EFI Student Research Projects 2019/2020
***Applications have now no closed for this years projects***
Funding of up to £1,000 per project will be made to students from across the University to support research projects on topics relevant to the Institute’s vision. All related activities must be completed by 30th June 2020.
The Edinburgh Futures Institute will pioneer new interdisciplinary research with the potential for transforming people’s lives, weaving data science through the arts, humanities and social sciences to address major challenges in the economy, education and society. These awards aim to support student projects with a focus on the production and application (through innovation) of multi-disciplinary research for the public good. We embrace the principle of co-design with external partners, including government, industry and the wider community. Our key research programmes (Ethics of Data and Artificial Intelligence, Critical Infrastructure, CreativeTech, FinTech and financial services, Data Civics and the future of public services) aim to contribute to knowledge and capacity building in Data Driven Innovation across the City of Edinburgh and beyond.
Applications for this are now closed.
We expect to fund five to six awards through this call. The grants could be used for the following types of support:
- Travel and subsistence
- Partnership meetings/events
- Networking costs (e.g. meetings)
- Consumables and small items of equipment (i.e. up to £500)
Applications are open to all University of Edinburgh students (undergraduates and postgraduates studying in any of the three Colleges). In the application form, applicants are advised to:
- Describe your research questions, aims and objectives, highlighting how they relate to the EFI ethos.
- Explain how your project tackles real-world problems through interdisciplinary data-led research
- Elaborate on your plans for engaging with external partners/stakeholders to answer your research questions and what the expected outputs and outcome are.
Entries will be judged by an interdisciplinary panel chaired by the EFI Research Director, Prof Melissa Terras.
The panel is looking for interdisciplinary research questions that are risky, challenge existing theoretical and methodological paradigms, and have the potential to contribute to social transformations. Applications should bear in mind ethical approaches to research, abiding by University regulations and procedures. Projects will be judged on:
- Clearly identified aims and objectives
- Novelty of the research questions and relevance of the project and relation to the EFI’s key research programmes
- Clearly defined users of research/stakeholders and a plan for following up with them after the project
- Innovation in target group, activities, and/or methods.
Award conditions
- The judging panel will make the final funding decisions by mid-March. Projects can’t start before then.
- Funding has to be spent before the end of the financial year 2019/2020 [31 July], therefore it is expected that the activities will take place by the end of June, to allow enough time for processing all the relevant expenses.
- All expenditure must comply with University policy and procedures.
- Recipients have to agree to provide a final report, suitable for appearing on the EFI website, by 15th September 2020