BDFI Research Sandpit

Background 

The Bristol Digital Futures Institute mission is to transform digital innovation for more inclusive, prosperous and sustainable societies. Our world leading immersive facilities - comprising the Reality Emulator and our XR suite - are open for use by all disciplines across the University. We are now commissioning digital transformation projects made possible by our facilities.

Opportunity 

BDFI is offering up to 3 grants of up to £10,000 each to produce pilot immersive projects that have the potential to lead to larger future funding bids. There are a number of larger funding opportunities on the horizon (late 2026, early 2027) that this pilot could build towards. Sign-up to our sandpit event and you will have the opportunity to join with BDFI core academics and affiliates to scope an immersive project designed directly to address a public problem. Examples could include: using the Reality Emulator’s immersive cave for public engagement around sustainability issues; experimenting with different ways of doing training in the XR suite’s headsets; or using the BDFI data centre to bring together otherwise unconnected data sets to visualise new approaches to public health problems. We are open to all suggestions and creative ideas.

Details

The BDFI sandpit will take place on the 7th of May 9:00-17:00. The event is open to University of Bristol academics and PhD researchers. If required, we will provide an immersive content creator or data scientist from within the £10,000 budget to work with you in realising your project so no prior technical expertise is required. From within the £10,000 budget, the funds can also be spent on research, events, travel and other staffing costs.

Criteria

A panel consisting of the BDFI directors will provide an initial assessment of ideas on the day and a selection of ideas will be invited to fill in a proposal form to apply for funds. The ideas and the proposals will be judged on their contribution to the BDFI mission and research themes, their interdisciplinarity and novel/original/exciting proposed use of the BDFI facilities.