Interdisciplinary Research Fund

Along with ‘impact’, ‘interdisciplinarity’ remains one of the most pressing concerns of the academy. We acknowledge that global problems cannot be solved by the work of a single discipline and require an interdisciplinary approach.

This grant aims to find an innovative research project that promotes action on the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)/global challenges, through collaboration of disciplines, methodology and research. We invite submissions that are interdisciplinary in approach, develop the advancement of theory and have practical relevance to benefit society in support of the SDGs.

The Prize

We are pleased to offer a monetary grant of £10,000 – specifically to help with the dissemination of this research and to help it achieve real impact. In addition, the winning research will be published, subject to open peer review, through our most appropriate publishing channel – for example, one of our Emerald Open Research Gateways or as an Emerald Point.

Winner 2019

“Seeing Change: Gender, Ethnicity and Democracy in Morocco”

University of Lincoln, UK

The innovative way the project sets out to work with a hard-to-reach group (young Berber women in rural Morocco), using creative participatory visual methods to make their voices heard really impressed the judging panel.

It uses a creative image-sound-text arts intervention to empower young Berber women to articulate their understanding of their political agency and to determine how they might take part in democratic processes. The project is aligned to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality) and seeks to develop concrete and sustainable methods for addressing gender inequality, enhancing education, and combatting discriminatory norms.

The research grant award could make a significant difference to this project and the dissemination of its findings, helping it to achieve real impact, which is why it is the well-deserved winner of the IDR award 2019.

Read their story here

Highly Commended 2019

Two additional projects have also been recognised with a Highly Commended status by demonstrating potential real-world impact.

Congratulations also to……

“The Mobile Teaching Kitchen Project (Bhavishya Shakti Initiative)”

NNEdPro Global Centre for Nutrition and Health, UK

The Mobile Teaching Kitchen (MTK) project was launched as a nutritional education tool in two slums of Kolkata, India in February 2018 to improve awareness of diet diversity and disease prevention by using locally sourced foods and cooking skills. The potential of the Teaching Kitchen can extend beyond creating powerful behaviour change for improved health and nutrition within local communities but also improve the wellbeing of the community and create new livelihood opportunities.

The judging panel recognised that although it is a relatively small project at the moment, there is clear scalability and potential for real impact.

“Enterprising Women in Rural Regions”

Swinburne University of Technology, Australia

The project seeks to understand and activate the hidden entrepreneurial potential of rural women with a specific aim to address the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, mainly SDG 5 (Gender Equality), SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequality). This project is a world-first effort to understand and strengthen women’s entrepreneurship as a pathway to the social and economic development of rural regions.

The judging panel recognised the interdisciplinary approach and collaboration being taken and how this has really enabled a creative approach that wouldn’t otherwise have been possible.