Tap into the power of 'if'
The Ideas Fund is a grants programme run by the British Science Association and funded by Wellcome, which enables the UK public to develop and try out ideas that address problems related to mental wellbeing.
Bring your ideas to life
If you have an idea that you think could help address a particular need in your community that relates to mental wellbeing and are keen to collaborate with researchers, we want to hear from you.
We're offering early stage grants of up to £25,000 and larger grants of around £90,000 in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, Hull, North West Northern Ireland, and Oldham.
The scheme has been designed to test a new way of funding that connects communities with researchers to access knowledge, research skills and resources. We brought together community members, researchers and public engagement professionals and designed a fund together that is...
- Place-based
- Focused on mental wellbeing
- Committed to funding ideas with potential
The Questions Café
To help you think about your own ideas, this is an example of the kind of project we might fund...
Muhammad runs a social enterprise café set up by his mosque to bring together older people of all faiths. While the café is closed during lockdown, he links up with the local University Psychology department so they can share research on the link between social connection, food and community spaces. This grows into an ongoing relationship where café regulars pose questions and the University's Public Engagement team find the right researchers to share resources via regular virtual coffee chats, giving group members new ways to improve their wellbeing.
Arts for Wellbeing
Another example of the kind of project we might fund could be...
Maria runs art classes for people with learning disabilities. She wants to encourage more people to understand the mental wellbeing benefits of art and get creative. She has linked up with the local mental health charity and is working with their researcher on how they might do this. Together, they have designed some innovative approaches which explore the research through arts and will test to see which one might be most beneficial for their community. They will ultimately see if this encourages more people to get involved in creative activities which improve their wellbeing.
Learn more
Latest
Introducing Harriet Johnson - Development Coordinator for Hull
A blog profile introducing Harriet Johnson and the importance of The Ideas Fund in Hull
Why The Ideas Fund?
This is our first webinar which will give you an overview of The Ideas Fund. We talked about the application process, who and what might be eligible, what support is available and the exciting possibilities that can happen when communities work with researchers.
Introducing Roisin McLaughlin - Development Coordinator for North West Northern Ireland
A blog profile introducing Roisin McLaughlin and the importance of The Ideas Fund in North West Northern Ireland
From Twitter
Read our second in a series of blog posts profiling @TheIdeasFund Development Coordinators. This week we are introd… https://t.co/oQ68rKJJZ4
We were excited to run our first themed pre-application workshop on Thursday 18 February called ‘Why The Ideas Fund… https://t.co/WvvFFkRGRo
Read our first in a series of posts profiling @TheIdeasFund Development Coordinators. In this blog we are introduce… https://t.co/0vdXRVSMrI