All Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Funding streams are now closed.
Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Fund
The Glasgow Knowledge Exchange Fund (GKE) is an internal investment fund established by the University to support UofG research staff to deliver high-quality knowledge exchange activities and impact generation from UofG research.
The fund has five broad aims:
- To support an informed and collaborative approach to the development, implementation, adoption and exploitation of research outcomes, leading to the development of technological, economic, policy, community, creative, or health and wellbeing impacts;
- To support researchers to build sustained and strategic relationships of co-creation and knowledge exchange with non-academic partners, including, for example, laying the groundwork for future collaborations, applications to collaborative funding schemes, or helping to leverage funds from the private or public sector;
- To provide early-stage investment in technologies destined for commercialisation (i.e. technical proof of concept and commercial proof of market) by supporting the de-risking of these opportunities;
- To support research-based community and public engagement initiatives, locally and globally; to drive mutually beneficial interactions around research and the creation of strong, well-evidenced impact;
- To nurture a sustainable pipeline of new impact case studies and success stories from across the University.
With the arrival of a full suite of Impact Acceleration Accounts, the GKEF has adapted a little. We now have 4 funding streams: GKE Flexible Fund, GKE Enabling Fund, GKE Impact Acceleration Fund and GKE Small Grants. The Flexible Fund and Enabling Fund are aimed at supporting activity that is not eligible for IAA funding and award grants of £2,000-£30,000 and £2,000-£15,000 respectively. The GKE Impact Acceleration Fund supports activity that overlaps with IAA and awards grants of £2,000-£30,000. The GKE Small Grants Fund awards grants of less than £2,000.
Each year, the first set of awards for GKE Flexible, Enabling and Impact Acceleration Funds will be in late spring/early summer with an open call for the Flexible Fund and Enabling Fund in Spring. A second set of awards and calls will be held in Autumn (if funding allows). Precise call dates are announced 6-8 weeks prior to close. Note: Funds awarded must be spent by 31st July of the FY in which awards are made (end of the financial year in which funds are transferred to budget holders).
Support for the GKE schemes
We want ALL applicants to engage in a pre-application conversation with the Knowledge Exchange & Impact team in Research Services prior to submitting their application. This conversation should help strengthen applications and provide advice on scope, eligibility, costing, letters of support and the submission process.
Applicants should contact Gordon or Mariana at RIandE@glasgow.ac.uk to discuss their project in good time prior to submission. We will call on the appropriate College or Professional Services contacts (depending on the focus of the project, e.g. commercialisation, public engagement, etc.) to be part of these conversations, if the applicant has not contacted them already.
A series of pre-EoI information sessions and workshops have been arranged. Please refer to the all staff email for more information including dates, venues and registration links.
Eligibility - GKE Flexible Fund
Eligibility
Eligible Activities
Eligible Costs
Projects funded by the GKE Flexible Fund are expected to cost up to a maximum of £30,000 and to last for 6 months, although both upper limits may be reassessed at the discretion of the GKE panel (if partners are predominantly based overseas, for example).
Funded projects will be expected to start within 2 months of the funding decision.
Applications to the Flexible Fund can be led by any UofG staff member and should contain the following:
- A Lead applicant with school approval to hold General Funds (please check with your local school finance contact).
- A clear linkage to underpinning University of Glasgow research; in some cases this will be via inclusion of UofG Co-I’s involved in the research.
The GKEF does not fund research but rather the translation of research to knowledge exchange and impact.
Applicants should discuss their project with their College Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) manager. If the project is in scope for IAA, then applicants should apply to the IAA rather than GKEF.
The journey from research to impact is complex and varies across the broad range of disciplines represented at the University of Glasgow; the GKE panel welcome the creativity of our research and knowledge exchange community in proposing projects for funding. Whilst not an exhaustive list, some examples of eligible activities are provided below:
Secondments/Placements of research staff, between the University and a non-academic partner organisation, company or agency from any sector. Secondments/Placements can be part-time or full-time and range in duration from weeks to months. Secondments/Placements of permanent staff may also be considered.
Fellowships and internships with non academic organisations to concentrate on specific knowledge exchange projects. Staff buy-out may be considered in exceptional circumstances.
