Research Development Fund
Call now closed.
The WUN Research Development Fund (RDF) provides grants of up to £10,000 for one year, to foster research collaborations among academic staff at WUN member universities. Priority is given to well-defined proposals which aim to create new international research links or develop existing ones, and on which a diverse team of collaborating partners confers distinct advantage. Applications from Early Career Researchers are particularly welcome.
In line with the WUN Strategic Plan 2023-2026, proposals are encouraged that address problems in one or more of the following areas within the context of sustainable development:
- Social justice and human rights; inequality
- Sustainable world: cities and urbanization; energy transitions; water and food security
- Mental health; child and maternal health; ageing
- Responsible and ethical applications of Artificial Intelligence
Grants from the RDF are intended to help launch larger projects that will strengthen research partnerships across the network.
RDF 2024 submission timeline
Each member institution is limited to two submissions per call each year. Bristol researchers interested in applying should therefore follow the timeline below to allow for internal shortlisting.
- Tuesday 18 June: Bristol call opens. Complete the WUN RDF 2024 Internal Application Form UPDATED 20 Aug 2024 (Office document, 937kB).
- Wednesday 4 September (12 pm BST): Deadline for submission of draft proposals to rd-international@bristol.ac.uk.
- Wednesday 18 September: Announcement of shortlisted RDF proposals. Invitations to develop full proposals.
- Friday 18 October (9 pm BST): Deadline for submission of full proposals to WUN via their application portal.
Please contact Jo Brooks, the WUN Coordinator for Bristol, if you are interested in applying.
Information on current and previous RDF projects can be found in WUN's research projects database.
Opportunities for collaboration on RDF projects being led by other WUN member universities
A number of project teams from other WUN member universities are looking for international collaborators. Below is a list of current opportunities. If you are interested in joining a collaboration please get in touch with the relevant lead academic. Please note that internal shortlisting timelines are not consistent across all member universities so do get in touch with teams as soon as possible.
Mental health in tertiary institutions: a quest for students' perceptions in public universities in Uganda
Dr Michael Kizito (Computer Science, Makerere University, Uganda)
- The study intends to carry out interviews to get the perceptions of students about mental health in tertiary institutions to inform the design of digital tools in promoting advocacy and how to seek for and provide help to those in need of relevant services. This project seeks to examine student perceptions of the notion of “mental health” using qualitative data collection techniques in public universities in Uganda.
- I am looking for a collaborator who is familiar with qualitative data collection as well as carrying out research in low resource settings.
Circular economy approach of food waste management for Thai fresh markets
Dr Cheerawit Rattanapan (ASEAN Institute for Health Development, Mahidol University, Thailand)
- Food waste is an emerging issue from the growing global population and, hence, a need to ensure more food. Specifically, the solid waste generation from the fresh market was the second largest source of solid waste generators after households in Thailand. The circular economy concept is a strategic approach that helps local communes shift from a linear to a circular metabolism and the implementation in local organizations. Here, food waste management from the Thai fresh market will consider economic factors and minimize environmental impacts. This research aims to develop an optimized option of food waste management for Thai fresh markets by circular economy. Firstly, the flow of food waste generation in Thai fresh markets will be determined. Then, the physical and chemical characteristics of food waste, the current situation of food waste management, the systematic review of option and index assessment of food waste with circular economy for Thai fresh market will be collected and conducted for option development process. Finally, the master circular economy options of food waste management for Thai fresh markets will be developed by the workshop with the WUN expert and marker owner, as well as the circular economy assessment.
- I am looking for Co-Is with expertise in circular economy, environmental management and sustainable development.
- Please get in touch by 7 October 2024 if you are interested in collaborating.
Dangerous heights: designing for the health, safety and wellbeing of low-income communities housing the urban poor
Dr Isaiah Durosaiye (School of Architecture and Landscape, University of Sheffield, UK)
- In the advent of global urbanisation, there is a latent awareness of a dearth of affordable housing for the urban poor. Hence cities in the Global North and South are increasingly resorting to residential tower housing to provide much-needed accommodation for their low-income communities. Yet, available evidence suggests that this housing typology is comparatively worse for dwellers’ mental and physical health than other dwelling types. For example, older people who live in residential tower housing tend to be more depressed, have higher rates of psychiatric disorders, and are more socially isolated than those living in other residential types. Women living in this type of housing experience a higher degree of loneliness and isolation because the verticality and a lack of proximity to communal gathering places (such as gardens) hinder social interactions. Safety concerns – such as the risk of accidents and fear of crime – associated with residential tower housing engender parental anxiety and worries. In response to the risk of falls from balconies associated with residential tower housing, parents tend to be more restrictive and have more rigid control over children’s activities. Restricted outdoor play opportunities among children living in residential tower housing have been associated with children’s psychological distress, poor cognitive functioning and adverse well-being. Those children who cannot play freely outdoors are more likely to experience strained relations with their parents and have fewer playmates. This study will explore the implications of residential tower housing on older people aged 60 years and over and children between 6 – 11 years. I intend to focus on these demographics as they are often the most susceptible to the adverse impacts of living in residential tower housing.
