Global Engagement Funds 2019/20: latest recipients announced

The recipients of the 2019/20 stream of global engagement seed funding have been revealed.

This year, 109 projects have been funded by GEO across a range of regions and subject areas: from housing inequality, mental health in adolescents and art education for refugees, to using virtual reality for communication and even characterising the mating songs of malaria mosquitoes.

Many applications were from first-time applicants and early career researchers.

One recipient, Dr. Eleanore Hargreaves (UCL Institute of Education), received funding to write and publish a book and film about the schooling experiences of displaced Syrian children.

She will use the funds to reinforce links with organisations in Lebanon to involve the children they work with in the filming and writing process.

Eleanore said she was “absolutely delighted” at the news. She added:

"I know that we can certainly contribute richly to UCL’s global engagement and we are proud to be part of this. Very many thanks for giving us this opportunity!"

Dr. Kartikeya Tripathi (UCL Security and Crime Science) has been awarded funding for his project “Safeguarding child welfare in state's response to missing children in Mumbai.” Kartikeya is working with several partners in India, including the Railway Police, NGO Pratham Council for Vulnerable Children and the Marharashtra Government Department of Women and Child Welfare.

Kartikeya said:

"Thanks a lot for the wonderful news. Dr Julian Walker and I look forward to continuing our project with this invaluable support."

Another of the 2019/20 recipients, Dr Adeola Olaitan (Consultant Gynaecological Oncologist at University College London Hospital) has already put the funds to good use. 

The support she received for her project ‘Cervical Cancer Prevention - Improving Outcomes’ has meant she could hold a successful meeting at the Surgical Skills Centre in Lagos University Teaching Hospital, focusing on improving the prevention and detection of cervical cancer.

Leading to bigger things

At times, GEF recipients find the initial support can pave the way to securing significant further funding for their collaboration.

Dr Aiduan Borrion (UCL Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering), received GEF funding in 2018/19.

Aiduan met Professor Shenghui Cui from the Chinese Academy of Science Institute for Urban Environment (IUE) at the International Conference on Industrial Ecology in Chicago in June 2017, where they found common ground in their research and decided they wanted to collaborate.

Aiduan applied for Global Engagement Funds to visit Shenghui in China. This led to a collaboration which has grown into the project “Novel Organics Recovery Using Mobile ADvanced technology” (NOMAD), which recently won a Horizon 2020 grant for €5.5 million (£5 million).

NOMAD enables Aiduan and Shenghui’s teams to work together to understand the impacts of biofertilizer recovered from biogas effluent on our food systems and environment. 

The project involves 14 European Partners and the Chinese Academy of Science and they are now planning a student exchange involving their PhD students and Post Doctoral Research Assistants.

Aiduan said:

"The Global Engagement Funds enabled me to visit the Chinese Academy Science to present my work and learn about Prof Cui and his colleagues’ work. This really helped us establish a collaborative partnership between UCL and IUE and develop a plan for collaboration. The success of H2020 is a direct outcome of this partnership."

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