Our first webinar on our exciting new funding opportunity to improve mental wellbeing is taking place next Thursday (18 February) at 2pm. This online meeting is a great opportunity to find out more about the grants programme and how it could work for you.

Register now

The Ideas Fund is a new grants programme run by the British Science Association and funded by Wellcome that enables the UK public to think about, develop and test ideas related to areas of mental wellbeing that are relevant to them.  It will help communities tackle the problems that matter to them by connecting them with research professionals so they can work together to bring their ideas to life. 

Derry City & Strabane District Council is the only area in Northern Ireland and one of only four in the UK that will benefit from this unique £3.29 million fund. Other areas are the Scottish Highlands and Islands, Oldham and Hull. 

Our webinar – Why The Ideas Fund? – is the first in a series on online get togethers to provide more information on the grants programme. Some webinars (like this first one) will bring together people from across the UK. Others will be uniquely for those interested in working in the Derry City & Strabane District Council area. Register your interest now and we’ll keep you up to date with all events.

Register now

Our webinar series includes:

Webinar 1: Thursday 18 February 2pm 

Why the Ideas Fund? Welcome and Introduction

What ideas would you and your community like to explore around Mental Wellbeing? This session will give you an overview of The Ideas Fund. We’ll talk about the application process, who and what might be eligible, what support is available, and the exciting possibilities that can happen when communities are in the driving seat. 

Webinar 2: Thursday 4 March at 2pm

What does Mental Wellbeing mean to you? 

In this session we’ll talk more about different ideas of mental wellbeing and share examples of how you could develop projects which connect community and academic expertise. 

Webinar 3: Thursday 18 March 2pm 

What does your ideal partnership look like? Building community-researcher partnerships 

We’ll give you some ideas for building   strong partnerships between communities and researchers from the start. We’ll talk about setting expectations, overcoming challenges together and learning as you go - and being open to the unexpected! 

All of the Webinars will be recorded so that people can watch these at a time that suits them.