Actionable insights funding

Introduction

We are looking for insights and impact project ideas derived from economic, social science or arts and humanities research that will be relevant to the Digital Security by Design Challenge and the missions of the Discribe Hub+.

At the moment, many of these challenges are around how a new technology comes to market, and how the narratives around security (or other products) can create demand that will drive adoption at scale.

By converting knowledge from the economic and social sciences, arts and humanities research into actionable insights, we aim to accelerate the demand creation and subsequent adoption of digital security by design technologies.

Funding is available to a maximum of £20,000 (at 100% fEC).

About us

The ESRC Discribe Hub+ (Digital Security by Design Social Science Hub+) is an ESRC-funded initiative that forms part of the wider Digital Security by Design (DSbD) Programme.

The DSbD Programme, supported by the UK Government, aims to radically update the global economy's digital infrastructure, making it secure against future threats. The DSbD challenge has up to £70 million to invest in technology platforms and support for software development and business-led demonstrators. The funding is matched by £117 million from industry. The Discribe Hub+ is one part of this wider initiative, with funding in place until 2024. 

Discribe was established in September 2020 with funding from the ESRC, and is a consortium of four academic institutions: the Universities of Bath, Bristol and Cardiff, and Royal Holloway, University of London comprising researchers from the social sciences, economics, business and management, computer science and arts and humanities.

The core mission of the Discribe Hub+ is to support the wider DSbD challenge by applying social and economic science to questions around

• the adoption of new secure technologies,

• the readiness of different sectors and roles to adopt new secure hardware,

• the regulatory and policy environment and how that might influence the adoption of DSbD technologies, and

• what social and cultural factors might influence the success of the wider DSbD ecosystem.

  We also support an extensive research programme using methodologies from arts and humanities to explore the future implications of new secure digital technologies.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for clear, concise conclusions drawn from research findings that can:

• Be turned directly into an action or an output / artefact / tool for the wider DSbD challenge

• Help all of us to understand why something is happening, and how to take appropriate action. This ‘something’ can be any actions at the macro or micro level that influence digital security that might influence how citizens, organisations, governments or NGOs think, decide and/or act in the digital security sphere.

• Be relevant, specific, and valuable to the targeted stakeholder group like public and private organisations, firms, citizens, government agencies, developers etc that helps them to build actions, create and alter strategies, and make decisions that will improve their situation in terms of digital security (again, focused on thinking, deciding or acting).

Proposal assessment criteria

Proposals will be assessed against the following criteria:

Objectives: Discribe is a part of Digital Security by Design programme. Give us a brief description of your proposal and tell us how your idea supports one or more of the objectives of DSbD (see DSbD.tech for guidance on the wider challenge).

Target:  Who is your work targeted towards, and how will they benefit from it?

Output: What will you provide to your target group or community? What is the format of the output(s)? What is the benefit you are providing?

Method: How will you distribute your insights? How are you going to get your actionable insight to your target audience? What activities do you have planned?

Evaluation: How do you know your actionable insight is working? What measurements/metrics will you use to determine success?

Format: We want to encourage creativity in the format of the outputs.  It’s important that the format resonates with the target audience and provides insights in an actionable way. Potential formats could include a combination of reports, videos, apps, interactive platforms, online assessment tools, diagnostic tools or web repositories. However, other formats are welcomed. The funding you request should be appropriate for the scope, ambition and expected actionable insight and can be spent within the maximum twelve months permitted.

Timeline

Call Opens:  24th April 2024

Call closes: 14th June 2024 5pm UK time

Funding decisions will be made as applications are submitted, and we will seek to notify you of the outcome within 3 weeks of submission.

Earliest Project Start Date: 1st July 2024

Latest Project End Date: 31st March 2025

Prerequisites

There are three prerequisites for accessing this fund:

1.     Access to research findings derived from economic or social science (from completed research) or the arts and humanities that could provide actionable insights to the wider Digital Security by Design challenge

2.     Applicants must be employed within a UK University/research organisation.

3.     Funding is only available for the development of the outputs. Funding is not available for new research or staff hours.

How to apply

Provide a brief description of your idea and how it meets the assessment criteria by filling our application form. Please complete the form using minimum font size 11 Arial. Please ensure your name is included in the filename of documents submitted.

The completed form and short (2 page) CVs for applicants should be submitted in pdf format to this email address discribehub@bath.ac.uk with subject title “Actionable Insights Fund Application 2024”.

A condition of approval is that you produce an impact and stakeholder engagement plan working in collaboration with Discribe Hub+

Application form can be found here