The University has been given £1.25 million over five years to support pilot and proof-of-concept projects and allow the University to provide a pipeline of new technologies, disruptive ideas and creative content that are ripe for development and scale-up.
This is the third time Bristol’s Impact Development team has won an ESRC IAA. The first two grants supported more than 200 projects from 2014 to 2023, delivering a range of impacts from the University’s social science research thanks to £2.8 million funding across two awards. Partners have included both new and established businesses, social enterprises, and charities, as well as local, national and international governments.
Examples of projects from the current 2019 - 2023 award include:
Dr Lucy Kelly's Reimagining the Diary: Writing and Wellbeing for ‘busy’ Teachers project, addresses the current wellbeing, retention and recruitment crisis in education by using a creative approach to diary-keeping, alongside engagement with a CPD community which is an effective tool for improving teachers’ wellbeing. The team are in their eight phase of piloting the Diary Toolkits, and because of high levels of interest, they’re exploring monthly subscription models and pricings for individual users and educational settings.
Professor Jonathan Beaverstock’s Learning from London’s Fintech Cluster project, looked at how Bristol and Bath’s burgeoning FinTech ecosystem can adapt London’s FinTech clustering dynamics to the local context. This approach is fuelling the south west’s ability to leverage its FinTech capability through strong national and global connectivity to support inclusive economic growth.
Dr Lucy McCarthy’s project, Platform for Connecting Agricultural Waste Supply Chains, initiated a proof-of-concept marketplace resource for developing closed-loop supply chains in the UK. The successful project is focusing on apple waste and developing the collaborations to connect those supply chains.
Dr Edward King’s pivotal project, Using Collaborative Video Game Design to explore Digital Literacies and Social Inclusion in Brazil, has already evidenced tangible impacts through networks of communication across Brazilian communities. The initial project has led to the creation of a video game to tackle the effects of misinformation distributed through social media.
The Research Director for the Faculty of Social Sciences and Law at the University of Bristol, Professor Patrick Capps said: "The University of Bristol is delighted to receive another five years of funding from the ESRC. This award will support many different projects that aim to maximise the benefits of the Bristol’s world-leading research brings by helping create a more prosperous, inclusive, healthy and secure society.”
Interim ESRC Executive Chair Professor Alison Park said: “The social, behavioural and economic research we fund helps us understand how we live and how society functions, throwing new light on how best to tackle our most pressing challenges. This investment creates a network of research organisations with dedicated funding to support and accelerate the impact of this research.
“We have already seen the benefits of previous rounds of IAA funding, which have leveraged an extra £52 million from partners ranging from local government to private business. This new cohort of 32 research organisations in receipt of IAA funding is the largest and most diverse group ESRC has funded. I look forward to seeing how these investments maximise the impact of social science research.”
For more information on Impact Accelerator accounts visit: ESRC IAA | RED | University of Bristol