Applying to the Impact Fund

Following the redesign, the Impact Fund has changed how you apply for funds and worked hard to develop a wrap around support service with the relevant professional service expert being identified to work with you throughout your journey towards impact. Please read the how to apply section and make note of the guidance that has been developed to help you through the new processes.    

We have taken stakeholders feedback on board and have tailored different aspects of the Impact Fund process into a transparent support service that can be responsive to immediate opportunities whilst still providing clear governance for larger sums of money for each stage of an opportunity.

Funding Streams

The Impact Fund is offering three funding streams:

1. Exploratory Impact Awards (£5,000 to £10,000): Ideal for testing ideas, planning impact journeys, generating early-stage impacts, and supporting small-scale projects. These awards may lead to larger initiatives.
2. Impact Project Awards (£10,000 to £20,000): Geared toward building on exploratory awards or equivalent-stage projects, these awards focus on specific deliverables to support innovative ideas.
3. Impact Accelerator Awards (£20,000 to £50,000 per project, £100,000 exceptional cases): Targeted at projects with clear opportunities for commercial or societal impact. These awards foster relationships with partners and investors to advance research. In rare cases, funding up to £100,000 is considered if justified.

We strongly recommend seeking match funding from project partners when possible.

How to Apply?

To start with your application, you will need to submit a short ‘intention to apply’ email to impact-acceleration@QMUL.ac.uk with an overview of the following information:

1. Your idea and the research it builds on
2. Intended impacts
3. Partners involved
4. Likely size of funding requested

You should discuss your project and start engaging with your Faculty Impact Officer and the broader teams that support Knowledge Exchange as earliest as possible.

We recommend you familiarise yourself with the application processes and guidance documents which have been designed to support you in developing a successful application. 

When to Apply

For Impact Projects (£10k - £20k) or Impact Accelerator Awards (£20k - £50k), you can prepare applications for Autumn 2024 and Spring 2025 windows:

• Autumn 2024: The deadline to submit applications is October 21, 2024
  • Deadline to send "Intention to apply" email is September 16, 2024  
  • Panel sessions will start in first two weeks of December 2024
  • Applicants will be notified by mid December 2024
• Spring 2025: The deadline to submit applications is February 24, 2025
  • Deadline to send "Intention to apply" email is February 10, 2025
  • Panel sessions are expected to take place in May 2025
  • Applicants will be notified by end of May 2025
• For applications to Exploratory Impact Awards (£5 - £10k), the call is open throughout the academic year with panel sessions taking place every two months.
  • For Exploratory applications, Intention to Apply (ITA) emails should be sent by the 1st day of each month to be considered in that month's panel - see dates below 
  • Upcoming Panel dates for Exploratory and application submission deadlines:
    • Panel session: November 26, 2024 - application submission deadline: November 15 
    • Panel session: January 28, 2025 - application submission deadline: January 14 - ITA deadline: January 1
    • Panel session: March 25, 2025 - application submission deadline: March 14 - ITA deadline: March 1
    • Panel session: May 27, 2025 - application submission deadline: May 16 - ITA deadline: May 1
    • Panel session: July 22, 2025 - application submission deadline: July 14 - ITA deadline: July 1