De-risking of research outputs/outcomes for commercial uptake, including market assessments, toolkit development, prototype and demonstrator development, proof-of-concept activity and application-focused feasibility projects.
Engagement with policy-makers and practitioners at any stage of the research-impact cycle, for example through events, knowledge exchange workshops, collaborative toolkit development, collaborative activity to co-produce evidence, and/or mechanisms to ensure the uptake of that evidence.
Engagement with partners in private, public or third sectors to foster innovation, new collaborative relationships, or to deepen/broaden existing relationships.
Engagement with particular communities to pursue new research agendas, to increase the uptake of relevant research outcomes, and other public engagement initiatives, provided they are structured in a way that supports the creation of strong, well-evidenced impact.
Initiatives designed to support engagement with underserved or marginalised communities or groups are particularly welcome.
The funding is designed to be flexible and can cover items such as:
- Staffing costs, e.g. RA's -- note that reimbursement for UofG permanent staff time is not permitted as knowledge exchange and engagement are assumed to fall within their existing remit. All requested funding for staff costs should be justified in the ‘detail’ text box
- Consumables
- Small equipment
- Travel
- Workshops and seminars
- Specialist sub-contract work
The GKEF does not fund Estates and Indirect costs.
For collaborative projects with non-academic organisations, we are looking for evidence of partner commitment to the project. This may come in the form of a contribution to the project costs (cash and/or in-kind) - particularly with private sector partners. In-kind contributions could include partner organisation staff time, provision of access to equipment, materials, data or other items. Partner contributions should reflect the role of the partner in the project, their appreciation of its potential value, and their willingness and ability to contribute.
For collaborative projects, including secondments, a collaboration agreement will be required before funding is released to agree the arrangements for IP and the terms and conditions for staff. Applicants are encouraged to speak to their local knowledge exchange/impact team for support in discussing these issues with their partners at an early stage.
External collaborators are expected to have seen and approved the application, workplan and budget prior to submission. Applicants will be asked to confirm this arrangement.
Eligibility - GKE Enabling Fund
Eligibility and suitability
Mentor
The fund is open to all UofG staff members who are at an early stage in their research independence.*
The lead applicant on the project should
- have approval to hold General Funds (please check with your local school finance contact).
- be able to evidence an independent role in leading or contributing to the generation of, and flow of, new ideas, hypotheses, tools, or knowledge, in the research outputs that underpin the proposed GKEF project.
* Examples of research independence include evidence of holding external research funding, role and contributions to research outputs, awards where the applicant was not the principal investigator, and more. Guidance on this narrative approach can be found here. For reference, some organisations/funders may refer to those eligible for this fund as Early Career Researchers.
Applicants should discuss their project with their College Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) manager. If the project is in scope for IAA, then applicants should apply to the IAA rather than GKEF. If an application to IAA is not possible, applicants should contact the GKEF team.
The call will accept applications for projects with maximum costs of up to £15,000 and a maximum duration of 6 months. (Note that, as with Flexible Fund, all funds would be required to be spent by 31 July 2025, with no possibility of extension.)
A broad range of knowledge exchange and engagement activities are eligible and fundable. These are the same as the GKE Flexible Fund.
A suitable internal mentor must be identified, and their role briefly described in the application. This could include but is not limited to providing disciplinary or sectoral guidance to formulate the engagement activity(s) of the project, sharing/developing contacts and networks, or coaching the mentee for career-related next steps during/after the end of GKEF project. The mentor would be expected to commit to 3 meetings with the mentee.
Eligibility - GKE Small Grants Fund
The GKE Small Grants Fund supports the same activities and costs as the other GKE Funds, but to a maximum limit of £2,000. Reporting requirements will be amended in line with the sum requested.
Eligibility - GKE Impact Acceleration Fund
The GKE Impact Acceleration Fund does not hold open calls for applications. Application to this funding stream will be via referral only by IAA (Impact Acceleration Account) managers in the Colleges, and with the recommendation of College IAA panels. Applications to IAA which were judged to have been good quality, fundable projects that could not be funded by the IAA can be referred. More information on Impact Acceleration Accounts across the University is available here.
