary Artery Tissues (EPATs) for Commercial Use |
Julianna Panidi |
Chemistry |
Sustainable Light Powered Electronics |
Miguel Paez Perez |
Chemistry |
DNA nanobarges for super-resolution imaging of protein-lipid interactions. |
Name |
Department |
Project |
Fred Richards |
Earth Science & Engineering |
Using Machine Learning to Make Treasure Maps |
Joseph Barritt |
Life Sciences |
Directed evolution of phage tail spike proteins to clear catheter related biofilms |
Paschalia Pantazi |
Metabolism Digestion and Reproduction |
Loading of extracellular vesicles for therapeutic applications in breast cancer |
Piotr Hapeta |
Bioengineering |
Indigo2.0 – Sustainable blue dye production in the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica |
Thomas Rowan |
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
Safeguarding water resources, through automated vertical profiling of natural voltages |
Name |
Department |
Project |
Anas Imtiaz |
Electrical and Electronic Engineering |
A tablet-based aid for the diagnosis of cerebellar dysmetria |
Bing Li |
Brain Sciences |
Enhance biosensor sensitivity using engineered antibodies |
Catherine Kibirige |
Infectious Disease |
Sensitive, low cost, ambient temperature, HIV-1 DNA quantification kit development |
Gang Wu |
Life Sciences |
Discovery of glycotopes linked to premature birth |
Haruki Iino |
Institute of Clinical Sciences |
Rapid pathogen detection by a single step Mango NASBA assay |
Hossein Yadegari |
Materials |
Valorisation of biomass: Glycerol to lactic acid and propylene glycol |
Rob Bradley |
Life Sciences |
Scaling-up carbon recycling with biological catalysts |
Sina Hafezi |
Electrical and Electronic Engineering |
Deliver 3D sound in a smart compact wearable device and let the ears naturally do perfect 3D spatialisation |