Tag: UWE

Changes to ESRC Funding: What Researchers Need to Know

Author annaelvins | Posted on

Guest blog by Susannah Deane, Research and Development Bid Writer (Social Sciences) at UWE Bristol

On 30th September 2026, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) held a virtual town hall to discuss changes to their funding schemes. With the closure of the current applicant-led schemes (Responsive Mode, New Investigator, and Secondary Data Analysis) on 4th November 2026, ESRC has recently announced a suite of new grants with two – Connect and React – already launching earlier this year. In the webinar, ESRC Executive Chair Stian Westlake and Executive Director of Research Jen Gold gave more details on the three new schemes opening over the next six months: Grow and Explore (opening 5th November) and Challenge (opening spring 2027).

Headline takeaways

  • More flexibility in terms of budget and the types of activities that researchers can undertake under the new schemes
  • Retained commitment to supporting early career researchers (ECRs)
  • Focus on novelty, pushing boundaries, and responsible risk-taking
  • Reduced emphasis on short-term impact
  • Decreased assessment time

ESRC have stressed that UKRI’s new strategic framework continues to have curiosity-driven research at its heart, and they hope that the new schemes will provide more freedom for applicants to propose the kind of approaches that they see fit. ESRC are keen to avoid inadvertently concentrating funding in certain areas, and there is a greater emphasis on supporting work that is at the knowledge frontier, even if the impact is more distant. They are also experimenting with ways of speeding up funding processes and making the process simpler for both applicants and reviewers.

New schemes Grow, Explore, and Challenge will be launched on an always-open basis with rolling assessment.

Grow (18mths-5yrs; £100-500k)

The Grow award will be focused on researcher development, whether at an early or later career stage. It is intended to support a dynamic, flexible, and internationally competitive social science research base that can anticipate and respond to emerging priorities, technologies, and opportunities, by supporting researcher development at key career points.

A core component of this scheme is to support those starting their careers to gain experience in leading and managing a research project. Grow will also support established researchers to develop in new directions, either by applying their expertise in a different social science discipline, or by gaining and using advanced skills to drive innovation in their own field (e.g. training in data analytics techniques; using new AI technologies). With this in mind, Westlake emphasised that applications will be assessed on their own merits, rather than being compared with one another across different career stages.

Explore (up to 5yrs; £300k-2M)

Explore is being launched in recognition of the important role that small teams play in driving growth through research. This scheme focuses on supporting innovative and disruptive ideas, and encourages ambitious ideas that push disciplinary, methodological, and conceptual boundaries. Research evidence – especially from the Metascience Unit – points to the important role that small teams often play in fostering new directions in research across many different disciplines. ESRC have stressed that there is still space to have a diversity of expertise in a small central research team, and there are specific other roles which may also be included in the proposal. Projects can include international co-leads, or collaborations with business, government, or third sector in different ways.

Challenge (up to 5yrs; £2-10M)

The Challenge award will launch in spring 2027, supporting ambitious programmes of research, innovation, or infrastructure that require experienced leadership and vision to deliver tangible impactful outcomes on complex challenges facing the economy, society, and the research system. The scheme will focus on bringing together diverse expertise to build capability, and will welcome applications from large teams. While this fund will take on some of the aspects of the previous research centre grants, it will also be open to fund different types of endeavours including large research programmes, networking schemes, and field-building at scale.  With this fund, ESRC are looking to fund large projects that are making an ongoing contribution, and they will be looking for specific standalone, time-bound projects. More details on this scheme will be released in later 2026.

ESRC’s commitment to early career researchers remains pivotal: note that opportunities for ECRs are not limited to the Grow awards; ESRC are keen for ECRs to be part of teams in the Explore and Challenge funds too.

Assessment & grant processing times

While the Connect pilot used distributed peer review in the assessment process, the three new awards will be based on expert peer review and moderating panels, with the opportunity to respond to peer reviews as under the current schemes, and ESRC making final funding decisions. Westlake noted that they will be taking a portfolio-based approach to final funding decisions to ensure a diverse range of funded projects, and to enable a balance of ECR and more experienced researchers to receive funding.

