The University has been awarded an allocation of funds from Research England for this financial year to provide funding to academic colleagues to support impact activities which could potentially feed into the development of high impact case studies for the Research Excellence Framework (REF).
For the 2026-2027 academic year, we will have targeted funding available for projects already identified as potential impact case studies for the University’s submission to REF 2029. In addition to this, we are running the following open impact funding scheme:
Our Engagement and Impact Fund is a competition open to research staff employed at the University of Essex which aims to enhance the non-academic impact of research. It is intended for early-stage impact and engagement activities. As such, this funding stream will prioritise impact activity which is not related to projects already identified as potential impact case studies for the University’s submission to REF 2029. It provides funding up to £1,500 (including VAT) to support early-stage activities that help to build relationships with stakeholders and research users in the private, third, or public sector to enable research impact.
All awards must have all funds spent by and project activities completed by 30 June 2027.
This is an open call with two tranches of funding available. The first tranche will be awarded in the Autumn Term, and the second tranche will be awarded on the Spring Term:
Tranche one (Autumn Term) - the first tranche of funding will open at 12 noon on Friday 16 October and close at 12 noon on Friday 11 December 2026, unless the allocated funding available for this tranche has been fully awarded before this date (in which case this tranche will close sooner).
Tranche two (Spring Term) - the second tranche of funding will open at 12 noon on Monday 12 January 2026 and will close once all the allocated funding available for this tranche has been awarded.
We will not accept any applications submitted between the closure of the first tranche of funding and the opening of the second tranche of funding. As there is a limited amount of competitive funding available per tranche, we would advise for applications to be submitted as early as possible within each term. Please note that only one Engagement and Impact Fund award can be funded per applicant, per academic year.
Please download and read the call guidance notes (.pdf) for full details about this call before applying.
It is recommended that you consult with your Research Impact Officer before submitting your final application so that they can provide advice and support. Please allow at least five working days for your Research Impact Officer to review your application before submission.
When a tranche is open, applicants should complete the Engagement and Impact Fund application form (.docx) and submit it by email to impact-programmes@essex.ac.uk.
We expected decisions to be made and notification of outcomes within five weeks.
Successful applicants will be allocated a cost code to spend against. All spend of funding awarded under this call must be completed by 30 June 2027, and all proposed project activities should be completed by this date. Recipients will also be required to complete a report at the end of their funding awards.
All engagement and impact activities and any outcomes and impact should also be documented on the RIS-Impact Module.
Please consult our Ethical Public Engagement Tool and Guidance (.pdf) document to help determine if your activity involving engagement with members of the public incorporates research and therefore requires ethics review. If ethical approval is need for your project, this must be granted before a cost code can be issued. Please see the University’s guidance on obtaining ethical approval for research involving human participants.