What is a Catalyst Project?
There are two types of sub-projects in Catalyst: ‘sprints’ and ‘launchpads’. In both cases, Catalyst provides financial, human and technological resources for communities and academic researchers to work together for a fixed period of time on community-driven research problems. Selection of sprints and launchpads is through a competitive bidding process (see below for details of open calls).
Research Sprints
Large projects – or research sprints – are six to nine month intensive research investigations, bringing together academics from different disciplines and members of a community, who work together to carry out research towards Catalyst’s main research questions.
Communities and academics involved in research sprints are be able to draw on 4 post-doctoral researchers, the input from academics from a range of disciplines (computing, environmental science, design, management, social science) as well as equipment and resources for expenses.
Launchpads
Small projects – or launchpads – are much smaller projects, similar in spirit to research sprints, but that perhaps are more speculative or proof of concept. Launchpads are given a small amount of funding, typically £2-10K, for launchpad activities.
Get Involved:
There is an open ended call for for Catalyst launchpads. As of November 2013, we are no longer accepting applications for Catalyst sprints.