Applicants will be required to revise their application in line with any recommendations from the IAA reviewers prior to submission to GKEF.
Applications will then be submitted to GKEF reviewers so that applications across different Colleges can be compared.
How to apply
GKE Small Grants
GKEF Small Grants are now closed. This funding stream will be reviewed at the beginning of 2025.
GKE Flexible Fund and GKE Enabling Fund
The GKEF Privacy Notice_February 2024 explains how the University will process your data.
- An Expression of Interest should be submitted prior to full application.
- You should submit your EoI via Qualtrics. The Qualtrics portal is accessed via your University single sign-on (GUID).
- In addition to the WORD application form, you will need the following information when submitting to the Qualtrics portal:
- You must have read and responded to the privacy notice above
- An estimate of the external contributions (cash and/or in kind)
- Every applicants' College, email address, and employee number
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It is the responsibility of the applicant(s) to ensure that all proposed activities are in accordance with the University’s Code of Ethics, and other standards and guidelines.
- Applicants will be expected to have completed the Equality and Diversity e-learning module in accordance with University policy.
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Expressions of Interest will be assessed for meeting the eligibility criteria. Those that meet the criteria will be invited to submit a full application.
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Full applications will be invited after EoI submission for a deadline in early November 2024.
Letters of support from external collaborators: If your application has a commercial aspect, then we would expect a letter of support from the IP & Commercialisation manager supporting your College. ONLY letters of support should be submitted via email to the Knowledge Exchange & Impact team at RIandE@glasgow.ac.uk.
- Full applications will be assessed by the GKE fund reviewer pool and panel. The reviewer pool comprises UofG academics from a range of career stages and disciplines drawn from across the whole University, with additional insights from relevant Professional Services staff. The Panel comprises:
- Professor Chris Pearce, VP Research & KE
- Professor Gerard Graham, Dean for Research, MVLS
- Professor Graeme Roy, Dean of External Engagement, CoSS
- Professor Dauvit Brown, Dean for Research, CoAH
- Professor Margaret Lucas, Dean for Research, CoSE
Application deadline
The GKE Flexible Fund and GKE Enabling Fund are now closed and will re open in Spring 2025.
Assessment criteria
Full applications will be scored on the below criteria:
- Clarity of link between underpinning research to the engagement activities.
- Visibility of any external partners in the project, including evidence of their commitment to the project via in-kind or cash support, role in work packages (if applicable) and in the potential for sustainability and further development of the collaborative relationships. (Note that any external organisation collaborating on the project will need to have seen/reviewed the application.)
- Immediate- and longer-term vision for potential impact generation, and how the proposed project outcomes might enable next steps towards that goal.
- Construction of the workplan, including any risks and mitigation steps, and probability that the project will deliver on its objectives and Fund aims.
- Quality of evaluation plan and next steps -- a sustainability plan that should capture outcomes and provide a step forward or step-up to generating long-term envisaged impact.
For the GKE Flexible Fund and Enabling Fund, assessment will consider but not score on the criteria below:
- Contribution the project would make to your career development and the development of any UofG project team members (only applicable to the Enabling Fund scheme).
- Consideration of good practice in creating equitable/ethical partnerships, awareness of working ethically and sustainably; working towards Responsible Research & Innovation (UKRI guidance) and environmental sustainability (UofG policies).
- Potential to secure or leverage additional funding or generation of impact.
- Value for money and effective mitigation of risk.
- Alignment with the University’s Research Strategy priorities.
- Alignment with the University’s Equality Diversity and Inclusion Policy (see the UofG policy and the EDI UofG Equality unit site).
Reporting
- Award recipients will be required to submit a report detailing expenditure, activities, outputs and outcomes after the conclusion of the project.
- An in-project monitoring meeting will be arranged to check projects are progressing at the pace laid out in the workplan.
- Additional audit may be conducted at further intervals after the conclusion of projects to track impact leverage over time.
- All reporting requirements will be confirmed on award of funding.
- Except in situations of commercial sensitivity, the University will retain rights to project applications and reports in order to appropriately promote the outcomes of the funding.