In addition, ESRC are working to deliver on UKRI commitments to reduce grant processing times; with that in mind, decisions for Grow and Explore awards will start to be made in spring 2027. [There is currently no demand management planned for these schemes.]

Intellectual novelty & impact

Recognising the limitations of overly focusing on short-term impact, ESRC will move away from selecting only projects that are both high short-term impact and score highly on curiosity-driven research and intellectual novelty. Instead, they aim to provide a space for projects that are primarily about pushing the knowledge frontier, where the contribution to impact may be some way down the road and not achieved within the project itself, in addition to continuing to fund good projects that are highly impact-driven. Remember that it is still extremely important to discuss the impact of your research, even if the timeline for this is longer.

Connect & React pilot awards update

With Connect and React awards having already launched earlier this year, ESRC will be reviewing these pilot schemes through to spring 2027. The expectation is that these schemes will be relaunched in 2027, but we may see some adjustments following the review period.

Keep an eye out for webinar announcements, as ESRC will be giving updates on the schemes in due course.

Honouring Communities: Research, Service and Lasting Impact

Author annaelvins | Posted on
For Black History Month this year’s theme, Honouring Communities, recognises those whose contributions create meaningful change. Newly promoted UWE Bristol professors Tinkuma Edafioghor, Mwidimi Ndosi, Faatihah Niyi-Odumosu and Ifeoma Elizabeth Dan-Ogosi share how their work connects academic excellence with community knowledge to improve health outcomes, strengthen organisations and create opportunities for others.

Dr Tinkuma Edafioghor

Strengthening enterprises through people and practice

Dr Tinkuma Edafioghor is an Associate Professor in Human Resource Management at UWE Bristol, with a particular interest in organisational resilience and how small and medium-sized businesses survive, adapt and grow through challenging times.

Published in leading international journals, including Human Resource Management, her research explores how people and HR practices build organisational resilience.

Additionally, Tinkuma leads a project funded by the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Caucus (EDICa), with UKRI and British Academy support through Heriot-Watt University, examining how hybrid working affects Black women academics’ productivity, visibility and career progression. She also founded the Black Business Leadership & Growth Partnership for the West of England, which gives Black-led small businesses practical, research-informed support in leadership, resilience and growth. For Bristol’s Black Small Business Show, Tinkuma delivered the webinar “Understanding Business Resilience: Why Some Businesses Survive and Others Don’t”, sharing practical insights with local Black business owners. Her guiding principle:

For me, research should not just sit in journals. It should make a real difference to people, organisations and communities.

Mentoring, faith and community support

Through the Network for Black Women Leaders (NBWL) and the alta mentoring platform, Tinkuma supports women’s leadership and career progression. As an alta steering-group member, she helps expand the platform across aviation, aerospace and space. She also co-founded the Safe Space Initiative for Black Women in Higher Education, a national network launched at UWE Bristol in September 2026 where Black women in academia can connect, share experiences and support one another, with plans to reach more people across the sector.

In Bristol, Tinkuma serves the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Glory of God Parish, as Assistant Pastor, Sunday School teacher and Minister in Charge of Evangelism, Community Outreach and house caring fellowships. She mentors young people and emerging church leaders, and coordinates support for vulnerable community members through activities including coffee mornings and food donations. She also helps international students adapt to UK study through informal sessions on the academic system, essay writing, critical thinking and note-taking, recognising their varied educational backgrounds. Across her research, mentoring, church and community work, she creates opportunities and helps others thrive.

I am guided by the African philosophy of Ubuntu, the idea that our humanity is connected and that when we lift others, we all rise together.

Prof Mwidimi Ndosi

Putting patient priorities at the heart of care

As Professor of Rheumatology and Health Outcomes, Mwidimi Ndosi connects clinical research with patients’ priorities. He develops and validates patient-reported outcome measures and supports self-management for people with long-term rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions.

