The Ideas Fund is a new grants programme delivered by the British Science Association and funded by Wellcome that enables the UK public to think about, develop and test new ideas related to areas of mental wellbeing that are relevant to them. The Fund connects communities with research professionals to bring their ideas to life. The Fund will launch mid-January 2021 and run until October 2023. The first round of funding will be focused on four localities – more information on these will be available when the Fund is launched.

VISIT THE IDEAS FUND WEBSITE

We are keen to support great, innovative ideas that focus on improving mental wellbeing. To do this, we want to help connect communities that want to tackle problems that matter to them with health research professionals and their work. The projects that we will fund must either develop skills within a community to engage with mental wellbeing or develop relationships between communities and researchers - or both. They may also help researchers develop their skills in engaging with communities around health research.

Wellcome’s partnership with the British Science Association (BSA) builds on Wellcome’s previous experience of running a fund to encourage greater public engagement with health research and its commitment to increasing diversity and inclusion within the health research sector. Over the past five years, the BSA has had great success in reaching new audiences through its science engagement programmes and activities which reach diverse community groups and schools from across the UK. The BSA is therefore well placed to deliver a grants fund that will connect the UK public with the health research sector.

To get the latest updates on The Ideas Fund visit www.theideasfund.org