The Seedcorn Awards are intended to be used for early-stage, short-term (up to 6 months) research projects to test ideas, generate early-stage impacts and to develop working relationships with external partners including third sector, public policy, voluntary and community groups, or the general public. The funds can also be used for activities such as running workshops, building networks, (especially interdisciplinary or external partnerships) and developing proposals for larger future projects. Projects can be co-designed with non-academic partners although the awards must be led by academic staff from Higher Education Institutions.

Grants can only be awarded to academic staff and PhD students, with their supervisor’s permission, at Higher Education Institutions (HEI)/universities, however we welcome non-academic partners as co-investigators (Co-Is). 

The aim of the Research Innovation Fund Seedcorn Awards is to develop and support an international network of researchers, therefore researchers based at an HEI anywhere in the world can apply for the Research Innovation Fund.