Accelerator Grant Scheme

The QUEX Institute of Global Sustainability and Wellbeing (the QUEX Institute) was officially launched in mid-2017 as a strategic partnership between Exeter and UQ. As a virtual institute, QUEX seeks to address major global challenges through interdisciplinary collaborative research, academic, student and professional staff mobility; high-impact policy publications; and industry and community engagement. The QUEX Institute currently focuses on Healthy Living, Global Environmental Futures, and Digital Worlds & Disruptive Technologies themes. In support of this collaboration, the QUEX Institute offers three funding schemes each year to promote a broadening of collaboration between UQ and Exeter – the Workshop Grant Scheme, the Accelerator Grant Scheme and the Strategic Grant Scheme.

Accelerator Grants are intended to support larger-scale initiatives to secure external funding and/or produce high-level outputs and impact. It is anticipated that academic staff at both Universities, with excellent and complementary expertise and capability, will have already established a working relationship and track record that can be demonstrated as part of the application.

QUEX Accelerator Grant Scheme Details

Two Accelerator Grants up to a maximum of £30,000 (approx. AU$57,000) each will be available in 2022 to Exeter and UQ collaborators, with the following objectives:

To position the project group to win major external funding, publish significant research, and/or influence national/ international policy.
To address research questions and/or to develop innovative teaching and learning initiatives with potential for high impact that could not be as effectively carried out by a partner on its own. These research questions or teaching and learning initiatives should be aligned to one of the QUEX Institute's three themes.
To facilitate further development of novel research and/or teaching and learning concepts to the point of submission of bid(s) for significant external funding.
To expedite ground-breaking interdisciplinary research and/ or teaching and learning initiatives, taking them to the next level.
To demonstrate clearly the added value of the QUEX Institute.

Guidelines and application form for the Accelerator Grant Scheme can be found below. The deadline for submitting applications is 4^th October 2022. Please do not hesitate to contact the QUEX Team (quex@exeter.ac.uk) for any queries.

Application Deadline	4^th October 2022
Applicants notified of outcome	4^th November 2022
Project completion deadline	4^th October 2023
Report submission deadline	4^th December 2023

QUEX Accelerator Grants

Round	UoE Lead PI	UQ Lead PI	Project	Theme	Status
1	Rachel Freathy	David Evans	Developing statistical genetics methods to estimate causal maternal effects on offspring disease outcomes	Healthy Ageing	COMPLETE
1	Linda Clare	Jackie Liddle	Other ways to connect? The social connectedness of older people and the impact of technology.	Healthy Ageing	COMPLETE
1	Chris Perry	Peter Mumby	Partnership for Climate Change Impacts on Coral Reef Coastlines	Environmental Sustainability	COMPLETE
1	William Gaze	Kevin Thomas	QUEX Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) Alliance: A new approach to AMR surveillance	Environmental Sustainability	COMPLETE
2	Jana Funke	Elizabeth Stephens	Medical humanities' approaches to Healthy Ageing and the life course	Healthy Ageing	ACTIVE
2	Sarah Hartley	Karen Hussey	Global gene drive governance for climate adaptation and conservation	Environmental Sustainability	ACTIVE
2	Ilke Inceoglu	Nik Steffens	Leadership and Employee Health: How leaders' micro behaviours and communications build identity and boost well-being	Healthy Ageing	ACTIVE
2	Karen Hudson-Edwards	Anita Parbhakar-Fox	Towards environmentally sustainable mining: Making tailings’ safe	Environmental Sustainability	ACTIVE