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Networking Fund

The Crick and University Partnership Networking Fund supports staff and students from the Crick, UCL, Imperial and King’s to organise networking events with now up to £4,000 or £10,000 available per project, depending on the remit.

Applications are currently being accepted for the Crick Partnership Networking Fund which supports staff and students from the Crick and its university partners (UCL, King’s and Imperial) to establish and develop connections across disciplinary boundaries to lead to fruitful research collaborations and advance the mission of Discovery without Boundaries. 

The aims of the Networking Fund (NF) are to:

  1. Build and strengthen interactions within the Crick-University partnership through joint events and build communities of staff and students around common research themes.

  2. Allow groups of scientists and/or operation staff to create new professional networks, share expertise and skills, possibly beyond their own discipline.

  3. Support interdisciplinary scientists to make connections, share and develop research ideas that could be included in joint research funding applications.

  4. Primarily benefit the Crick and partner university staff and students, however, networking events could also include external participants from other universities, industry, policy or other organisations where appropriate.

Who can apply

Any student or staff member (employee) from the Crick and its university partners are eligible to apply as an applicant e.g. researchers (from research groups and STPs/scientific platforms), technical and/or operation staff.

All applications must involve the Crick and at least one university partner to be eligible. Proposals which have applicants or attendees from all partners are particularly welcome and encouraged if the topic proposed would benefit all.

Types of events supported by the NF

The Fund will support a wide range of in-person and hybrid events such as:

  • Seminar series
  • Small and large-scale symposia
  • Scientific meetings
  • Training events and workshops
  • Scientific networks to exchange ideas on specific research topics or technical/methodological approaches
  • Public engagement activities and events

Awards and remit

Two types of awards are now available, depending on the remit and objectives of the events.

Up to £4k Award: to support networking events aimed at either sustaining existing collaborations within the partnership or developing new links e.g., new networks, seminar series, small-scale symposia and workshops

Up to £10k award: to support events that focus on strategically important thematic areas, particularly those currently prioritised by the Crick and its university partners:

  • Engineering
  • Clinical Research
  • Human Biology and Physiology
  • Developmental neurobiology
  • Advanced AI and data science in basic bioscience

​​​​​​​​​​​​​​These events should aim to establish long lasting interactions between the Crick and its partner universities and clearly advance the Crick partnership strategy.

Two to three calls will be run each year. Applications will be reviewed by the Networking Fund Committee that comprises representatives from each of the partners (Crick, UCL, Imperial, King’s).

Application Deadline: Friday 17th January 2025

 

 

For more information, please contact uni-partnership@crick.ac.uk

Hear more from our previous participants:

“The Networking Fund has provided an invaluable opportunity for the development of new links between individuals and teams who may not otherwise have got in contact” Wei Xing, Crick Scientific Computing (Image Analysis seminar series in partnership with UCL, Imperial and King’s College London)

The Networking Fund has helped to bring the vibrant London neuroscience community into the Crick, as well as creating and strengthening bonds across groups and institutions” Carles Bosch, Crick Postdoc (London Neurotechnology Network in partnership with UCL and Imperial College London)

“The Networking Fund allowed us to establish a group of researchers from within the Crick and through the partner institutes that focus on single-molecule techniques, totally independent of research group, university department or field of biological enquiry”  James Flewellen, Crick Postdoc (Single Molecule Network, in partnership with Imperial College London)

“The Networking Fund enabled our newly established London Stem Cell Network (LSCN) to expand its activities in holding workshops that promoted both networking and research opportunities” Antoniana Batsivari, Crick Postdoc (London Stem Cell Network, in partnership with UCL, King’s and Imperial College London)​​​​​​​