QUEX Accelerator Grant Scheme

The 2019 round of the QUEX Accelerator Grant Scheme is now closed.

The QUEX Accelerator Grants Scheme is an initiative of the QUEX Institute, a partnership between UQ and the University of Exeter. Under the banner of Global Sustainability and Wellbeing, a range of cooperative initiatives across learning, discovery and engagement will be jointly developed and implemented through the QUEX Institute.

For any queries relating to the Scheme or further information on the Global Strategy, please contact the UQ Global Engagement office at globalstrategy@uq.edu.au.

How to apply

Submit the application form to QUEX@exeter.ac.uk and globalstrategy@uq.edu.au by 16 September 2019. Please refer to the attached guidelines and application form for further information regarding the application process, eligibility criteria and key contacts.

Scheme aims

Earlier this year, the QUEX Initiator Grant Scheme was launched to support the expansion of institutional linkages between UQ and Exeter through smaller seed funding grants. A total of eight applications were jointly selected and funded by UQ and Exeter to a total value of $125,000. Building upon the Initiator Grants Scheme, the Accelerator Grants are intended to support larger-scale initiatives to secure external funding and/or produce high-level outputs and impact. It is anticipated that academic staff with excellent and complementary expertise will already have established a working relationship with the partner institution, and will be able to demonstrate a track record as part of the application.

Key objectives of the QUEX Accelerator Grant Scheme include:

• to position the project group to win major external funding, publish significant research, or to influence national/international policy
• to address research questions and/or to develop innovative teaching and learning initiatives with potential for high impact that could not be as effectively carried out by a partner on its own. These research questions or teaching and learning initiatives should be aligned to one of the QUEX Institute’s three themes
• facilitate further development of novel research and/or teaching and learning concepts to the point of submission of bid(s) for significant external funding
• to expedite groundbreaking interdisciplinary research and/or teaching and learning initiatives, taking them to the next level
• to demonstrate clearly the added value of the QUEX Institute.

Supported initiatives

Applications will primarily be sought from the three current themes of the partnership:

• healthy ageing
• physical activity and nutrition
• environmental sustainability

Applicants are encouraged to contact the relevant QUEX Theme Lead at their home institution to discuss the submission and its alignment with the partnership theme.

Funding details

Up to four Accelerator Grants of $50,000 (£30,000) each will be available to UQ and Exeter collaborators.

Eligibility 

The Accelerator Grants will be available to the whole academic community at Exeter and UQ.

Eligible costs include:

• travel and subsistence
• research consumables
• external speakers/facilitators
• meeting, venue and catering costs
• costs of non-academic (research, project-specific or technical) staff time (in the UK these are called directly incurred staff costs).

The following items are not eligible for funding under this scheme:

• academic salaries
• third-party travel costs
• equipment
• publication costs
• student fees / tuition
• indirect costs, estates costs and overheads associated with internal research facilities.