International Engagement Awards

The International Engagement Awards of the Wellcome Trust support projects through grants of up to UK£30,000.

The grants are intended to support projects that aim to achieve some or all of the following:

• to strengthen the capacity of people in developing countries to facilitate public engagement with health research.
  
• to stimulate dialogue about health research and its impact on the public in a range of community and public contexts in developing countries.
  
• to investigate and test new methods of engagement, participation, communication, or education around health research.
  
• to promote collaboration on engagement projects between researchers and community or public organisations.
  
• to support Wellcome Trust-funded researchers in developing countries in engaging with the public and policy makers.
  

Projects could involve:

• communities and members of the public (particularly those affected by or involved in health research);
  
• science communicators, health, and science journalists;
  
• healthcare professionals, educators, field workers, and community workers; and
• policy and decision makers.
  

Partnership projects (between different people and organisations, e.g., scientists and media professionals, ethicists, and community workers) are welcomed. Applicants must be based in listed developing countries or in the United Kingdom (UK) working with partners in the developing countries.

The activity must primarily take place in one or more developing countries and the primary goal must be to involve participants or engage audiences located in developing countries. Applicants from listed restructuring countries in Europe and Asia are not eligible. Projects dealing purely with development research not related to health are not eligible. Please note also that the scheme is not intended to support standard delivery of health education and promotion which does not focus on health research or involve health researchers.

Grants aim to support a portfolio of projects working in different locations, using a range of methods and involving diverse groups of participants. The Trust anticipates that all successful applications will be responsive to local or national issues and contexts for engagement.
 

These contexts could include:

• Community engagement - researchers engaging with communities who are involved in health research.
• Stakeholder engagement - interactions between researchers and specific stakeholder groups, e.g., a focus on schools through professional development seminars, dialogue between health workers and scientists, participatory video work with research participants, etc.
• Media engagement - e.g., workshops for scientists and journalists to discuss issues around how health research is reported, media training for scientists, professional development for science and health journalists, or opportunities for researchers to interact with writers working on health storylines in TV or radio drama.
• Policy engagement - e.g., new ways of facilitating policy-makers' access to contemporary health research through events, discussion, or electronic media.

Preliminary expressions of interest should be sent by February 4 2011,  final applications are due April 8 2011.