Cabot Seedcorn Funded projects 2018 - 2019

Winners of 2018's Cabot Institute Innovation Fund have been announced. The funds are aimed at supporting bold, ambitious, and impactful ideas, that transcend disciplinary boundaries. It offers us an opportunity to invite new ideas from our research community – those that might not receive funding from traditional sources, but which show real intellectual or practical promise.

The Cabot Institute Innovation Fund is an annual open call of approximately £30,000 derived from generous gifts and donations to the Cabot Institute. Those who apply for funds must reflect the Cabot Institute’s interdisciplinary and engaged research approach, which brings together multiple disciplines and/or non-academic partners.

Once again, we were delighted to receive fantastic applications across all the Cabot Institute themes of global change, water, low carbon energy, food security, natural hazards and future cities and communities.

Funded projects 2018-2019

The following were successful in their bid and we would like to congratulate them on their awards. Click the links to find out more.


Strategies of resistance and resilience to food insecurity and environmental change: the informal trading of food in the Caribbean

Awarded: £7000

Investigators: Jessica Paddock (SPAIS), Egle Cesnulyte (SPAIS), Neil Carrier (School of Arts).


Dragon eggs: Drone-deployed remote environmental monitoring

Awarded: £2800

Investigators: Kieran Wood (Aerospace Engineering), Tom Scott (Physics), Tom Richardson (Aerospace Engineering), Yannick Verbelen (Physics), Suresh Kaluvan (Physics), Matt Watson (Earth Sciences).


Changing ice: developing interdisciplinary research on the Earth’s cold places

Awarded: £2040

Investigators: Adrian Howkins (Historical Studies), Martyn Tranter (Geographical Sciences).


Cyber security for food security

Awarded: £3000

Investigators: Dirk van der Linden (Computer Science), Emma Williams (Psychological Science), Awais Rashid (Computer Science), Bogdan Warinschi (Computer Science).


Palm oil in nutrition, health and the environment: perceptions from a sub-Saharan African setting

Awarded: £6857

Investigators: Sarah Sauchelli Toran (Bristol Dental School), Jeff Brunstrom (Experimental Psychology), Fiona Lithander (Bristol Dental School), Simeon Pierre Chouken (University of Dschang, Cameroon), Julian Hamilton-Shield (Bristol Medical School).


Development of a floating platform for water quality survey using hyperspectral camera

Awarded: £2726

Investigators: Dawei Han (Civil Engineering), Yiheng Chen (Civil Engineering), Miguel Rico-Ramirez (Civil Engineering), Theo Tryfonas (Civil Engineering), John Day (Physics), Roddy Allan (Mechanical Engineering).


Food as a commons: setting an innovative research and impact agenda for the future of food in the UK

Awarded: £3810

Investigators: Tomaso Ferrando (Law School), Naomi Millner (Geographical Sciences), Chiara Tornaghi (Coventry University), Jose Luis Vivero-Pol (University of Louvain), Priscilla Claeys (Coventry University).

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