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
Wales Studies
Empowering Llanelli through Community-Driven Entrepreneurial Education: A Model for Welsh Town Regeneration	Dr Felicity Healey-Benson	Harmonious Entrepreneurship Society (Ltd)
Access Insight Knowledge Exchange workshops	Anita Naoko Pilgrim	The Open University in Wales
How can housing associations transform food systems in Wales?	Dr Hannah Pitt	Cardiff University
Arbrofi: Devolved jurisdictions as spaces for aspirational legislation	Dr Caer Smyth	Cardiff University
Addysg i newydd-ddyfodiaid yng Nghymru a Quebec: cydweithio i rannu arfer gorau a datrys heriau	Dr Kathryn Jones	IAITH: Y Ganolfan Cynllunio Iaith
Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences
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 healthcare professionals	Dr Louise Child	Cardiff University
The 28 archive workshops	Dr Sara Correia-Hopkins	Swansea University
Interdisciplinary investigation of soil sensing and monitoring applications for public engagement and climate action	Dr Paul Granjon	Cardiff Metropolitan University
Implementing a decolonising project in context: Being led through student needs and perception	Dr Annie Hendry	Bangor University
Play for children affected by displacement in Wales	Dr Justine Howard	Swansea University
Implementing a decolonising project in context: Being led through student-needs and perception	Dr Ahmed Raza Memon	Cardiff University
Assisted Reproductive Technology as poetic ART: Reframing medical experience through creative practice	Dr Carrie Smith	Cardiff University
Early-career teacher retention in Wales: Coaching for professional development	Dr Laura Nicole Rees-Davies	Cardiff Metropolitan University
Beyond the ballot: Reimagining democratic engagement	Sarah Roberts	The Open University in Wales
Arts engagement for disability groups	Dr Grace Thomas	Wrexham University
Early Career Researcher
Exploration of cosmic ray-initiated lightning during thunderstorms	Dr Muhammad Naeem Anwar	Swansea University
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
Neuro-affirming welfare spaces	Dr Josie Henley	Cardiff University
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
What is school readiness? Does family resilience impact school readiness?	Dr Amanda Thomas	University Of South Wales
Advancing gender equity in Welsh workplaces	Dr Lauren Josie Thomas	University of South Wales
A BCUHB and Bangor University task force to establish a statement of urgent research priorities around school readiness across North Wales	Dr Charlotte Wiltshire	Bangor University
Pathways to Peace
Co-developing improved access to psychosocial interventions and social prescribing in the community for people seeking refuge and asylum.	Dr Rabeea’h W Aslam	Cardiff University
A Welsh pathway to peace: Storytelling and forced migration:	Dr Gillian McFadyen	Aberystwyth University
Supporting girls’ everyday politics in Uganda	Dr Rosie Walters	Cardiff University
Stories of peace from Myanmar to Wales: place-based storytelling and pedagogic decolonising for displaced youth	Dr Yi Li	Aberystwyth University