Application Guide

Applications to the 2023 Action Research Fund are now closed.

Funding

The funding available is up to a maximum of £15,000 for each research project. 

One organisation may submit up to two bids to the Action Research Fund within the financial year 2023-24. If submitting two bids, these must be in relation to distinct pieces of research rather than two components of the same project, in order to be considered. 

Match funding is not a requirement for this grant, however we acknowledge that some organisations may be in a position to provide additional resources to enable delivery of research with a broader reach or benefit. If your organisation wishes to provide match funding, please provide details of what the match funding will cover within the application form. Please note that, with or without match funding, the project must be delivered within the set timescales, as detailed below. 

Successful bids will be awarded a research grant to the value agreed, to deliver the research as specified within the application form. Organisations will submit one invoice for the full funding amount awarded, which will be paid by the end of March 2024.   

Support and access to contacts  

Each project will be assigned a named officer from the Better Security Better Care team to be your main point of contact for any assistance you may need during the project. 

The programme team will set up two webinars during the project delivery phase, to facilitate networking with key stakeholders who you may wish to engage with for your research, and to enable sharing of learning across research leads. The programme team will be on hand to link research leads with useful contacts and to facilitate additional meetings in support of the research projects, as required.  

 Presentation of findings 

The deadline for the final report (or other research outputs depending on the project) is 24th February 2024. The Better Security, Better Care conference on 5th March 2024 (in central London) provides a fantastic opportunity to showcase the research findings of each project to our senior sponsors and partners working across the adult social care sector. Research leads (or a representative from each project) will be expected to attend the two online research webinars and the in-person conference as part of the Grant Agreement. Please factor in necessary travel and accommodation costs to the project budget to cover this requirement. 

Timescales

The timescales of the application process and project delivery expectations are set out in the table below. Projects must start on or after 1 December 2023 and need to be complete by the final deadline of 24 February 2024. These timescales have been set to enable a full evaluation period during March 2024 which will assist the Programme Board to determine which research topics will be progressed further in 2024-25.