Funding for Impact: Impact Acceleration, Research Impact Leave and Open Access

Research Impact Fund: temporarily closed

We will not be accepting any new applications to the fund at this moment in time and will look to run a single call at some point over the coming months to allocate the small amount of funding still remaining for this academic year.

The Impact Fund is composed of three elements:

Impact Acceleration
Research Impact Leave
Open Access publishing for Underpinning Research

Applications can be submitted throughout the year and should be submitted to research@aber.ac.uk by the first of each month. They will be primarily assessed based on the potential reach and significance of the anticipated impact and approved by the Research & Innovation Committee Task Group, or designated alternate.

Funding of up to £10,000 per academic year is available to support activities that will contribute towards REF recognised impact. We understand that support may be needed for several different activities and staff can apply for travel costs, staff costs (provided those costs are in line with current University policy) or costs associated with hosting and organising workshops and events. Multiple applications for repeat activities are, however, discouraged. Please get in touch with your Research Impact and Knowledge Exchange Officer at research@aber.ac.uk to discuss your ideas before submitting an application as other funding streams may be available and better suited to what is being proposed. For guidance on whether your impact activity requires ethical review please see Research Ethics.
Under the Research Impact Leave Scheme, members of staff can apply for a period of leave of up to six months to dedicate to generating impact from their research. AU will provide the funding for replacement teaching and / or administrative duties. All research staff can apply and up to five places are available on the scheme each year. Applications should be submitted at least three months in advance of the semester for which leave is sought. For further details see our Research Impact Leave Policy.
The Fund also covers the costs of Open Access publishing for underpinning research in support of potential impact.

External Sources of Funding

Impact activities should be planned as part of your research project and should be integral to any grant application. For further information, please contact the Research Development Officers, rdostaff@aber.ac.uk. The Research Impact and Knowledge Exchange Officers, research@aber.ac.uk. can also provide input.

There is also ample opportunity to apply for follow-on funding to support and maximise impact activities, although these funds are generally aimed at public engagement activities. We've listed some of them below.

Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is passionate about the importance of public engagement with both the research that they fund directly, and in arts and humanities research in general. AHRC continuing public engagement programmes include:

New Generation Thinkers, a flagship public engagement scheme for early career researchers run in partnership with the BBC.
Being Human festival, co-founded and funded by the AHRC along with the British Academy, and delivered by the School of Advanced Study, University of London.
New Thinking podcast, part of BBC Radio 3’s Arts & Ideas series in partnership with the BBC, where researchers are supported to share their research.

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

No additional sources for Public Engagement but please see the BBSRC's Guidance on engaging the public with your research.

AU currently holds a BBSRC-Impact Acceleration Account (until March 2026), which can fund impact and innovation activities. Please note public engagement and primary research are excluded.

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)

EPSRC’s vision for public engagement is to encourage the development of a research culture that inspires the public, attracts people to STEM careers and values interaction with the public in all stages of the research process. For further information see Public engagement - EPSRC.

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

Public engagement brings researchers and the public together, raising awareness of the social sciences and encouraging involvement in research.

It’s more than just meeting an audience and telling them about your research. Effective public engagement is about two-way communication, with the researchers listening to and learning from participants.

Festival of Social Science

The ESRC Festival of Social Science is an annual, UK-wide, free celebration of the social sciences run each autumn. Read more about the festival.