The Ideas Fund awards £1.73m to community mental wellbeing projects

Launched in January 2021, The Ideas Fund is a grants programme, delivered by the British Science Association (BSA) with support from Wellcome. It aims to connect community groups with researchers to explore ideas related to improving mental wellbeing and diversifying the voices within health research.  The Fund supports projects that involve communities in four regions of the UK: Hull, the Scottish Highlands and Islands, North West Northern Ireland and Oldham.  

The new grants, called Evidence Building Grants, will help projects strengthen and expand their work, whilst gathering learning about the impact that can be achieved when communities are supported to lead work in partnership with researchers.

Four projects in Hull have been awarded a total of £480,000. These include: OSHI, a peer-led addiction recovery initiative; VOICE, a charity helping people with learning disabilities live full lives and have a voice in their community; OUT, an organisation exploring how former prisoners and their families engage with researchers; and Youth Aspire Connect, a group that supports young people in the black minority ethnic community to have access to opportunities that enable them to reach their potential.

Three projects in the Highlands and Islands, Scotland, have been awarded £418,000. These are: Deepness, a not-for-profit organisation run by people living with dementia and cognitive impairment; OPEN, a youth group giving young people a voice in decisions that affect them; and Moray Wellbeing Hub, a well-established community interest company planning to expand their peer research work with the aim of creating mental wealth for their communities.

Three projects in North West Northern Ireland have been awarded a total of £400,000. These are: ARC Fitness, an addiction recovery organisation that focuses on improving mental wellbeing through exercise; Parenting Focus, a leading parenting charity that supports men to have more open conversations; and Yellow Wood, a collective of wellbeing practitioners who have developed holistic activities for the local community.

Three projects in Oldham have been awarded £435,000. These are: Inspire Women/Inspiring Futures, an organisation supporting women with mental health challenges; Made by Mortals, an arts organisation working with women who have experienced domestic violence to collaboratively produce creative, supportive, resources; and SAWN, a charity working with Black and refugee women to ensure their experiences and voices are heard in research.  

Gary Rutherford is Founder of ARC Fitness, a funded project in Northern Ireland. He said:

“Working with The Ideas Fund has been so refreshing and supportive. Their flexible approach to managing, engaging, supporting and delivering the fund allows organisations like ARC to remain at the centre of project delivery and direction. The focus on developing research capacity and relationships with academics allows organisations to better capture and understand the positive impact they have on their communities. We feel that allowing recovery communities to actively shape research that addresses their needs, moving beyond being passive subjects is a vital process.”

Since 2021, The Ideas Fund has supported more than 70 projects, totalling around £7 million, with a focus on addressing the systemic challenges that community groups and researchers can face in working together.  

The phase of grant funding announced in February 2025 will cover the next three years. The Ideas Fund team will work with all the funded projects to gather feedback into how community group and researcher partnerships work together and provide examples of the impact and what becomes possible when these collaborations are supported. 

Chris Manion, Head of Grants at the British Science Association said:

“We’re so proud of how the Fund has grown and are excited to see how these incredible projects have an even greater impact. With communities taking the lead, The Ideas Fund is demonstrating a new approach to partnering with researchers, and we’re seeing already how this can help make real improvements to people’s wellbeing. We’re excited to learn more from supporting these projects over the next three years, along with a number of others across the UK.”