by Sara Melasecchi
Last October 2025, I was awarded some funding as part of the UWE Bristol’s Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Impact Acceleration Account (IAA) Rapid Response Fund 2025-2027. Here are some thoughts on my journey with this funding.
This award represented the first time I led a research project; hence, it brought some flexibility and satisfactory results, but also some challenges. I will present both sides to inform the decisions of young researchers in applying for this scheme.
My recently completed PhD study on low-traffic neighbourhoods and the East Bristol Liveable Neighbourhood (EBLN) investigated these interventions from a human geography lens, understanding how the relationship between space, place and socio-demographic and cultural identity shapes the success of these interventions. Through immersive qualitative analysis, my findings link theoretical debates on just transitions with the lived realities of the community, investigating how class, race, gender, caregiving responsibilities, and disability mediate the experience of the policy.
The IAA Rapid Response Fund directly targets activities to advance the impact of UWE projects and collaboration through, for example, community workshops, an epistemic justice toolkit, and community engagement activities. Having been successful at securing the fund, I had the opportunity of disseminating my research findings, ultimately helping Bristol City Council and other Local Authorities to understand the different experiences within the community and integrate them into policymaking.
What I found most helpful was the flexibility of the scheme and the support that came from the award. Following my own reflection and sustained engagement with community practitioners over the first few months of this award, the project priorities evolved to better support meaningful impact related to Low Traffic Neighbourhood (LTN) policy in East Bristol and beyond. The revised approach consequently shifted the emphasis away from predefined outputs (such as a toolkit) towards relational, co-produced policy work developed in direct collaboration with practitioners already embedded in the community. As a result, thanks to the AHRC IAA Fund, I could organise a workshop to open a conversation around mobility justice and equity, bringing together approx 18 council officers from different departments together with other sectors’ stakeholders for an interdisciplinary discussion.
Moreover, among other disseminating activities, it also allowed me to develop a policy brief with the help of Luigi Moretti, a PhD student working at UWE Robotics Engineering and Computing for Healthcare (REACH), who is curating the design.
Every project comes with managerial and administrative burdens- yet there are differences from working as a PhD researcher or being a research assistant- here you are the one who is managing the project and needs to take care of the admin. As I already said, it was the first time I was a lead researcher, and the funding allowed me to learn new skills and acquire valuable experience, both in the managerial and in the administrative parts. On the managerial side, some of the difficulties emerged from the lack of experience in communicating and establishing my role within the project with other stakeholders, which resulted in tensions and difficulties in the workflow. From this, I have learned that there is a need to be clearer from the start and not to fear having conversations about work responsibilities, project dynamics and balancing of powers within a collaboration. On the administrative side, I was very lucky that our department’s Executive Support Assistant for the School Management Team is Karen Duka. She helped me through all the financial and administrative tasks and got me through what I thought would have been impossible. This shows the strength of asking for help and having a good work environment.
In general, I recommend every PhD student writing up their findings to apply for the UWE Bristol’s AHRC IAA Rapid Response Fund 2025-2027. It is a powerful tool to have relevant outputs and increase dissemination potential. However, be prepared to understand what being a research lead means: to know when to assert your responsibility and ask for help.