Building and Delivering Suitable Living Environments for Ageing Population in UK

Deadline: 18-May-21

The Dunhill Medical Trust is inviting applications for Developing the evidence base to support academic and clinical researchers partnered with community organisations, to conduct innovative research projects into building and delivering suitable living environments and communities for an ageing population.

By community organisation they mean any third sector and/or government organisation with a local and/or community focus providing services and support to older people.

Through consultation, they have identified several research topics which proposals could encompass.

They appreciate that there are overlaps and linkages between the topics, and therefore do not require proposals to focus on one topic alone.

• Activities for older people within and around living environments and communities including, for example, education / learning, the facilitation of skills / knowledge exchange, cooking and eating well, gardening etc.
• Architecture, design and the built environment within and around older people’s living environments and communities, including transport and housing supply / demand / planning etc.
• Comparative studies of older people’s living environments and communities, including international comparisons
• Connections and community within and around older people’s living environments, including services and people (such as residents, carers, families, friends, peers, staff, volunteers and inter-generational considerations etc.)
• COVID-19’s impact on older people’s living environments and communities, and what they can learn for the future
• Equity, diversity and inclusion in older people’s living environments and communities
• Older people’s pathways through living environments and health systems, and how various factors interact and affect long-term trajectories in living environments and health
• Technological advances in older people’s living environments and communities

The Trust will be funding doctoral and post-doctoral researchers as part of this call, however, flexibility will play a key part in the type and timescale of awards that can be applied for. For example, eligible award types include:

• milestone-based proof-of-concept grants with stop/go criteria for continued funding
• seed funding grants
• single or multiple PhD studentships (with named or non-named students)
• post-doctoral fellowships
• project grants

Funding Information

• The Trust plans to allocate £2.4M to the call, from which they expect to make awards, although more may be available if they receive applications of a suitably high quality. They are expecting awards to be a maximum of around £400,000.

Eligibility Criteria

• Principal Investigators (lead applicants) must apply for funding with research teams that:
  • include community organisations with which they already have established relationships (as co-applicants), or
  • can express an interest in partnering with one of either Johnnie Johnson Housing or United St Saviour’s Charity as a prospective co-applicant, and whose details and research interests can be found in the finalized call documentation.
• Principal Investigators (lead applicants) must be based at a UK university or other eligible research organisation. First-time Principal Investigators are encouraged to apply, but they would expect to see clearly planned and appropriate mentoring and support from experienced co-applicants. Principal Investigators who do not hold a permanent or fixed term post that extends beyond the length of the study may also be eligible to apply for their salary costs.
• They welcome proposals with co-applicants and collaborators from within and beyond academia, including people with lived experience of issues relevant to the proposal, as well as business, third sector and/or government organisations providing services and support to older people.
• In addition, they welcome multidisciplinary teams (where appropriate) and studies should primarily focus on issues which have benefits to UK organisations and citizens. Contributions from international collaborators may be permitted where clearly justified.

For more information, visit https://dunhillmedical.org.uk/apply-for-funding/