I am interested in ensuring that patients’ perspectives are incorporated into the development and evaluation of healthcare interventions, and that research findings can be translated into meaningful improvements in clinical practice and outcomes that matter to patients.

Mwdimi recently completed a four-year term as Chair of the Health Professionals Committee of the European Alliance of Associations for Rheumatology, contributing to European work on education, standards of care and advocacy. The role reinforced his commitment to multidisciplinary working and to ensuring accessible, evidence-based and person-centred care for people living with rheumatic and musculoskeletal conditions.

Opening doors through knowledge and representation

For Mwdimi, honouring community means contributing through service, mentorship and making health knowledge accessible beyond academia. He supports rheumatology education and capacity-building where specialist services and learning opportunities are limited. In Tanzania, he helps educate health professionals, provides information to patient groups and, with local colleagues, highlights the need for stronger professional education, patient support, research and rheumatology services. This work reduces barriers to knowledge and builds sustainable local capacity.

For me, academic citizenship means using my experience and position to help create opportunities for others.

Mwidimi also shares research and health information through mainstream and digital media, including BBC Swahili, helping to make evidence more accessible to diverse audiences. In addition he volunteers with parkrun to encourage physical activity and wellbeing across different ages and abilities. Within higher education and research, he mentors early-career researchers, clinicians and aspiring academics, helping them gain the confidence, skills and opportunities to progress. His own path from nursing to professorship was not straightforward. As a Black academic and nurse, he has seen the value of representation, opportunity and encouragement, strengthening his commitment to those underrepresented in senior roles.

Prof Faatihah Niyi-Odumosu

Expanding participation in active, healthy lives

Faatihah Niyi-Odumosu is a medical doctor and Professor of Physical Activity, Ageing and Community Health at UWE Bristol, as well as a Distinguished Professor of Public Health at MIVA University, Nigeria.

Her research develops physical activity interventions with underserved groups, including older adults, global majority Black and Asian communities, Muslim women and people with long-term conditions such as chronic kidney disease (CKD), in an effort to tackle health inequalities.

My work is participatory and co-designed, and it advocates for greater inclusion in health research and clinical trials.

Faatihah has secured about £3 million in Research and Knowledge Exchange funding from the Medical Research Council, Medical Research Foundation and Innovate UK. Her projects include Fitbees, a digital service helping South Asian older adults and adults with learning difficulties stay active and connected, and Family Backyard Cricket, which promotes intergenerational activity and social cohesion in South Asian and Black families. She is currently working on C2REST, a longitudinal study of the effects of climate change and air pollution on respiratory health in urban and rural Nigeria. Faatihah is also Associate Editor of the Journal of Physical Activity and Health and Secretary of the low- and middle-income country International Society of Physical Activity and Health Research Counciln (LMICISPAH).

From evidence to everyday impact

Faatihah founded Ageing Lifestyle in Blacks and Asians (ALIBSA), a global knowledge-exchange and research-engagement programme that improves health literacy and confidence in accessing services among ageing Black and Asian communities. Since 2023, it has offered free monthly webinars on ageing and healthy living across several continents.

She also established FaithFit, which equips multifaith leaders to promote physical activity, and the Renal Health Initiative, which supports CKD awareness, prevention and treatment through faith-led outreach in Nigeria, where one in ten adults is affected. In 2025, the initiative screened more than 200 people and referred 30 for further investigation. She later led the CoolKidney workshop with stakeholders and outdoor workers on heat stress and kidney health, alongside a related UK study funded through BNSSG ICB research capability funding with UWE Bristol colleagues in Architecture and Built Environment and Engineering.

I believe research has its greatest value when it improves lives, so much of my work extends beyond the university into communities locally and globally.

Mentoring is central to Faatihah’s work through the Royal Society Career Development Fellowship, Commonwealth Scholarship Commission and UWE Bristol Women Researchers’ Mentoring Scheme. She hosted a grant-writing workshop for Breaking Barriers for Black Academia and runs “Dragons’ Den: Nurturing Research”, where early-career researchers in the Global South pitch ideas and receive feedback and mentorship through her ISPAH role.

