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, launching 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 sought from 25 September until 25 November 2024, with full proposals required in early January.

One-to-one advice sessions are available throughout the application process if you have any questions about the fund. You can also email any queries to societal_engagement@imperial.ac.uk, and a member of the team will be in touch.

Information events and advice sessions

If you have an idea for a research collaboration between Imperial Researchers and Community partners and would like to learn more about whether this fund is for you, then please come along to one of our information events.

An online information and Q&A event will be held on 2 October for researchers and community members who would like to know more about the fund. A Community Connection and Collaboration Café will open for researchers and potential community partners to network and hear about each other’s research on 9 October.

Information for applicants

In the first instance, please complete the Expression of Interest form, either online, or by downloading the form (Word doc) and submitting it to societal_engagement@imperial.ac.uk. You'll need to provide details of your project, including the ways in which it involves collaboration with and benefits to our community partners. The deadline for submission is 25 November 2024. Following review, invited applicants will be asked to submit full proposals by 10 January 2025.

Please refer to our Kickstarter Application Guide, available in Word or as a pdf for more details. You can also download our Kickstarter Jargon Bin (in Word or pdf), which offers a guide to the terms and phrases used in the application process.

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.