Unprecedented interest in our research workshop grant scheme has led to twenty-six projects, across four different themes, receiving funding.

Topics range from Wrexham football club to cosmic rays, gender workplace equity to food banks in an impressive demonstration of the scope of the grant scheme’s coverage.

The scheme has been running since 2022 and has now provided 60 projects in total with grants of between £1,000 and £2,000. The funding is designed to bring together researchers from Wales at collaborative and inter-disciplinary workshops where research ideas and bids for further funding are developed.

The grants are awarded across the following broad themes:

• Pathways to Peace (in association with Academi Heddwch, Wales’ peace institute)
• Early Career Researchers
• Wales Studies
• Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS)

“We were taken aback by the number and quality of applications received,” said Dr Barbara Ibinarriaga Soltero, Programme Manager for Researcher Development.

“It is quite clear that the grant scheme has now become a significant part of Wales’ research environment. It provides the sort of funding that can often be hard to access, especially for people at the start of research career. We appreciate the support of all our funders, whose contributions are instrumental in advancing this crucial work at LSW.

“The link this year with Academi Heddwch is an exciting development, firstly because of its focus on peace studies, which has a particular urgency in current times.”

Recipients of the grants provide an interim report later in the spring, before submitting a final report in the summer.

The projects we backed are (listed with the lead proposer):

Project title	Lead proposer	Lead institution	Funding stream
Arts Engagement for Disability Groups	Grace Thomas	Wrexham University	HASS
Empowering Llanelli through Community-Driven Entrepreneurial Education: A Model for Welsh Town Regeneration	Dr Felicity Healey-Benson	Harmonious Entrepreneurship Society (Ltd)	Wales Studies
Supporting Girls’ Everyday Politics in Uganda	Rosie Walters	Cardiff University	Pathways to Peace
Stories of peace from Myanmar to Wales: place-based storytelling and pedagogic decolonising for displaced youth	Yi Li	Aberystwyth University	Pathways to Peace
Beyond the ballot: Reimagining democratic engagement	Sarah Roberts	The Open University in Wales	HASS
What can we learn from first-hand accounts of death and dying? An exploration of raw and honest narratives from those at the end of life, their loved ones and their health care professionals.	Annie Hendry	Bangor University	HASS
Advancing Gender Equity in Welsh Workplaces	Lauren Josie Thomas	University of South Wales	Early Career Researcher
A Welsh Pathway to Peace: Storytelling and Forced Migration:	Dr Gillian McFadyen	Department of International Politics, Aberystwyth University	Pathways to Peace
Play for Children Affected by Displacement in Wales	Dr Justine Howard	Swansea University	HASS
What is school readiness? Does family resilience impact school readiness?	Amanda TRhomas	University Of South Wales	Early Career Researcher
Interdisciplinary investigation of soil sensing and monitoring applications for public engagement and climate action	Dr. Paul Granjon	Cardiff Metropolitan University	HASS
Neuro-affirming Welfare Spaces	Dr Josie Henley	Cardiff University	Early Career Researcher
Assisted Reproductive Technology as poetic ART: reframing medical experience through creative practice	Carrie Smith	Cardiff University	HASS
Co-developing improved access of psychosocial interventions and social prescribing in the community for people seeking refuge and asylum.	Rabeea’h W Aslam	Cardiff University	Pathways to Peace
Early Career Teacher Retention in Wales: Coaching for Professional Development	Laura Nicole Rees-Davies	Cardiff Metropolitan University	HASS
How can housing associations transform food systems in Wales?	Dr Hannah Pitt	Cardiff University	Wales Studies
A BCUHB and Bangor University taskforce to establish a statement of urgent research priorities around school readiness across North Wales	Dr. Charlotte Wiltshire	Bangor University	Early Career Researcher
Access Insight Knowledge Exchange workshops	Anita Naoko Pilgrim	The Open University in Wales	Wales Studies
The 28 Archive Workshops	Sara Correia-Hopkins	Swansea University School of Law	HASS
Wrexham Football Club & Welshness: an interdisciplinary examination of the Wrexham AFC takeover and its impact upon Welsh language, culture and identity.	Dr Nina Jones	Cardiff Metropolitan University	Early Career Researcher
Exploration of cosmic ray initiated lightning during thunderstorms	Muhammad Naeem Anwar	Swansea University	Early Career Researcher
Implementing a Decolonising Project in Context: Being led through Student-needs and Perception	Ahmed Raza Memon	Cardiff School of Law and Politics	HASS
Animated Landscapes: Narrative and Engagement with Sacred Sites with Welsh and Global Contexts	Dr Louise Child	Cardiff University	HASS
Closing the gap of equality of access to fresh food produce and improving mental wellbeing in food bank service users.	Dr Alecia Cousins	Swansea University	Early Career Researcher
Arbrofi: devolved jurisdictions as spaces for aspirational legislation	Caer Smyth	Cardiff University School of Law and Politics	Wales Studies
Addysg i newydd-ddyfodiaid yng Nghymru a Quebec: cydweithio i rannu arfer gorau a datrys heriau	Kathryn Jones	IAITH: y ganolfan cynllunio iaith	Astudiaethau Cymraeg