At UWE Bristol, she co-leads the Black Professoriate Group, coordinates the Africa Staff Network and serves as EDI co-lead for the School of Applied Sciences. Her work has received the UWE Bristol Community Impact Staff Award and Black Hall of Fame Award.

Dr Ifeoma Elizabeth Dan-Ogosi

Creating inclusive classrooms where students thrive

Ifeoma Elizabeth Dan-Ogosi is an Associate Professor in Public Health and Social Justice in UWE Bristol’s School of Health and Social Wellbeing, where she leads the MSc Leadership for Public Health and the Public Health Leadership and Management apprenticeship module.

After training in microbiology and working in sales in Nigeria, Ifeoma rebuilt her career in the UK through health research and higher education, completing her PhD in 2023 while working full-time. This journey informs her commitment to creating classrooms where every student can belong and succeed.

In May 2026 I gave the closing keynote at the Global Empowerment and Inclusion Summit at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. In September I gave a TEDx talk in Abuja. The title was: The Girl They Silenced, Built the Room Anyway. Neither of those stages was on anyone’s plan for me – including mine. This is the story of what I built when the system said no.

Across sixteen years of teaching and research at four UK universities, Ifeoma developed the Transformative Multicultural Classroom (TMC) model, drawing on Freire, bell hooks and Patricia Hill Collins to embed cultural and psychological safety in everyday practice. Modules taught through TMC achieve first-sit pass rates of 98.8–100%, with students from Global Majority backgrounds making up 60% of high performers. These results are proof that when belonging is embedded into the structure of education, outcomes improve for everyone. The University of Southampton has adopted the model within its Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice, and it is also being implemented at the University of Gloucestershire, University Centre Weston and UWE Bristol. Ifeoma is now writing a book on TMC and co-editing Public Health Leadership: Learning from Experience in the UK for Policy Press.

Building networks and widening opportunity

Ifeoma co-chairs the Steering Board of 100 Black Women Professors Now, run by WHEN Equality, and brought the programme to UWE Bristol, where it has secured funding for a further three years. Four UWE Bristol participants have since been promoted: three to Associate Professor and one to Professor. Alongside Tinkuma, Ifeoma co-founded the Safe Space Initiative for Black Women in Academia, with the motto “Connected, supported, thriving”. She also leads InspireHerNow, a women’s empowerment initiative, and a Black and Menopausal group supporting Black women experiencing menopause.

I describe myself as a Positive Disruptor and a Relentless People Connector. I challenge what holds people back, and I never stop bringing people together, because I believe progress happens when people are connected, championed and lifted up.

Since 2018, Ifeoma has mentored more than 50 early-career academics and PhD students across six universities and serves on the steering board of PhD Beyond 50s, where she also contributes her qualitative research expertise to its seminars.

At UWE Bristol, Ifeoma contributed to the anti-racism strategy and champions student success, disability access and widening participation. She also initiated and co-led the African Cultural Showcase, (with Dr Chizoba Esio-Bassey, Diana Peprah and Chinedum Ekene Samuel, supported by Dr Eugie Ntekor, Isaac Anaquador, Bea Payne, Mo Ebengo and Olabimpe Adegbuyi) which brought together more than 170 staff, students and members of the wider community. She received five awards in 2025 – three for equality, diversity and inclusion, and two recognising her community service, teaching and learning, and research. Subsequently she has been named a Role Model Future Leader in the INvolve People Awards.

What connects all of this is a single conviction: the system changes when the people it excluded come back and build the room anyway. That is what I am doing. And I am just getting started.

Together Professors Edafioghor, Ndosi, Niyi-Odumosu and Dan-Ogosi exhibit how research, leadership and service can create lasting change when communities are placed at the heart of these endeavors. By sharing knowledge, widening opportunities and supporting others to thrive, they embody the essence of Honouring Communities and are helping to build a more inclusive future.

