FAQs

Experts define mental wellbeing in different ways, but we understand it as meaning:

"You care about yourself and for yourself. You look after your physical and emotional health - by eating well, sleeping well, exercising, connecting with others and enjoying yourself. You can cope with the stresses of life and can work productively - whether that's in a job, in education or through chores and hobbies."

The Fund is open to projects that involve communities based in four regions of the UK. These are:

• The Highlands and Islands of Scotland - communities and activities based in the council areas of Highland Council, Moray Council, Comhairle nan Eilean Siar (Western Isles Council), Orkney Islands Council, Shetland Islands Council, Argyll and Bute Council, along with the Isles of Arran and Cumbrae.
• The City of Hull
• North West of Northern Ireland - specifically the area covered by Derry & Strabane District Council
• The Metropolitan Borough of Oldham

The Ideas Fund is committed to connecting communities with researchers as well as diversifying the voices within health research. During the development of the Fund, it became clear that a targeted, place-based approach would be the most efficient way of achieving this goal. We're focusing on just four areas so we can test and learn from our new approach to funding. We began working in these four locations in early 2021, and want to continue to explore how our approach can grow in these places, building on what we've learned.

The Ideas Fund is not set up as a research fund and it's about researching on people, nor purely running services. The types of activities funded depend on the way both the community and research partner want to achieve their goals and should support genuine partnerships to develop, so that both the community and researcher can benefit from each other's expertise.

You can read about some of the projects we have already funded here.

For the larger grant available after the development phase, please see "What can a larger Ideas Fund grant cover and not cover?"

We define research as the careful, detailed and rigorous exploration or investigation of an idea or problem to create new knowledge or ways of doing things.

We define a researcher as someone currently working in a university, the NHS or for a health charity or social enterprise, or they could be an independent expert. They will have a record of carrying out and publishing new research and be connected to the wider research world through their work.

We're working with locally-based partners in each of the four target areas to make sure everyone is able to ask questions, and get advice and help from people who know their area really well. These locally based partners are the Development Coordinators, and they offer tailored support to people who want to submit an expression of interest. If you're shortlisted, they'll also support you through the process of meeting a researcher and developing your project proposal. You can find their contact details here.

Yes, absolutely! We'll help you meet researchers you might want to partner with, and you'll have support to develop a project proposal together. It's fine if you don't know what that might look like yet, although it's useful to tell us about any themes or topics which would be of interest so we can help introduce you to relevant researchers if you are shortlisted.

In the first round of the The Ideas Fund, we heard from the community groups and researchers involved in funded projects that they would have valued more time to get to know each other, understand each other's roles and develop their project proposal. We tested out giving more time to work on their proposal with a small number of projects and want to apply our learning to this new round of funding. We’re building in more time for researchers and community groups to meet each other, build a new relationship and agree what they’d like to work on together.

We will shortlist 6-7 community groups from each area and provide a small grant of £3,000 to fund your time to participate in a matching process with researchers and support you to develop a project proposal together. This process will involve some workshops and one-to-one meetings with local Development Coordinators.

We hope that most of the proposals for larger funding that are developed in partnership during the development phase, can be funded. However, we also know that some proposals may need more development before further funding, or some partnerships may find alternative routes more suitable for them after the development phase. We will always work to be in an open dialogue with you during the development phase.

Yes. If you’re a community group which has already identified a researcher to work in partnership with, you can tell us about your partnership and the ideas you have for a project in your expression of interest. You can let us know if you would find it useful to have some more time to get to know each other and develop your ideas, or if you have a specific idea of what you’d like to work on together. If your idea is shortlisted, we will contact you to agree the next steps.

Please refer to the information on our application process page and For Researchers page.

We will be shortlisting community groups after the deadline and will then put them in touch with a number of researchers who have relevant interests or skills to help them find a 'match'. We will contact you if this is the case and set up a meeting where you can share ideas and start to build a relationship. We think it’s unlikely that every researcher will be matched through this process. If you’re not, we will still explore ways to share your details with other applicants to the Fund so that partnerships could be developed outside of The Ideas Fund process.

A development or ‘incubator’ grant of £3,000 will be available to all community groups who have their Expression of Interests shortlisted. This is to cover the time for both researcher and community partner to work together to build their relationship and develop an idea.

This can be used flexibly but can’t cover:

X Costs incurred before your proposed activity starts

X Activities/partnerships outside the UK

X Activities mainly or solely within schools or formal education settings

X Emergency, top-up or maintenance funding

X Continued delivery of existing activities (instead it is intended that funding is used in a structured way to test ideas, solve problems, forge partnerships etc.)

X Loans, investments, or capital costs

X Delivery of frontline services, such as healthcare services or interventions (including arts therapy)

For the larger grant available after the development phase please see ‘What can a larger Ideas Fund grant cover and not cover?’.

The grant is intended to cover the following:

• Salaries or fees for people who are essential to the proposal such as project lead, researchers, artists or consultants that aren't already covered by another grant
• Participant costs if relevant
• Materials and consumables
• Equipment that is essential to the project
• Production costs, including marketing

• Travel and subsistence relevant to the proposal
• Room hire
• Catering
• Accessibility costs (e.g. BSL translation, child-care)
• Evaluation and dissemination of the work

• Overheads - these can only account for a maximum of 20% of your grant

You cannot use the grant to cover things such as:

X Costs incurred before your proposed activity starts

X Activities/partnerships outside the UK

X Activities mainly or solely within schools or formal education settings

X Emergency, top-up or maintenance funding

X Continued delivery of existing activities (instead it is intended that funding is used in a structured way to test ideas, solve problems, forge partnerships etc.)

X Loans, investments, or capital costs

X Delivery of frontline services, such as healthcare services or interventions (including arts therapy)