Apply for up to £5,000 for UCL / Industry collaborations to tackle challenges in Digital Public Health.
Aims of the grant
The aim of the grant is to drive impact in digital public health by finding, developing and deploying solutions to pressing digital public health challenges. A secondary aim is to develop partnership and collaboration opportunities in the field of digital public health, bringing together UCL academics with organisations active in digital solutions for public health.
Your application can cover any aspect of Digital Public Health. Example topics include:
Disease Surveillance and Prediction, Health Information Systems, Digital Health Interventions, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning, Digital Health Equity, Behavioural Health and Digital Therapeutics, Public Health Surveillance, Telemedicine and Telehealth, Personalized Medicine, Health Data Analysis, Digital Health Resource Allocation
Funding will be provided to the UCL academic to work on the collaborative project. You can apply for up to £5,000.
Projects must collaborative and demonstrate an aspect of knowledge exchange between the parties. The maximum length for projects is 6 months. You can decide the most suitable start date for your project, but the earliest you can start is 1 October 2025. Projects must be completed by 31 March 2026.
The grant is funded by UKRI’s EPSRC, STFC and BBSRC Impact Acceleration Account funding and is managed by UCL Innovation & Enterprise.
Process
Important: All applications must be led by a UCL academic.
Before the conference
The UCL Innovation & Enterprise team aims to facilitate introductions between UCL academics and organisations prior to the conference and ideally you’ll be able to sit down in person at the event to discuss the details of the project you wish to submit for funding.
Companies, charities and public health organisations
We would like to learn about specific challenges related to digital public health that you face in your business where you think that engaging with a UCL academic active in related research could help you deploy solutions and drive impact.
All external organisations wanting to take part in the challenge will need to partner with a UCL academic to apply. If you already are in touch with a UCL academic, then please engage with them to develop your application. If you would like an introduction to an academic, please complete this MS Form to register your interest and outline your challenge.
UCL Academics
If you are a UCL academic engaged in research applicable to any aspect of digital public health you are likely eligible to apply for the grant opportunity. (Full eligibility criteria is below)
If you already have a partner company in mind, please go ahead and start to define your project. If you are interested in an introduction with a company to collaborate with, please complete this MS Form to register your interest and explain about your research and areas of expertise.
At the conference
We’ll be running an Innovation Challenge session at the conference where companies and academics will be able to meet to discuss their specific challenges and define projects that could apply for the grant. If you can’t attend, don’t worry. We can still link you up virtually, either before, during or after the event.
After the conference
You’ll have a bit of time to define and organise your project with your partner. Applications must be submitted by an eligible UCL academic via MS Forms.
Applications will open on 28th July and close on 8th September. Successful applicants will be notified by email by 22nd September.
Eligibility
To be eligible:
- the lead applicant must be a member of staff or doctoral student at UCL. This includes part and full-time researchers and academics from any discipline. (Honorary staff, undergraduate and master’s students cannot apply.)
- the application must be developed in partnership with a company or other non-academic external partner such as a charity or public health organisation.
- the project must demonstrate ability to impact public health and have applicable benefits for the UK.
- the project must have an element of knowledge exchange and benefits for both parties involved.
- the proposed project must align with a research area included in the EPSRC, BBSRC or STFC portfolios.
Costs and activities that can be funded:
Funding is provided to the lead applicant. Direct costs (directly allocated or directly incurred, of any type) can be covered. This includes salaries, consumables, travel and subsistence, etc.
The following costs and activities cannot be covered:
- Indirect, estates and generic administrative costs
- Costs associated with the protection of intellectual property
- Contribution towards the purchase of a single item of equipment valued more than £10,000
- Research activity (e.g. any activity that could normally be funded through research grants)
- Public engagement activities that do not involve a two-way exchange of knowledge (e.g. one-way dissemination or broadcast)
- Payments to partner organisations are normally not eligible
How to apply
Applications will open after the conference and close in early September.
Before you apply, you should read the guidance (below) and the funding terms and conditions.
Guidance on completing your application
The lead applicant must be a UCL academic, researcher or doctoral student. If a doctoral student is the lead applicant, they’ll need to name a UCL staff member as Principal Investigator (PI) on the application form. The PI will have a number of responsibilities outlined in the terms and conditions.
It’s the lead applicant’s responsibility to make sure that:
- all the information provided in the application is correct
- your proposal meets the eligibility criteria
In the application form, you’ll need to include:
- details of your proposal (600 words) including:
- the project scope
- how there will be a two-way exchange of knowledge between researchers and the company or partner (this can be in form of workshops and meetings)
- a brief public description of your proposal (200 words)
- 3 to 5 project outcomes with specific deliverables (600 words)
- how you’ll track, measure and report on the project impact (500 words)
- a project timeline (300 words)
- how the grant money will be spent (300 words)
- how your project meets the EPSRC, BBSRC or STFC research priorities (200 words)
- how your project adds value to digital public health in the UK
- how you plan to embed equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in your proposed activity
Your application must show:
- how the project is helping to solve a challenge within innovation in digital public health
- why your project is best placed to solve the challenge
- how the project can provide a benefit to the UK (e.g. financial, reputational, health outcomes)
- the roles your partner will play, how you’ll collaborate and exchange expertise/knowledge between UCL and non-academic organisations/ communities
Your application will not be considered if:
- it’s submitted outside of the published dates (there will be no extensions to the deadline)
- you have not completed all sections on the application form
- you do not have a non-academic third-party partner (e.g. company, charity or public health organisation)
- the proposed area of work does not align with the EPSRC, BBSRC or STFC portfolios
- your project does not have a demonstrable benefit to the UK
- your application is not submitted on the official application form or approved accessible format
- you apply for more than £5,000
- the proposed duration of your project exceeds 6 months
After you apply
Your application will be reviewed and scored by a UCL selection panel. If you’re successful, you’ll receive an email with details of how the grant will be released by Award Services at UCL Research and Innovation Services.
Successful candidates will receive further mentoring throughout the project from UCL Innovation & Enterprise, including possibilities to engage with UCL Business, the Innovate UK Business Growth team and the Strategic Innovation Partnerships team.
You must spend the grant within 6 months of your selected start date and complete the project by 31 March 2026.