Aston University has been awarded a highly prestigious Impact Acceleration Award (IAA) from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). The Award, totalling £300,000, runs from April 2022–March 2025 and will be invested in helping our researchers to maximise the impact potential of their research.
We have a genuine belief that this funding, along with the other funding described on this page can stimulate a real age of impact for research at Aston University and we are incredibly excited to learn how we can support and aid you in making the most of your work beyond academia.
- What do we fund and who can participate?
If you’re an Aston University researcher, you don’t need to have previously received an BBSRC award in order to be eligible to apply for funding from our BBSRC IAA or to participate in activities funded by it. However, your research must fall within the BBSRC disciplinary remit. Full details of BBSRC remit can be found on the UKRI remit, programmes and priorities web page. A key aspect of the remit is the application must be built from existing research and cannot be based on a completely novel idea. If you are worried that this may limit you, then please discuss with RKE-Impact@aston.ac.uk as there are multiple funding pots available and if your project represents genuine excellence there is likely a fund that can help you.
Our awards are open to all academic, technical, research and teaching staff who undertake relevant research, while our events are open to both staff and students who carry out or support research within the BBSRC remit.
The IAA will primarily fund project-based awards that look to take existing research and drive it toward external application. It is worth remembering that although these are impact acceleration awards, impact is relative to the point at which your work is at.
Example of fundable activities Example pf deliverable(s) required National or international travel to end-users to assist in implementing research findings, gain better understanding of the impact of those findings or, in partnership, to inform future research directions Dataset leading to impact case study or submission of collaborative grant application Short-term buy-out of teaching or other duties to allow PIs to focus on impact activities (eg, working with RKE to formulate a business plan or transfer of technologies into industry following licensing) Completed business plan leading to high-quality investment pitch or
Completed tech transfer leading to royalty agreementMeetings or workshops organised by Aston University staff at external locations convenient to prospective end-users, to promote their direct engagement List of end-user contacts leading to new collaboration(s)/grant application(s) or
Technology license negotiated
Creation of websites and/or short, animated videos to explain our research to the general public and where appropriate, to gain feedback via two-way dialogue Live website/video with associated usage statistics and/or feedback Project-specific engagement of research staff to conduct minor and proof-of-concept experiments or to analyse impact-related data sets Laboratory data leading to proof-of-concept or else failure or
Quantitative data to support impact case study
Apply here for small scale projects (up to £5000, always open)
Apply here for the October 2023 round (£5k-£50k, deadline 9th October 2023)
Apply here for the January 2024 round (£5k-£50k, deadline 15th January 2024)
Apply here for the April 2024 round (£5k-£50k, deadline 17th April 2024)
We again wish to stress that if you feel you are out of remit for BBSRC, other funding pots are available and we can work to support you if you discuss this with us.
Please note: all those receiving BBSRC IAA funds will be required to participate in our reporting and impact tracking process for the BBSRC, both during the period of their award and after it has concluded. Applicants must be willing to commit to this process if they apply for any awards from the IAA.