Organisations are invited to apply for up to £150, 000 from the Disability Research on Independent Living and Learning programme which launched last autumn and expects to fund around 40 projects in the UK over the next four years. DRILL opened this Monday 9 May for applications and will close on 27 July.
Disabled people will be at the forefront of designing projects (with academics and policy and practice experts), for the programme. DRILL is funded by a £5 million grant from the Big Lottery Fund and will be delivered by Disability Rights UK, Disability Action Northern Ireland, Inclusion Scotland and Disability Wales.
Liz Sayce, Chief Executive Officer of Disability Rights UK, said:
“Our aim is to build new evidence on what would enable disabled people to take full part in society – with disabled people in the lead, setting the priorities and co-designing the projects. We’re looking forward to receiving some exciting proposals”.
Proposals will be assessed by a National Advisory Group, with a Central Research Committee made up of disabled people, academics and policy experts making a final decision on which projects receive funding.
Fast Track Applications will find out if they have been successful in September 2016. Larger applications using a 2 Stage Application process will find out in March 2017.
Tom Shakespeare, Chair of the Central Research Committee for DRILL, added:
“The starting gun has been fired on a very exciting competitive research process. We are looking for teams that have great ideas, true partnership between researchers and disabled people, and with real chance of improving the lives of disabled people. This is the first tranche of a five year funding programme that will change the United Kingdom for the better.”
To find out more about the DRILL project, and how to apply for a grant, go to www.drilluk.org.uk.
