Combined funding of £2m is available from Research Councils UK (RCUK) and Innovate UK for a pilot call, to be distributed between up to five projects each focused on a different city or urban area.
The funding is available through the Urban Living Partnership, bringing together all seven research councils and Innovate UK to promote integrated research and innovation to address the challenges faced by urban areas in the UK and to help them realise their visions for future urban living.
In this first pilot phase, the partnership is seeking applications from consortia which bring together leading cross-disciplinary research expertise, city leaders, businesses, civic organisations and community groups, public, third sector and other urban innovators. Each of the consortia will be expected to conduct an initial pilot diagnostic phase focused on building integrated understanding of the challenges, opportunities and future visions of a specific UK city or urban area and developing agendas for future research and innovation.
The deadline for research organisations to submit full applications via Je-S on behalf of consortia is 16:00 on 21 January 2016, with a deadline for submitting initial expressions of interest on 26 November 2015. The Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is administering the pilot call on behalf of the partners and further details, information about a town meeting on 20 October 2015 and the full call for proposals can be found on the EPSRC website.