Innovation Fellowships Scheme Route B: Policy-led (Local Policy Innovation Partnership) 2023-24

Scheme overview

The British Academy has been funded by the UK's Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) to support a pilot of a new scheme, the Innovation Fellowships. The Innovation Fellowships scheme is a dual-route scheme designed to enable researchers in the humanities and social sciences to partner with organisations and business in the creative and cultural, public, private and policy sectors in order to address challenges that require innovative approaches and solutions. Through the Innovation Fellowships, our researchers in the SHAPE community will be supported to create new and deeper links beyond academia, so enabling knowledge mobilisation and translation, as well as individual skills development.

Both routes require an established researcher to work with a UK-based partner organisation on a specified policy or societal challenge that contributes to the aims of the scheme for a period of up to one year.

The Innovation Fellowships scheme has two routes:

Route A: Researcher-led

Route A closed for applications on 11 October 2023.

Route B: Policy-led (Local Policy Innovation Partnership) 2023-24

The British Academy is working on this scheme with the Local Policy and Innovation Partnership Hub (LPIP Hub) based at the City-Region Economic Development Institute (City-REDI) at the University of Birmingham which is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) as part of the creating opportunities, improving outcomes theme.

The £23 million LPIPs programme has been designed to support local and national policymakers in tackling levelling up challenges, driving sustainable and inclusive economic growth, and reducing regional disparities in the UK. The scheme will build cross-sector partnerships that aim to address policy challenges that matter to local people and communities by: generating insight and understanding into local challenges and opportunities, and working with stakeholders to implement evidence-informed, actionable solutions. There are two components to the LPIP scheme: local policy and innovation partnerships (the LPIPs) across the UK as well as a national, LPIP Hub. The LPIP Hub is a national consortium, led by the City-Region Economic Development Institute, at the University of Birmingham. The LPIP Hub will work with the four phase 2 LPIPs to understand and solve local challenges around the UK through innovative and effective service-driven approach to place-based policy making and public service delivery. The Hub will also act as a gateway for national policymakers and government bodies to gain local insights from the LPIPs and interact with them.

The Academy’s Innovation Fellowship call will bring these two initiatives together to enable successful researchers(s) to partner with the LPIP Hub for 12 months. Successful applicants will work within specific policy areas set out by the LPIP Hub, but all fellowships should focus on theories, mechanisms and policy insights on how the UK can develop effective multi-level governance structures which encourage participation, engagement and cooperation to strengthen our capacity to identify and respond to local, regional and national needs and the major policy challenges ahead. The LPIP Hub is particularly interested in the core theme of how to build confidence, capability and capacity in place; and how collaborative capability is valued and can be enabled in different places.

Eligibility

Applicants must be at early or mid-career stage. Applicants must also meet the requirements set out in the Scheme Guidance Notes in ‘Eligibility’ section.

Level of award

Route B (Policy-led) awards will have a maximum award value of £120,000 on an 80 per cent Full Economic Costing (FEC) basis. The Applicant must commit between 0.6 and 0.8 FTE time to the Fellowship.

Duration of award

Awards are tenable for a period of 12 months.

Contact details

Further information is available from George Evans at [email protected]

For full information on the Innovation Fellowships Scheme – Route B: Policy-led (Local Policy Innovation Partnership) 2023-24, please view our scheme guidance notes.