Applications are open
Application closed on 12 December 2025.
The Collaboration Kickstarter supports engaged research with Imperial College researchers and communities in Northwest London.
This fund has been co-produced with staff from across Imperial alongside a team of our community partners and awards funds of up to £10,000 to support participatory approaches in which communities can impact decision making in academic research.
The fund is open to joint applications from Imperial researchers and community partners. We strongly encourage ideas for research that comes from and is led by people in our Northwest London communities.
Applications to the fund are open and must be submitted by 17.00 on 12 December 2025.
What we're looking for
This year we are particularly interested in applications that:
- Seek to build a new relationship between Imperial researchers and a particular community organisation.
- Seek to design and deliver community-led research, where topics and questions are generated by members of the community.
- Work with communities with lived experience of the research topic to collaboratively analyse research data that has already been collected.
Application support
If you are a community organisation in Northwest London and have an idea for a research topic you would be interested in exploring with an Imperial researcher let us know by completing this short form and a member of our team will be in touch.
If you are an Imperial researcher with an idea for a Kickstarter project, we recommend speaking with a member of the Societal Engagement team before applying. You can book a one-to-one support and advice session here.
If you are interested in applying but have not yet identified an Imperial researcher or community partner to work with, you can and should still get in touch. We can’t always guarantee that we will be able to find suitable partners, but we will always do everything we can to support your work!
Further information
- What are participatory research approaches?
- Funding available
- Who can apply?
- How to apply
- Financial support for applicants
- Timeline
Participatory research involves researchers and members of the public collaboratively creating new knowledge by designing and delivering research projects together.
Generally, these collaborations take place between people with academic expertise and people with lived experience in the area being researched. As collaborators, both groups work as equals to decide which questions get asked, how they get answered, and what happens with the knowledge they create. We often use the term “participatory research approaches” to refer to a diverse spectrum of practices, from co-designing one research activity to fully co-produced participatory research projects.
The Collaboration Kickstarter supports research approaches that partner with Northwest London communities to share decision-making power in all aspects of their work together. It may only be able to support one small part of a research but it is the collaborative designing and delivering of this work that is important to our fund.
We will award funds of up to £10,000 to 4-8 projects with evidence of collaborative working throughout. Proposals should include both a named Imperial research lead and a named Northwest London community partner lead. You can find out about the kinds of projects that were successful last year here.
The 2026 fund is open to Imperial researchers (including PhD’s) from any discipline and community organisations working in one or more Northwest London boroughs.
We hold a broad view of who can be a “community partner”. Last year, successful applicants included local branches of national charities, third sector organisations, grassroots community organisations, and newly created groups made up of individual experts by experience.
We ask that applicants make the case that your particular partnership is a community partnership, based in a Northwest London borough, and will deliver academic research activities in line with the aims and principles of the fund.
Potential applicants are also encouraged to book a one-to-one advice session to discuss their idea with a member of the Public and Community Engagement team prior to submitting their application.
To apply to the Collaboration Kickstarter a copy of the application form should be completed and returned to societal_engagement@imperial.ac.uk by 17.00 on 12 December 2025.
You can read all the details of the application process in this guide.
If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact the Societal Engagement team or book a one-to-one advice session.
As we strongly encourage that applications are developed collaboratively by community partners and Imperial researchers, we have made ‘Application Support Grants’ of a few hundred pounds each available to support this. Applications for the grants will be reviewed by the Public and Community Engagement team and available on a rolling basis until the 28th of November or until all funds have been awarded. These grants can be used to pay for community partner time, hire a space to work together, pay for travel and refreshments and so on. Imperial researchers can apply for an Application Support Grant by completing this short form and returning it to societal_engagement@imperial.ac.uk.
November 2025
3 November: The fund will launch and will be open to applications from Imperial researchers and community partners.
5 November (12.00 – 13.00): Online information and Q&A Webinar. Open to researchers and community members.
December 2025
12 December 17.00: Applications close.
January 2026
22 January: Review of applications will take place by a panel consisting of two members of the public engagement team, two community reviewers and an Imperial researcher.
Award letters will be sent out to successful Kickstarter projects and funds transferred following confirmation from relevant applicants.
February 2026
25 February: Participatory research training for successful Kickstarter projects alongside their community partners.
May 2026
13 May: Quarterly meeting with successful Kickstarter projects. To share progress, challenges and learning, and strengthen working relationships.
July 2026
22 July: Projects close. All funds must have left Imperial accounts by this date.
Get in touch
If you have any other questions about the Collaboration Kickstarter, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the Public and Community Engagement team.