Strengthening higher education through UK-Mexico collaboration: from shared priorities to practical action in Coahuila

Author Lynn Goh | Posted on

Above: Workshop participants at Universidad Tecnológica de Saltillo (UTS).

By Dr Tariq Umar, Associate Professor in Sustainable Construction and the Built Environment (UWE Bristol) and UK Project Lead

A three-day programme in Saltillo brought together universities, government and industry to explore how international collaboration can strengthen higher education quality, institutional capacity, employability and future opportunities for students and staff.

From 5 to 7 August 2026, colleagues from the UWE Bristol worked with higher education, government and industry partners in Coahuila, Mexico, through the project Strengthening systems to improve the quality and efficiency of higher education institutions in Coahuila, Mexico.

The project is funded by the British Council through the Going Global Partnerships – HE Connects 2025 programme and aims to strengthen higher education systems through UK–Mexico collaboration, with a particular focus on quality assurance, governance, internationalisation, capacity building and strategic planning.

Hosted by Universidad Tecnológica de Saltillo (UTS), the three-day programme involved students, academic and professional services staff, institutional leaders and external stakeholders. Engagement also included Universidad Politécnica de Ramos Arizpe (UPRA), the Secretaría de Educación del Estado de Coahuila (SEDU), COPARMEX Coahuila Sureste, and the Comité de Recursos Humanos de Derramadero.

The on-site activities were designed not simply to present approaches from the UK, but to understand local priorities, exchange experience and co-develop practical actions that can inform the project’s institutional toolkit, strategic roadmap, policy recommendations and future collaboration.

Understanding what partners want from international collaboration

The first day focused on institutional engagement and understanding the local context. Following an introduction to the HE Connects project, discussions explored UWE Bristol’s approach to international collaboration alongside UTS’s institutional priorities, existing initiatives and future challenges. Academic and professional services colleagues also contributed perspectives on where international cooperation could add the greatest value.

Interactive live polling was used alongside the discussions to enable participants to contribute directly to the emerging priorities.

An opening exercise generated 50 responses to the question of what a successful UWE–UTS partnership should achieve. The most frequently recurring themes included innovation, improvement, opportunities and knowledge, alongside trust, learning, mobility, student exchange and future collaboration.

These aspirations became more specific when 44 participants were asked to rank priorities for future UWE–UTS collaboration. Student mobility emerged as the highest-ranked priority, followed by internationalisation and joint or dual programmes. Industry engagement, quality enhancement, curriculum collaboration, staff development and joint research were also identified as important areas for future cooperation.

Together, these responses highlighted an appetite not only for institutional agreements, but for collaboration that creates tangible opportunities for students and staff.

Building capacity in internationalisation and quality enhancement

The second day moved from institutional dialogue to capacity building with academic and professional staff. Sessions focused on internationalisation in higher education and quality enhancement and institutional development, followed by interactive round-table discussions and priority-setting activities.

A central message was that internationalisation should not be understood simply as overseas recruitment or physical mobility. The workshop considered it as a whole-institution approach encompassing curriculum, partnerships, research, staff development, student experience and employability.

Participants explored practical questions such as how international perspectives can be embedded within curricula, how staff and student mobility can be developed, how collaborative research can be strengthened, and how international engagement can connect more directly with regional economic priorities.

The priority-setting exercise provided a clear indication of where participants believed institutional attention should be concentrated. Among 18 participants, internationalisation ranked first, followed by industry engagement and quality. Employability and research followed, with equality, diversity and inclusion and sustainability also included among the seven institutional priorities considered.

When internationalisation was examined in greater detail, international partnerships and collaborative research were the two areas most frequently identified as requiring further development. In one exercise involving 21 responses, international partnerships received seven responses, collaborative research five, and transnational education three.

These results helped shift the conversation from a broad ambition to “be more international” towards more focused questions about what internationalisation should mean in practice for UTS and its partners.

From priorities to action

The third day was deliberately designed to turn the previous discussions into practical next steps.

