GW4 Newsletter - Multi-million-pound investment for GW4 region to lead on global stage

Welcome to the GW4 Newsletter: your regular digest of GW4 news, funding and development opportunities.

This month ended on a high with the fantastic announcement from UKRI of their Strength in Places funding. Our region has benefited from two projects, MyWorld and CSConnected, which aim to supercharge our regional strengths and research excellence to become global powerhouses in both digital media and compound semiconductor industries. While we welcome the government’s place-based approach to research and innovation funding and support their levelling-up agenda, we would encourage further emphasis on placed-based initiatives. UKRI’s Strength in Places Fund is the only national programme that takes a place-based approach to research and innovation funding to support significant local economic growth. We look forward to capitalising on further opportunities in the future to ensure South Wales and South West England remain global leaders in research and innovation.

I am pleased to announce our successful Generator Award research communities. As always, the standard was incredibly high and it was great to see applications from new communities harnessing research strengths across the institutions and existing communities keen to scale up their research endeavours. In response to the coronavirus pandemic and mindful of our carbon footprint, we are leading the way in digital delivery. I am excited to see our communities’ innovative online content and look forward to sharing their successes and outputs with you in the future.

We continue to support our next generation of research leaders across the alliance. We are hosting a PGR webinar next month, helping our PGRs to navigate their career in these uncertain times. Plus, we are currently supporting our successful PGR and ECR teams to deliver flagship symposia focusing on our priority research areas of Climate and Antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Finally, universities received some positive news with the government announcing a package of support for research. University research is already at the forefront in the fight against coronavirus, and universities are vital to the country’s economic recovery and supporting regional communities. However, this sector has suffered more than most in this crisis and we know along with financial support, collaboration will play a crucial role in helping universities to recover. Collaboration is at the heart of our GW4 Alliance and we will continue to bolster the case for universities; advancing our collaborative research and innovation, and delivering initiatives at scale to drive economic and social recovery.

Multi-million-pound investment for GW4 region to lead on global stage

GW4 Universities, Bristol, Bath and Cardiff, have received a major funding boost from UK Research and Innovation’s flagship Strength in Places Fund. The selected projects will supercharge our regional strengths to become global powerhouses in both digital media and compound semiconductor industries.

The University of Bristol, along with the University of Bath and other partners, are leading on a £46 million-pound visionary initiative called MyWorld. This project will set the South West on track to become an international trailblazer in screen-based media, launching a creative media powerhouse and boosting economic growth, generating more than 700 jobs.

A Cardiff University-led consortium will receive £43.7m to develop a Compound Semiconductor (CS) powerhouse in South Wales. The project, CSconnected, will integrate research excellence with the unique regional supply chains in advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing to create a world-leading cluster of excellence in CS technologies.

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GW4 is delighted to announce funding for eight research communities tackling some of society’s biggest questions and global challenges. GW4’s new pump-priming Generator Award brings GW4’s investment in collaborative research communities to over £2.9m.

The successful projects explore a range of research topics and and global challenges, including maternity leave policies, climate change education and Neurodevelopmental Neurodiversity .

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This webinar on Tuesday 7th July will bring together career consultants from across GW4 for a facilitated Q&A session to share advice and answer your questions on ‘navigating your career in uncertain times’.

We will outline key considerations for managing and launching your career, as well as highlight local and regional opportunities. Register by 2nd July 5pm.

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The Women in Climate (WiC) network at the University of Exeter are a hosting a free two-day online writing workshop on 9th and 10th July.

The sessions will be focused on writing journal articles in meteorology and climate and are open to all levels of experience, across the alliance. Training, writing and one-on-one sessions on both days are all available to book via eventbrite.

Register now

The GW4 Water Security Alliance and the University of Exeter's Environment and Sustainability Institute are hosting their first online Think Tank, 'Towards Fashion Justice: A UK-India Exchange' on Friday 17th July.

This interactive event will explore the multiple injustices in the fashion system from workers’ rights and environmental pollution through to cultural appropriation.

Collaboration is at the heart of GW4 and we encourage colleagues to connect across the alliance and beyond. With many of us working from home and delivering content in new ways it has become even more important to stay connected virtually. We have put together our top ten tips for collaborating online and links to resources to help, including an updated Guide to Research Collaboration.

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GW4 announces new pump-priming research communities

GW4 PGR webinar: Navigating your career in uncertain times

Women in Climate: writing workshop

Towards Fashion Justice

Collaboration in Isolation