Reach Alliance 2024 – call for proposal

This call for proposals seeks applications for funding to the next round of the Reach Alliance.

Funding of up to £20k is available to support a team of 3-5 UCL students, mentored by 1 or 2 PIs, to lead an 18-month research project responding to an urgent challenge of reaching the hardest to reach. 

Context

The Reach Alliance is a consortium of global universities - with partners in the United Kingdon, Australia, Singapore, Ghana, South Africa, Mexico, and Canada - developing the leaders we need to solve urgent local challenges of the hard to reach – those under-served for geographic, administrative, or social reasons. To date, the Reach Alliance has trained over 330 undergraduate and graduate students, engaged 52 faculty mentors across seven countries and launched over 80 case study reports covering innovative interventions in 35 countries. 

The Reach Alliance was created in 2015 by the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, in partnership with Mastercard’s Center for Inclusive Growth.   

UCL joined the Alliance in 2021 alongside the University of Oxford and Tecnológico de Monterrey, as part of its strategic partnership with the University of Toronto. The University of Melbourne, Ashesi University, Singapore Management University and University of Cape Town joined in 2022.   

The programme

Working in interdisciplinary teams of 3-5, Reach’s globally minded students use research methods to identify innovative solutions to climate, public health, and economic challenges.  The UNs’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide inspiration and a guiding framework.  Research is conducted in collaboration with local communities and with guidance from university faculty members, building capacity and skills among Reach's student researchers.  

Funding is provided by Global Engagement in UCL to support the research notably to fund field research trips where students conduct primary data collection. Teams then analyse the data to produce a 6,000-8,000 word published report called case study (all four previous UCL Reach case studies can be found here). Critically, funding also supports student and faculty travel to the annual Reach Research Conference (see here for 2023 Reach Conference summary video featuring UCL Reach researchers), as well as other knowledge translation events where students disseminate their actionable research insights.  

As the Reach Alliance’s founding institution, the University of Toronto continues to serve as home base for the network.  

Each partnering university assembles its own teams of students and faculty mentors and provides research and administrative support.  As home base, the University of Toronto plays a central role in managing and developing the Reach Alliance model and methodology and provides significant additional support (the equivalent of a further £10k for each project team) over the research period through: 

• Performance coaching 
• Communications and branding 
• Events and conferences 
• Digital platforms 
• Administrative efficiency through economies of scale 
• Quality assurance, brand and reputation enhancement and management 

Further information on the outputs and outcomes of Reach at UCL to date can be found at Annex 1.

Funding opportunity  

This funding call seeks applications from a PI or two co-PIs (called mentors under the Reach programme), from different faculties, working on an urgent challenge of reaching the hardest to reach - those under-served for geographic, administrative, or social reasons - to lead the next Reach Alliance research team at UCL.  

UCL encourages the selection of case studies that are embedded in local communities in the UK but can be situated in the wider global context provided by the Alliance. International case studies are allowed but travel costs need to be included in the project budget and cannot replace attendance at the annual conference. The research itself can cover any challenge relevant to the Sustainable Development Goals. The following examples of previous case studies from UCL and partners of the Alliance may help to provide a sense of how this has been approached through the platform to date.   

The mentor(s) is required to provide a general abstract of the research challenge to be addressed by their students and plan to select 3-5 students to conduct the 18-month project. This research focus usually complements some of the current PI’s research. Given the relatively short timeframe, research questions that benefit from pre-approved ethics/low risk ethics are encouraged. It is also recommended that the PI benefits from an existing relationship with a partner organisation related to that research activity to facilitate contacts and fieldwork by the students.   

The selection of the students will be at the discretion of the successful PI(s) and the application will need to explain how the students would be selected the students before the end of the calendar year 2024.  

The students can be hand-picked or recruited through an application process, and GE’s recommendation is for PhD Students involvement. Undergraduate students not in their final year may also be considered where the case for their inclusion is strong, as continuous involvement across 18 months needs to be ensured. Teams may be composed of students from different levels of study.  

Though previous teams have run successfully with Master’s students, GE does not recommend the inclusion of master’s students given that the project crosses two academic years. 

Timeline

4th October 2024: deadline for applications 

Mid-October: successful mentor and project selected 

October-December 2024: students’ selection 

January-March 2025: preparation work and literature review 

March-May 2025: ethics approval if needed 

May-July 2025: fieldwork and writing  

31st July 2025: deadline of spending for the first part of the funding  

August-October 2025: finalisation of the case study.  

November-December 2025: Reach Conference attendance (case study has to be published by the Reach Conference in November 2025 and representation of the team/part of the team at the conference is expected) 

January-July 2026: outreach and impact activities.  

31st July 2026: deadline of spending for the second part of the funding 

 

What’s offered 

GE will provide a total of £20K across two financial years, with £5K in financial year 1 to primarily cover research costs + £15K in financial year 2 to primarily cover travel costs. Please note that funding from financial year 1 cannot be rolled over into year 2 and needs to be expended within that timeline (by July 31st).  

The overall funding covers the research costs and the travel costs of the team and mentor to conferences and relevant events and field trips. Day to day management of the funding is the responsibility of the mentor and their team; students are expected to draft a budget in their first month of the project under the mentors’ guidance.   

The Reach Alliance at the University of Toronto provides a continuous series of training and leadership activities for the students, as well as opportunities to present the research findings at the annual Reach Research Conference. UCL students and faculty are also participating members of the global Reach network, including researchers from the seven other participating universities around the world. The Reach Alliance provides substantial communications and knowledge translation support, including a professional in-house research communications designer and senior content editor, contributing to many high-quality research deliverables (Reach related research deliverables found here).  

The UCL mentor/ lead is responsible for the selection of the students and the research question to be explored, as well as research project management with administrative support and management of the funds provided by their home department, similarly to other GE provided grants. The mentor is expected to:
Provide availability for a standing meeting on a biweekly basis with students and respond to emails in a timely manner (2-3 business days).  

• Provide input and feedback on the team’s presentations. 
• Provide guidance on the research question design, fieldwork and literature review.  
• Provide support securing interviews (e.g., sending emails drafted by students and/or follow up on emails as needed) and support during interviews (e.g., review interview guides, participate in interviews as needed)  
• Provide guidance during data analysis process and give input and feedback during the deliverables writing process (NB: copy-editing and design is done by Reach editor)  
• Liaise with the team to coordinate travel logistics and lead financial expenditures and logistics during field work and other research activities. 
• Attend the annual conference with their team. 

Application and assessment

Please click on the link below to access the application form and questions.  

Applications will be assessed by the UCL GE and the Reach Team central team, with the successful applicant to be notified in mid-October. 

Apply now

Contact

For any questions about the call for proposal and the Reach programme at UCL, please contact Clément Leroy, Senior Global Engagement Manager: c.leroy@ucl.ac.uk or directly on MS Teams.