Faculty members worked with an action-planning approach that required priorities to be translated into specific actions, identified owners, potential partners, timescales and indicators of success. The intention was to move away from broad statements such as “improve internationalisation” towards more concrete and deliverable commitments.

Several practical opportunities emerged from the discussions. These included benchmarking curricula against international practice and labour-market expectations, developing international online masterclasses and guest lectures, exploring staff and student mobility, and strengthening collaboration between faculty and industry around real-world challenges.

The discussion also recognised that internationalisation does not always need to begin with large-scale overseas mobility. Where resources are constrained, visiting academics, online masterclasses, collaborative teaching and other forms of international engagement can provide accessible starting points while relationships and funding opportunities develop.

As Dr Tariq Umar, Associate Professor in Sustainable Construction and the Built Environment at UWE Bristol and UK project lead, reflected during the action-planning session:

“The question here is, how do we move from these thoughts and new questions to action?”

That question became an important theme throughout the final day.

Connecting higher education with government and industry

The programme subsequently widened to include a policy and industry dialogue with representatives from SEDU, COPARMEX Coahuila Sureste and the Comité de Recursos Humanos de Derramadero.

The discussion examined how institutional quality and internationalisation can contribute to regional development, what system-level barriers may affect improvement, and how universities, government and employers can share responsibility for employability and innovation.

A particularly important theme was the changing meaning of graduate readiness.

Stakeholder contributions emphasised that a university degree alone is increasingly insufficient in a rapidly changing labour market. Employers need graduates who can communicate effectively, collaborate, solve complex problems, adapt to change, continue learning and work alongside emerging technologies.

The conversation therefore extended beyond employment rates to consider how higher education can develop the capabilities needed for longer-term professional and economic resilience.

Industry engagement was also discussed as something that should influence education before students graduate. Participants highlighted opportunities for employer input into curricula, practical projects, faculty engagement with industry, international exposure, problem-based research and stronger alignment between academic programmes and evolving workforce requirements.

The final day’s programme also included engagement with UPRA, extending the conversation across institutions and creating further opportunities to explore future academic and research collaboration.

What participants prioritised

Across the three days, several clear messages emerged from the participant responses:

  • 50 responses to the opening exercise associated successful collaboration particularly with innovation, opportunities, knowledge, improvement and trust.
  • Among 44 participants, student mobility was ranked as the leading priority for future UWE–UTS collaboration, followed by internationalisation and joint or dual programmes.
  • Among 18 staff participants, internationalisation, industry engagement and quality were ranked as the three highest institutional priorities for the next two years.
  • In a 21-response exercise focused specifically on internationalisation, international partnerships and collaborative research were most frequently identified as areas requiring further development.

These responses are important because they demonstrate that the priorities of the project are being shaped through participation and dialogue rather than being predetermined by one institution or one national context.

Building beyond the three-day visit

The on-site programme represents one stage in a wider partnership rather than an endpoint.

Evidence generated through the discussions, workshops, live polling and action-planning exercises will now contribute to the project’s institutional toolkit, strategic roadmap, policy recommendations and final reporting. The project is also exploring longer-term possibilities around mobility, international curriculum development, joint research, staff capacity building and university–industry collaboration.

Perhaps the strongest message from the visit is that meaningful internationalisation is not simply about connecting institutions across borders. It depends on co-creation, reciprocity, trust and an understanding of local priorities.

By bringing together universities, government and industry, the Coahuila programme created a space not only to exchange ideas, but also to ask what practical changes are possible, who needs to be involved and how progress can be sustained.

The next stage of the British Council-funded partnership will focus on turning these shared priorities into actions that can create lasting opportunities for institutions, staff, students and the wider region.

The project team would like to thank colleagues and participants from UTS, UPRA, SEDU, COPARMEX Coahuila Sureste and the Comité de Recursos Humanos de Derramadero for their contribution, engagement and support throughout the visit, and the British Council for supporting the UK–Mexico collaboration.

Further information

If you have any questions about the project or would like further information, please contact Dr Tariq Umar.