Climate Crisis Pump-Priming call 2024/25

UCL’s Grand Challenge of Climate Crisis (GC CC) welcomes applications for “pump-priming” funding of up to £75,000 per project to support research that crosses disciplinary boundaries and accelerates discovery and development. 

Projects should represent impactful preliminary work that can lead to the development of a larger, externally funded project. Applications should be aligned with the objectives of the Grand Challenge of Climate Crisis, which includes advancing institutional excellence in climate research and innovation in our current key strategic areas of focus:

• Sustainable aviation
• Food security 
• Climate governance.

More information on what projects may address within these themes is available in the call document.

Conceptual, basic, and applied work from different research traditions and disciplines within these themes are all critical for developing more effective ways to address climate change and its multifaceted impacts, and are all within the remit of this call. UCL Grand Challenges uses ‘inter-disciplinarity’ to mean collaboration between experts in different fields that cuts across disciplinary silos. We include professional services staff in this definition and  support their involvement in proposals. We see inter-disciplinary research as the effort to solve problems in an innovative way through the integration of skills and/or approaches from different disciplines. 

To be eligible for this call applications must include at least two members of UCL staff from different faculties or professional services offices, see eligibility criteria, below. 

As part of our commitment to equity and inclusion, we would particularly like to encourage applications from colleagues who identify as underrepresented groups including, but not limited to, women, BAME, LGBT+ community and disabled individuals at UCL to apply for this opportunity.

Funding 

Applications for projects costing between £25,000 and £75,000 will be considered under this call. Funding must be spent by 31 July 2026. Due to UCL financial restrictions, the funding will be issued in two tranches: the first must be spent by 31 July 2025, the second will run until 31 July 2026. Any unspent funds within each year be returned to UCL Finance at the end of the UCL financial year. Applicants should indicate the split of funding between the two periods in their application form. We expect applicants to profile at least a third of the total project budget for the first funding period (but please consider that any unspent funds will be returned to UCL finance and won't be available in the second period).

Salary costs for research assistant staff are eligible, but contributions towards salary costs for contracted UCL staff members are not. A brief report of all expenditures must be submitted, alongside an impact report.

Sandpits

To support prospective applicants to this call, we are running two-hour sandpits for each of the three themes. The sessions are designed to foster collaboration, idea sharing, and creation of project ideas, so please come ready to join in the discussions and activities. If you’d like to participate, please sign up using the links below.

Sandpit 1: Sustainable Aviation
27 November 2024
13:00 to 15:00
Sidara, 150 Holborn

Sandpit 2: Food Security
03 December 2024
13:00 to 15:00
Wilkins Garden Room, Bernard Katz Building

Sandpit 3: Climate Governance
04 December 2024
13:00 to 15:00
20 Bedford Way, Institute of Education, Room 642

Eligibility

Please ensure you familiarise yourself with the eligibility criteria. 

• Proposals must be focused on one of the current Grand Challenge of the Climate Crisis key strategic themes: food security, climate governance, and sustainable aviation.
• Proposals should be for work that supports a bid for further funding. Applicants should outline their plans for securing further funding based on this pump-priming activity.
• Eligible collaborations must include a First and Second applicant.
• The First applicant must be a UCL member of staff (academic or professional services)
• The First Applicant's status and period of employment at UCL must enable him or her to receive funding from the Grand Challenges that can be administered by their department
• The Second Applicant should represent expertise from a different area of UCL; they must come from a different academic faculty or professional services office than the First Applicant.
• Applications will be assessed on the likelihood that they will lead to follow on funding, which can be enhanced by demonstrating relevance to stakeholders. You are encouraged to include relevant additional collaborators. There is no limit to the number of additional collaborators, including:
  • UCL staff (Academic or Professional Services)
  • Students (undergraduate or postgraduate) 
  • Academic staff at another university in the UK or overseas
  • External partners drawn from third sector organisations (e.g. community-based organisations), policy think tanks, industry, or business
  • Staff of a non-academic organisation in the UK or overseas

How to apply

1. ​​​Read the call document to familiarise yourself with the themes, eligibility criteria and the terms & conditions.
2. Download the application form, complete, and rename using the format “First Applicant Family Name and Second Applicant Family Name”
3. Upload the form (in PDF format) to the online application portal before Friday, 17 January 2025, 17.00 (GMT).

If you have any questions, or require the form in an alternative format, please email Max Gillingham (max.gillingham@ucl.ac.uk).