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HEIF programme for Covid-19

Apply for funding towards an exchange of knowledge that supports society's recovery from the Covid-19 pandemic – made available through the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF).

About the fund

We are making £250,000 available from the Â鶹´«Ã½’s annual Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) allocation to support work with non-academic partners to address their challenges and opportunities presented by the Covid-19 pandemic.

We ran the programme last year (skip to background) and are now repeating it along similar lines.

The focus this year will be on working collaboratively with our non-academic stakeholders to support health, social and economic recovery from the pandemic and its wider impacts.

This year's initiative runs from 1 May to 31 July 2021.

Costs up to £25,000 (excluding full time staff buy-out costs) will be prioritised according to the following criteria:

1. Impact – the project makes a demonstrable and positive difference to economic, social and/or health outcomes
2. Partnership – key project partners are identified in advance and are likely to confirm they consider the project as a route to post COVID recovery and strengthened resilience
3. Income generation – income generation opportunities are designed into the project outcomes
4. Leverage – the project unlocks and/or builds on specific commitments and/or in-kind contributions from collaborators – but cannot be funded from any alternative source.
5. Value for money – the project demonstrates best value and state aid principles and where appropriate, opens up income generation opportunities.

Timescales for 2021

• Deadline for submission of applications – 9 April
• You'll get an informal steer on you project proposal within 48 hours
• You will be notified of a decision on your application – 23 April
• HEIF spending cut-off – 31 July (any unspent funds will not be available after this date).

Background

The Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF) is awarded annually to the Â鶹´«Ã½ by Research England to support our knowledge exchange activity.

As part of its wide-ranging response, the Â鶹´«Ã½ of Sussex last year ran a successful HEIF-funded programme to support work with non-academic partners to address their challenges and opportunities presented by the COVID pandemic.

Twenty projects were funded (skip to project list), aimed at improving health outcomes; mitigating the effects of the lockdown on families and schooling and to advise on aspects of the economy.

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Research England policy and priorities for knowledge exchange

Research England’s guidance on HEIF Policies and Priorities (RE-P-2020-03) states that:

“The Higher Education and Research Act 2017, section 93 (4) defines knowledge exchange as:

“ (4) For the purposes of this Part, “knowledge exchange”, in relation to science, technology, humanities or new ideas, means a process or other activity by which knowledge is exchanged where—
(a) the knowledge is in, or in connection with, science, technology, humanities or new ideas (as the case may be), and
(b) the exchange contributes, or is likely to contribute, (whether directly or indirectly) to an economic or social benefit in the United Kingdom or elsewhere.”

At a practical level, this means that an activity must involve an external partner and/or be focussed on entrepreneurship and/or starting up a new company.”

“The Government is committed to a long-term vision for R&D as described in the R&D roadmap, which includes highlighting the importance of knowledge exchange, HEIF, KEF and the KE Concordat.

HEIF should support delivery of the key foundations of the Industrial Strategy, around “Ideas”, “People” and their role in supporting “Place”. It should support all important aspects to the contribution of universities to COVID-19 crisis and recovery, such as place and civic contributions. It can play a part in addressing the Government’s levelling up agenda. It can also support the vital role of students in delivering knowledge exchange in pursuit of these priorities, whilst also recognising that students themselves may benefit through, for example, enhanced employability prospects.

• “Examples of activities that are not eligible to be funded by HEIF because they do not meet the knowledge exchange definition above or cannot be supported by recurrent funding include:
• Research that does not involve an external partner, for example collaborative research with another higher education provider only.
• Teaching that does not involve an external partner, for example cross disciplinary curriculum development.
• Capital expenditure such as building construction or refurbishment.
• Research administration such as the preparation of REF impact statements (although KE activities to achieve the impact would be eligible).
• Outreach programmes that are primarily aimed at student recruitment or widening participation.”

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How do universities access HEIF?

The national HEIF budget of £210m is allocated annually to universities on the basis of their relative income from knowledge exchange activities reported to the and other data, underpinned by institutional strategies for knowledge exchange.

Performance Assessment of HEIF: the Knowledge Exchange Framework

From late 2020, universities in receipt of HEIF will be benchmarked against their comparators on the basis of the criteria listed below and in future years, universities’ HEIF allocations will be pegged to their relative performance in each of these areas:

1. Collaborative research income
2. Co-authorship with non-academic partners
3. Innovate UK income
4. Contract research income – businesses & public / third sector
5. Consultancy income – business & public / third sector
6. CPD income
7. CPD Learner days delivered
8. New graduate start ups
9. Income from local growth programmes
10. Turnover per spin out
11. External investment per spin-out
12. Licensing and other IP related income.

HEIF provides a strong return on investment, with £9.30 generated for every £1 of funding, at national level.

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Past projects

Twenty projects were funded totalling c £340,000 from the 2019/20 HEIF budget. Between them they directly generated £270,000 from external sources, even though income generation was not a key selection criterion for the programme. Prospects look hopeful for at least a further £0.5m-£1m in direct income generation as partnerships mature during 2021. A further £323,000 in external funding was leveraged by the programme (i.e. pre-committed funds which were drawn upon or repurposed to support the HEIF investment). Three projects also secured a further £35,000 from Sussex’s allocation from Research England from Strategic Priorities Funding (Jan 2021).

Networks

A wide range of external collaborations was forged and long term partnerships established with organisations ranging from small companies to large public authorities, central Government and community groups. Most of these are continuing to develop into longer term relationships involving R&D collaboration, public engagement and student experience. Most projects formed the basis of at least one publication and some were proposed as REF impact case studies.

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