Covid-19 recovery open call launching soon to Edinburgh University academics

As the country and Edinburgh and South East City Region continue to face the many challenges of Covid-19, the Scottish Funding Council has provided special funding for Universities in Scotland to mitigate the impact of the pandemic. One of the goals set by SFC is to fund translation of research into action, to support the region’s recovery.

The University of Edinburgh has allocated a special fund for this purpose, to be coordinated as part of the Data Driven Innovation (DDI) Initiative. The five DDI hubs and the programme office are busy ramping up a portfolio of projects. One part of the portfolio will be an Open Call to academics and researchers within the University of Edinburgh, welcoming proposals from across the University . The call has been planned to launch in early November 2020 around four main themes:

• Smarter Places
• Health, Wellbeing & Care
• Cultural & Creative Recovery
• Food, Climate and Sustainability

The total budget for the call is £500,000, which will be used to fund a range of projects. The majority of these will be in the region of £10,000, with some funding reserved to support a limited number of larger projects, worth £25k and £50k. Projects must be concluded before the end of FY 2020/21 (July 2021), and specific Terms and Conditions will apply, particularly related to projects’ abilities to show an impact in the region.

More information will be available soon on the DDI website.