2024 Seed Funding: Applications Open

Are you are a UNSW researcher or early-career academic with a passion for clean energy innovation? Do you want your work to have an impact on society? Our Seed Funding Applications are now open - we want to hear from you!

 

UNSW Digital Grid Futures Institute's Mission

Enabling the electrification of society for a smart, sustainable future through research, innovation and education.

 

Our Impact Themes

  • Creating innovators and innovations
  • Connecting university and industry
  • Preparing the workforce
  • Supporting the community
  • Connecting industry and government
  • Providing ongoing thought leadership

Find out more about our impact themes.

 

Purpose of Seed Funding and our 2024 Priorities

Our focus this year is to support early-career academics and researchers gain experience with industry partners with translational activity linked to their research. We are looking for impact-driven proposals with tangible outcomes for industry and/or government partners.

There is also a need to find areas of UNSW research relevant to DGFI’s mission that have spare capacity to develop research and/or translational activities in conjunction with ‘traditional’ energy research.

Proposals should demonstrate how the project will deliver impact, articulating a clearly defined pathway into industry.

Characteristics of a ‘good proposal’ might include a focus on:

  • translation of research,
  • IP generation,
  • disclosure and filing,
  • creation of tools to educate the general public,
  • informing career pathways within the energy transition, or
  • ongoing decarbonisation of the energy system and economy.

Similarly to 2023, there is an increased urgency to transition our energy landscape in the context of today’s climate extremes.

We are especially interested to hear from early-career academics and researchers across all Faculties and Schools including those not typically connected with the energy transition, for example:

  • Interested in AI, bots or automation?
  • Do you have a knack for marketing or market research?
  • Does your creativity or design thinking need an outlet?
  • Are you a cybersecurity guru?
  • Is equity in society your calling?

Given limited funds and the expected quality of applications, we ask that requests for travel expenses, conference fees etc. are excluded (or minimised), and that budgets are focused on tangible impact and outcomes.

Feel free to reach out to us via email to dgfi@unsw.edu.au if you'd like to discuss your project before applying.

 

About our 2023 Seed Funded Projects

In 2023, DGFI’s highly competitive $270k Seed Funding round spanned 16 awards ranging from $5,000 to $25,000 across a range of recipients including HDR students, early and mid-career researchers and academics.

The funding round saw 8 schools/centres represented, including the school of Arts and Media, and the School of Population Health, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of these Seed Funded projects.

Read more about our 2023 Seed Funded Projects.

 

2024 Funding Categories

Category A: PhD and ECR Support (Total of $190,000)

  • PhD (other student categories will be considered on a case-by-case basis) support package for PhD students in year 2 or above, competitively awarded, to access funds to support their PhD work that contributes to the DGFI impact themes. Conditions: project must be multi-disciplinary or be supervised by an ECA as primary (Joint) supervisor – up to $10k per application
  • PhD students grant that can be used develop knowledge and/or experience that can be shared with the wider community through outreach programs– up to $5k per application
  • Impact beyond IP for example, policy submissions, open-source tools to be freely available to stakeholders or development of IP in systems that address electrical network integration issues – up to $25k per application

Category B: Content Creation (Total of $80,000)

  • Development of short course content related to skills required for the electrification/digitisation of the energy grid – up to $15k per application
  • Build a physical demonstration or exhibition designed to educate the general public about one or more of the complex elements of the energy transition – up to $10k per application
  • Development of Programs or content to support/educate the undergraduate community across all UNSW Faculties about how their studies can be applied to the energy transition– up to $5k per application

Category C: Non-Engineering PhD or ECR Support (Total of $30,000)

Note: Category C is reserved for researchers and students not within Faculty of Engineering and those new to DGFI.

  • PhD (other student categories will be considered on a case-by-case basis) support package for PhD students in year 2 or above, competitively awarded, to access funds to support their PhD work that contributes to the DGFI impact themes. Conditions: project must be multi-disciplinary or be supervised by an ECA as primary (Joint) supervisor – up to $10k per application

Applications are welcome for any of the above categories.

 

How to Apply for 2024 Seed Funding

This call is designed to be inclusive and should demonstrate a route to impact in one or more of the DGFI impact themes. Any academic or researcher can apply (other student categories will be considered on a case-by-case basis).

Apply here by Monday, 26 February at 11.59pm AEDT.

Read the application questions before applying to ensure a smooth application process.

Have any questions? Want to discuss your proposal before applying? Book a call with us here.

If there is an issue with the booking system, email us at dgfi@unsw.edu.au to set up a call.

 

 

 

 

Supporting the community