- I am an architectural gerontologist, and I am seeking to work with people with complementary knowledge and expertise including ageing and demographic studies, architects, geriatricians and gerontologists, paediatricians and people involved in children’s studies and urban planners. My long-term vision for this new partnership is to create an international network of researchers dedicated to supporting housing for low-income communities in the Global South.
- Please get in touch by 30 September 2024 if you are interested in collaborating.
Network against ageism in healthcare
Dr Jordana Salma (Faculty of Nursing, University of Alberta, Canada)
- Ageism, or discrimination based on age, leads to older adults receiving lower-quality care and being overlooked in healthcare decisions. Ageism in health care can manifest in various ways across social interactions, organizational cultures, and health policies. Ageism can also be internalized and shapes older adults’ perceptions of their health and their interactions with healthcare providers. Ageism became particularly evident during the COVID-19 pandemic when older adults were disproportionately affected by the virus and often received inadequate care. Healthcare systems were not equipped to manage the surge in cases or to prioritize the needs of older patients effectively. This project will identify how healthcare systems can become more resilient and better prepared for future crises by tackling ageism and meaningfully including the voices of older adults in decision making to improve service provision and policy implementation. Involving older adults in the decision-making process ensures that healthcare solutions reflect their experiences and concerns in ways that counter prevailing ageist norms and leads to better health outcomes. This network of nurse leaders will work together to better understand and fight ageism in healthcare by a) exploring the ways ageism is enacted implicitly or explicitly across differing contexts and b) identifying ways older adults’ voices can be augmented within healthcare systems to counter ageist stereotypes. An intersectionality framework will inform this project because ageism does not exist in isolation but interacts with other forms of discrimination, such as those based on gender, race, socioeconomic status, and disability. Network activities for the one-year project will begin with a review of the literature, followed by a series of engagement workshops targeting a broader audience. Current WUN members on proposal include: Alberta, Ghana, Mahidol.
- I am looking for nurse researchers or other health researchers with expertise in nursing practice and gerontology interested in identifying strategies to reduce ageism in healthcare systems.
- Please get in touch by 14 October 2024 if you are interested in collaborating.
Safeguarding academic integrity: evaluating the impact of generative AI on the sustainability of educational assessment
Dr Okan Bulut (Faculty of Education, University of Alberta, Canada)
- Our project aims to investigate the potential threat that generative AI tools, specifically large language models (LLMs), pose to the sustainability of educational assessments in higher education. As generative AI systems become increasingly sophisticated, there is growing concern that students may increasingly rely on these tools to generate correct answers in conventional assessments, thereby compromising academic integrity. This project will conduct a comprehensive evaluation across a number of English-speaking countries by collecting a large sample of course assessments from WUN universities affiliated with the project’s collaborators. These assessments will be completed using different LLMs (e.g., ChatGPT and Gemini), and their accuracy will be analyzed by the instructors to determine: 1) which LLMs are more proficient at producing correct answers in various types of assessments, 2) which types of questions or assessment formats are most vulnerable to being compromised by generative AI tools, and 3) how cross-cultural differences affect the robustness of assessments against AI-facilitated cheating. We anticipate that the findings will provide actionable recommendations for educators and higher education institutions on creating more sustainable and secure assessment methods that are less susceptible to manipulation by generative AI tools, thereby safeguarding academic integrity in the face of rapidly advancing AI technologies. This project is expected to generate a series of influential publications in top academic journals (e.g., International Journal of Artificial Intelligence in Education) specializing in AI ethics and educational assessment, offering new insights into how traditional assessment methods are vulnerable to AI-generated responses. The research findings will also drive policy changes at the institutional level, leading participating WUN universities to develop new guidelines and best practices aimed at creating assessments that are resilient to AI-facilitated cheating. This one-year project will lay a solid foundation for future research endeavors. We will use its findings to further explore the development of innovative assessment tools that promote ethical use of generative AI by university students. Additionally, the project will position our research team to apply for major research grants from funding bodies such as SSHRC in Canada and NSF in the United States. Because of the nature of this project considering generative AI through large-language models, the focus of the project will be in English-speaking countries. Current WUN members participating on the project include: Alberta, Auckland, CUHK, and Rochester and additional partners would be appreciated from other English-speaking countries.
- I am looking for researchers in education and/or AI with an interest in generative AI through large-language models.
- Please get in touch by 14 October 2024 if you are interested in collaborating.