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The University of Southampton
Public Policy|Southampton

The New Things Fund 2022/23

The applications for the New Things Fund 2022/23 is closed. The deadline for applications is Sunday 11th December.

Apply now

What is the New Things Fund?

The New Things Fund (NTF) is an internally awarded programme created to provide the initial impetus to commence a journey towards local, sub-national, national or international policy engagement. NTF is itself funded via the University of Southampton’s allocation of UKRI’s Policy Support Fund.

We aim to award twenty researchers with up to £7.5k for rapidly realisable projects to be delivered between 30th November 2022 and 14th June 2023. Extensions beyond this will not be possible.

Strategic Policy Themes

This year’s iteration of NTF is targeted towards the themes of Net Zero, Place & Health Disparities. We are particularly interested in projects that address the current cost of living crisis in an actionable way. This could include producing research evidence that supports a specific intervention to take to local or central government and/or third sector organisations. This can also include evaluation of past and current interventions that can be used by policy making bodies to learn from when creating further policy decisions.

An NTF award does not have to be used in a way that brings immediate policy impact, but we are looking for projects that can be actionable. It should be treated as a building block for wider initiatives developing new relationships with evidence users, creating pathways to impact, or laying the foundations for future engagement through awareness raising outputs such as video or written briefings. We expect applicants to consider how new policy engagement activities may support research ambitions (such as joint applications for funding with evidence using bodies or scoping of contract research) but we do not expect you to predict exactly what policy impact these activities will deliver.

Support & Evaluation

If awarded, your project will be supported by a member of the Public Policy | Southampton team, with monthly meetings and guidance on achieving policy impact. This could include support with creating and editing policy briefs, providing guidance on stakeholder outreach, or providing connections and networks to access.

Six months after your award has ended we will contact you to find out how NTF has supported your policy engagement journey. We will repeat this survey at 12 months post award to gain an understanding of how this has catalysed your work and seek further ways in which PPS can support your onward journey to policy impact. Importantly, the support you receive from PPS does not stop post May (funding spend deadline). 

applications now open
Apply now for the New Things Fund 22/23

FAQ’s 

What kinds of things can I request funding for?

In previous years, successful awardee’s have received funding to partner with external bodies, creating networks with relevant stakeholders, fund survey participation, creating policy briefs, hiring research assistants to produce stakeholder analyses, building web pages or websites, creating and disseminating videos, etc. All funding should support the overall aim of policy impact.

Can I cost in working with other organisations or people?

This year we particularly encourage projects that seek to address the cost of living crisis. This may include working with NGOs, charities, or volunteer organisations. Through this fund, we will also cover the financial cost incurred by these organisations and individuals participating in the project where reasonable.

What do common activities (such as policy briefs, videos, research assistants etc) roughly cost?

For our policy briefs, we work with the design studio (DPC Studio) which is an in-house design team. We recommend allocating £500 for the creation of a policy brief.

For Research Assistants, PPS can support you to find a PhD Student through our Policy Associates Scheme or through uniworkforce. The cost will depend on how long you would like the research assistant for. The spending deadline is June 14th, but due to how casual workers are paid (in arrears), we can support research assistants still working up to the end of May.

For anything else, you will need to receive a quote and let us know in your application. We advise getting a rough quote before applying instead of after, so that we can allocate the funding you need in enough time.

Why is there a 14th of June deadline?

Unfortunately the 14th of June deadline is set by Research England’s Policy Support Fund, rather than ourselves. However, this is just the deadline for spending your allocated award. You don’t need to have *finished* the project by then, and you will still get support from PPS after this deadline.

Please ensure that the principle investigator is also a budget holder, or there is someone in your school that can act as a budget holder in order to access the funds on your allocated subproject code. Please also ensure you have support from your Head of School before applying. 

Previous Projects

2022/2023 Projects

Cultural strategies, compacts and futures

Click here to read about Dr Daniel Ashton project: Cultural strategies, compacts and futures: The role of local government in connecting culture with place, health and the environment.

HomeGrownSO14

Click here to read about Doctor Lisa Ballard's project: "HomeGrownSO14: University to Resident Skills & Knowledge Exchange".

Say no to smoking?

Click here to read about Doctor Rebecca Ward's project: Say no to smoking? Understanding the complexity of introducing smoking cessation programmes.

2021/2022 Projects

Government Prevent Policy

Click here to read about Dr Gillian Kennedy's project: 'New' Prevent Policy: How the Government's policy to prevent radicalism is being perceived by Muslim Youth.

Leading sustainable transitions

Click here to read about Dr Ajit Nayaks project: Leading sustainability transitions: Responsible leadership in the building industry

Digitising Democracy

Click here to read about Dr Stuart Turbull-Dugarte's project: Digitising Democracy: crises, integrity, support & trust

Safety of Small Fishing Vessels

Click here to read about Dr Matteo Scarponi's project: Outcome monitoring protocol in support of the 2021 Code of Practice for the Safety of Small Fishing Vessels.

CDF Communications

Click here to read about the Centre for Democratic Futures Communications project, led by Dr Valentina Cardo, Dr Silke Roth, and Dr Matt Ryan, directors of the CDF

Healthcare provision by drone

Click here to read about Dr Laila Ait Bihi Ouali's Project: Quantifying the welfare benefits of drone logistics: the case of healthcare provision by drone

Circular Economy

Click here to read about Dr Ian Williams and Dr Lanre Shittu's project: Circular Economy Thinking to develop Sustainable Electronic Products, Business Models and Designs

2020/2021 Projects

PPS

Research into Sight Loss

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

pandemic

Pandemic Preparedness

Click here to view the project 'pandemic preparedness' led by Dr Michael Head and Dr Ken Brackstone

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