Funding Opportunity: £1,000 to Help Bring ‘Be Part of Research’ to Your Community
About this opportunity
The opportunity:
The South West Peninsula Regional Research Delivery Network is offering £1,000 grants to VCFSE organisations to help more people from communities currently underrepresented in research find out about and sign up to Be Part of Research (BPoR). We are looking for 1 trusted local partner in Somerset to make this happen in ways that feel natural, accessible, and relevant.
Why now, and why Somerset?:
We know that, as a VCSFE organisation, you know your community. We want to give you the freedom to use that knowledge creatively, while working together towards the shared goal of helping more people who are currently underrepresented in research to discover and join Be Part of Research.
The funding available in Somerset is part of a wider project where we in the NIHR are working with VCSFE organisations across the whole South West Peninsula. We are excited to learn about the particular challenges, barriers, and opportunities there are in Somerset to engage the public with BPoR. This is your opportunity to feed in to how we work with communities in Somerset, going forwards.
What we hope to learn, understand, or achieve:
We know that you understand your communities better than we do. You therefore have creative freedom over your activities!
As a general guide, a £1000 project should aim to:
– Meaningfully engage 50–100 people with Be Part of Research;
– Generate 15–20 new BPoR sign-ups;
– Provide genuine interaction – an opportunity for people to ask questions, and to receive practical sign-up help (rather than just handing out flyers);
– Track simple outcomes: what you did, who you reached, sign-ups, and what you learned.
These are not rigid quotas, and we will provide training and support throughout the project. We are interested not only in how many people sign up, but in learning what helps people engage with research, what gets in the way, and what approaches work well in different communities.
If you are interested, please fill out the Expression of Interest form: https://forms.gle/KPGVBCdYTnuZCPgT8. Due to a problem uploading the form to the opportunity dashboard, we are extending the deadline until Friday 13th November at midday.
Ways to get involved:
What organisations might gain from being involved:
From being involved, you will gain:
– Flexible funding: £1000 to run engagement activities;
– Creative autonomy: the chance to design and run your own activities to help underrepresented communities access health and care research;
– Engagement skills development: dedicated training session and support from us throughout;
– Shared learning – a platform through the final feedback session to directly influence how the NIHR understands community barriers and engages underrepresented groups in the future.
Introduction to the project lead
Name:
Rachel Hindmarsh
Organisation:
South West Peninsula Regional Research Delivery Network (SWP RRDN), National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)
I am part of the Research Engagement and Inclusion team at the NIHR South West Peninsula Regional Research Delivery network. We are passionate about giving everyone the opportunity to participate in health and social care research, especially those currently underserved – to make sure that research is relevant and effective for all of us.
What involvement might look like
What we are asking organisations to do:
You might run dedicated community sessions, build BPoR into existing activities, provide one-to-one support, work through trusted community members or champions, attend community events, or try something completely different.
The £1,000 can be used for reasonable costs needed to make your activity happen, such as staff time, venue costs, refreshments, travel, accessibility support, promotion, materials or other appropriate delivery costs.
How much time is likely to be involved:
The project timeframe is from now until December. Here are the key dates:
Expression of Interest *extended* Deadline: Friday 13th November at midday.
Mandatory Training Session (Choose One):
– Thursday 5th November (3pm – 4.30pm) OR
– Friday 6th November (10am – 11.30am)
Activity Period: November – December
Reflection Focus Group (Choose One):
– Tuesday 15th December (10am – 11.20am) OR
– Thursday 17th December (1pm – 2.20pm)
The amount of time you spend on activities is completely up to you! For example, you might opt for one event reaching a larger amount of people, or several smaller events in that timeframe.
How we are making it easy to be involved:
We will provide funding and a training session to support you to plan and run your activities. The project lead, Rachel Hindmarsh, will be your named contact – on hand throughout the project to offer support and guidance. You can also contact here ahead of submitting your Expression of Interest at rachel.hindmarsh@nihr.ac.uk
What can be shaped and what is fixed:
You have creative freedom over your activities – we simply ask that BPoR is a meaningful part of the activity, rather than just handing out flyers or displaying information/ a QR code.
We will also ask you to attend a mandatory training session and to take part in a short end-of-project reflection session, so that we can learn from your experience.
Delivery timeframes:
The project timeframe will run between November and December – please see key dates and timing above. There may be some flexibility on when activities can be wrapped up – please indicate on the Expression of Interest form if you are interested but may need longer to deliver activities.