Seed call October 2024: Co-creating circular innovations for healthcare

26 September 2024

Details pressure cooker: 26 September 2024, 09:30 – 17:00 (register before 19 September)
Deadline proposal: 18 October 2024, 17:00

The Institute for a Circular Society (i4CS) is excited to introduce the next round of Seed Funding. Are you a researcher at TU/e, WUR, UU or UMCU and passionate about advancing circular solutions through inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration and innovative research? Then this is your opportunity to team up with EWUU colleagues, develop collaborative projects and drive impact in the pursuit for a circular society. 

This seed call is connected to i4CS’s theme Circular safe hospitals (CSH).

CSH’s mission is to stimulate the development of circular solutions for healthcare. This means that we are looking for solutions that close loops, take planetary boundaries as a precondition and contribute to social inclusion and justice.

This call will focus on the following topics (See Annex 1: Knowledge gaps and questions for more background information):

1. Circularity in procurement and contracting in hospitals.
2. Towards circular laboratories.
3. Circularity from the planetary health perspective.

With this seed call i4CS aims to:

• Initiate and support innovative ideas and perspectives on developing circular solutions for healthcare;
• Facilitate and stimulate collaboration with stakeholders from the healthcare sector, including professionals from the UMCU.
• Stimulate and facilitate transdisciplinary* collaboration, including researchers of the four EWUU institutes and professionals from UMCU.
• Address knowledge gaps encountered by the healthcare sector (see Annex). This way we aim to inspire academic research with direct societal impact.

* Research that integrates knowledge across academic disciplines and with societal stakeholders to address societal challenges.

Researchers can apply for a seed fund after attending a one-day pressure cooker session on 26 September 2024.

PRESSURE COOKER – 26 SEPTEMBER 2024; 9:30 – 17:00, UTRECHT

Researchers from the four EWUU alliance universities are invited to develop transdisciplinary research proposals that contribute to bridging the described knowledge gaps. To facilitate the development of relevant research proposals, i4CS will organise a 1-day pressure cooker session where researchers are facilitated to explore collaboration with professionals working in the UMC Utrecht and other researchers from the four institutes and develop research ideas together.

Pressure cooker agenda:

• In the morning we will focus on getting to know each other better and on elaborating on your theme of interest and the knowledge questions from UMC Utrecht. Stakeholders in the healthcare sector, including professionals from the UMC Utrecht, will present their goals and action plans for a circular hospital and the questions and knowledge gaps that they encounter;
• In the afternoon, you will have the opportunity to find collaborative partners. Stakeholders and researchers can collectively explore and discuss research questions and ideas related to the presented knowledge gaps. Researchers and stakeholders can join forces to develop transdisciplinary project ideas and begin developing their research proposal. The sessions are supported by the Centre for Unusual Collaborations.

During registration, you will be asked to select two topics of interest. During the pressure cooker, groups will be assigned based on your preferences.

We kindly suggest refraining from arriving with pre-formed groups and research ideas, as this seed call is not conducive to such an approach. Our intention is to cultivate a pressure cooker environment that fosters open-mindedness to new collaborations and innovative research ideas.

List of Participants (last update 08/07):

• Joyce Browne (UMCU)
  Expertise Global Health, Planetary Health, Climate Justice, Epidemiology, Transdisciplinary Collaboration
• Joep Sprangers (UMCU)
  Expertise: GreenlabsNL
• Duygu Keskin (TU/e)
  Expertise: Sustainable Business Models, Networked Innovation, Design Science
• Yamine Bouzembrak (WUR)
  Expertise: AI in food and Health
• Maryam Tavakol (TU/e)
  Expertise: Machine Learning

ONE-DAY TRAINING ON COMPETENCES FOR INTER- AND TRANSDISCIPLINARY COLLABORATION – JAN 2025

Project teams that receive funding will be invited to participate in a free one-day training on competences for inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration. The course is not mandatory, but we strongly advise project teams to participate.

The training will contribute to:

• Collaborating with other researchers that have a different disciplinary background.
• Collaborating with societal stakeholders to create societal impact

TERMS AND CONDITIONS HIGHLIGHTS 

(See Terms and Conditions document for full details).

Proposals are eligible to receive a grant if:

• At least two researchers from the submitting team have participated in the pressure cooker;
• Researchers from different disciplines and from at least two EWUU institutes are involved Involvement of more EWUU institutes, and more disciplines will be rated higher in the evaluation.

The proposal should include a clear plan for the process of collaboration that facilitates integration of knowledge across the different academic disciplines and with the stakeholders (e.g. professionals at UMC Utrecht), including how and when these stakeholders will be involved in the research project and the time investment that is expected of them.

The maximum budget is € 40,000 per proposal; four grants are anticipated. The grant money may be used for:

• Hiring temporary researchers or other relevant staff;
• Extending research time of existing staff (financing substitution of teaching);
• Activities such as organising dialogue or scenario sessions, network building, action research, citizen science, stakeholder events, and best practice showcasing;
• Materials and equipment needed for research;
• Other costs directly associated with proposed activities (for example, travel costs).

The deadline for submission of proposals is 18 October 2024, 5 pm. More details will be provided at the pressure cooker session.

The proposals will be evaluated by a panel with members of at least three EWUU partners on added value of the collaboration, research quality and impact potential. We aim for a decision before 15 November 2024.

For more information see the Terms and Conditions Call for Projects CSH. Should you have any further questions at this point, please do not hesitate to contact circularhospital@umcutrecht.nl.