Pilot and simultaneous competitions for Community Research Awards are currently under way in Italy, Romania and Bulgaria within the frame of Project UniverCity. During the preparation of this innovative for the three countries initiative, representatives of the partner organizations received specialized training by project management experts from the University of Plymouth, UK. The university was selected as an institution with an established tradition to bring academic knowledge closer to the community needs.
The success of the training, the positive feedback and the growing interest in this type of grant in continental Europe, inspired a new competition for ideas to help local communities that has been announced at the University of Plymouth. Rebranded as the Get Involved Awards, it takes on a new look in the UK in 2022, retaining its original idea of supporting problem-solving by bringing together ideas from local communities and the capacity of academia. The competition was announced in five steps and was open for expressions of interest until 02.02.2022 and for submission of project proposals until 23.02.2022. That is how an initiative, supported by the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU became an incentive to revitalize and re-design existing best practices in grant support across the Channel.
