New Things Fund

We have now reached the end of the project period for the New Things Fund, which was launched in November 2020. The fund was dedicated to assisting researchers and PhD students to gain experience in the policy arena, and helping lift their ideas off of the ground. It acts as a building block and did not have to bring immediate policy impact. Instead, the fund intended to be used to build relationships and connections, creating pathways to impact and laying the foundations for future policy engagement.

We had 7 winners overall, and a wide array of projects as detailed below.

1) ‘BAME Multigenerational Family Businesses and Covid19’, led by Dr Valentina Cardo and Dr Yasmin Sekhon Dhillion.

2) ‘Policy Changes amongst stakeholders to increase awareness and funding for research into sight loss’, led by Dr Arjuna Raynayaka and Dr Jenny Dewing.

3) ‘Understanding ecosystem level impacts of plastic pollution, led by PhD student Stephanie Lavelle.

4) ‘Pandemic Preparedness’, led by Dr Ken Brackstone and Dr Michael Head.

5) ‘Networked technology futures’, led by PhD student Juljan Krause.

6) ‘Language used in Interconception Health’, led by Dr Danielle. Schnoenaker and supported by Dr Nisreen Alwan, Elizabeth Taylor, Dr Caroline Barker, Prof Mark Hanson, Daniella Watson, Prof Mary Barker, Dr Jenny Hall, Prof Judith Stephenson, and Wessex PIN (Public Engagement Network).

7) ‘Linking academics and policymakers: successful examples of knowledge exchange activities’, led by Dr Dianna Smith and Hannah Barker.

Over the past three months, project teams have been conducting literature reviews, putting on events and workshops, organizing public engagement, and building networks to support their work.

Over the next month, we will be collecting the impact of their project and information about it to be platformed on our New Things Fund page here. We will be collecting impact at a 6 and 12 month mark, too.

Laura Barr, Policy Fellow Intern, University of Southampton

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