• Total fund available: £250,000 + up to £50,000 discretionary additional funds for public engagement activity

• Maximum award: £50,000 per project with an additional discretionary, £10,000 per project for public engagement activities

• Expected number of awards: Up to five challenge-led projects

• Maximum project duration: 9 months

• Support short, focused challenge-led projects of up to 9 months that respond to clearly defined low carbon hydrogen and hydrogen-related challenges across the South West of England and South Wales, while enabling learning, evidence and solutions with potential relevance beyond the region.

• Provide a demand-led route in which civic and public-sector partners define real place-based challenges and work with academic teams to develop practical, evidence-led responses.

• Enable meaningful industry participation where commercial, technical or delivery expertise supports a civic or public-sector challenge, with the role, contribution and shared benefit clearly set out.

• Enable feasibility studies, evidence reviews, partner-led problem scoping, technical validation, policy or regulatory insight, early-stage demonstrators, data mapping or short technical projects.

• Generate impact that supports the shift of the South West of England and South Wales towards a green economy through adoption of hydrogen and hydrogen-related technologies, including ammonia where relevant.

• Create stronger links between academic capability and partner need by inviting applicants to start with a real challenge, gap or opportunity.

• Increase the network of activity around low carbon hydrogen usage, contributing new intelligence, partner evidence and challenge-led activity to grow the lo carbon hydrogen cluster within the GW-SHIFT region.

• Develop work with the potential to scale, generate follow-on funding, strengthen regional partnerships, inform policy or public-sector decision-making, or support future industrial investment routes.

• Support high-quality public engagement, where relevant, to improve understanding of the issues, opportunities and adoption challenges associated with low carbon hydrogen technologies.

The Challenge Fund is civic-led because local authorities, public bodies and policy partners are well placed to identify place-based needs, barriers and opportunities that require focused academic input. Applications should begin with a clearly evidenced civic or public-sector challenge and show how the proposed work will support practical decisions, delivery or future investment.

Projects must demonstrate benefit within the GW-SHIFT geography of South West England and South Wales. Academic applicants may be based elsewhere where they bring relevant expertise, provided the application includes an eligible civic or public-sector partner within the GW-SHIFT region and clearly explains the regional benefit. Applicants should also identify any wider national or international relevance where appropriate.

Industry partners may participate where their contribution is aligned to the civic or public-sector challenge. Applications should explain the industry partner’s role, contribution, expected benefit and relationship to the identified regional need.

• The Challenge Fund is proposed as a new call designed around shorter, sharper, challenge-led interventions defined by civic or local authority partners.

• The call will open by 15th July 2026 with a submission deadline of 12th October 2026 by 5pm.

• Maximum project duration: 9 months. All projects must be completed by 30th November 2027 at the latest.

• A total of £250,000 has been allocated to the Challenge Fund. The maximum funding available is £50,000 per project, supporting up to five challenge-led projects. An additional discretionary fund is available of up to £10,000 per project to support public engagement activities should this be required.

• Applicants should provide a fully costed proposal approved through the usual Pre-Award processes and with the appropriate internal sign-offs. Without University signature of the funding proposal, the project will not be able to be considered for award.

• Overheads cannot be charged to Challenge Fund projects. Eligible staff time and other direct costs should be clearly justified in the application and aligned to the proposed outputs. Please read the advice on eligible and ineligible on the GW-SHIFT Challenge Fund web pages.

• Civic, local authority, public-sector or policy partners are not required to provide match funding. However, applicants should clearly describe any partner contribution, which may include staff time, data, access to sites or networks, policy input, stakeholder engagement, practical delivery support or other in-kind value.

• Where an industry partner is involved, applications should normally demonstrate at least 100% match funding against the requested GW-SHIFT grant. This may be provided as cash, in-kind contribution, staff time, access to facilities, equipment, technical support, data or other costed contribution.

• Where the industry partner is an SME and 100% match contribution is not practical, GW-SHIFT will review the proposed contribution and costing model on a case-by-case basis. Applicants should provide a clear justification for the revised contribution model and explain how the SME will support delivery and impact.

• Partner contributions and support must be evidenced through letter(s) of support from each participating organisation.

• Challenge-led proposals. What civic/local authority low carbon hydrogen challenge does the proposal address? What gap does it respond to, or what synergy does it exploit?

• Projects that support GW-SHIFT’s core aims: accelerating low carbon hydrogen innovation and deployment; connecting academic capability with civic, public-sector and industry need; strengthening regional capability and collaboration; generating measurable economic, social, environmental, policy or industrial impact; and creating credible routes to follow-on activity, investment or adoption.

• Projects with at least one external partner from civic, local authority, or public sector body.

• Clear potential for growth, impact or engagement within the region, helping to further develop the low carbon hydrogen cluster of economic activity and supports local low carbon requirements.

• Proposals that can produce clear outputs within 9 months, with a practical route to partner use, policy insight, further funding, technical development or future demonstrator activity.

• Projects that can contribute new intelligence to the Hydrogen Map, the GW-SHIFT KPI evidence base, case-study development, or the next-phase of low carbon energy requirements.

• Where discretionary public engagement funding is requested, a proportionate and credible plan that identifies the intended audiences, purpose, methods, relevant expertise, quality assurance, evaluation approach and link to the main project. Applicants should demonstrate access to appropriate public engagement expertise, whether through their institution, project partners or experienced external support.

• Challenge led response to civic, local authority or public-sector requirements in developing low carbon energy plans around low-carbon hydrogen.

• Feasibility studies, technical validation, proof-of-principle or early-stage demonstrator planning.

• Market validation, supply-chain analysis, user/stakeholder discovery, partner-needs assessment or investment-readiness evidence.

• Policy foresight, policy development evidence, horizon scanning, regulatory analysis or decision-support work.

• Data mapping, modelling, geospatial evidence, economic evidence. infrastructure readiness analysis or regional opportunity mapping.

• Short collaborative projects that bring academic and civic/local authority/public-sector expertise together around a defined low carbon hydrogen challenge which may include industry partners as required.

• Preparation for follow-on funding, larger collaborative bids, demonstrator opportunities, industrial partnerships, KTPs or investment conversations.

• Short-term research staff costs may be eligible where they are clearly necessary to deliver the project and appropriately justified in the application. Where a named researcher or PDRA is proposed, the application must justify why they are the appropriate candidate with the right skills and experience for the role; a CV may be requested.

• Each application should show that the proposed work has been developed with, or is strongly supported by, at least one relevant civic, local authority, public-sector or policy partner within the GW-SHIFT region. This is central to the Challenge Fund model: projects should start from an identified place-based need. Industry partners may be included where their commercial, technical or delivery contribution is clearly aligned to that need.

• Applications should include a partner letter of support from each participating external organisation.

• Partner letters should describe the challenge being addressed, the partner's role in the project, the expected benefit or use of the work, and any cash or in-kind contribution.

• The project should explain how the output could inform a decision, strategy, policy question, investment case, procurement route, infrastructure discussion to support decarbonisation and energy security needs locally or regionally.

Each application must clearly outline how it will deliver growth, impact, engagement, evidence, capability or partner value within the GW-SHIFT geography. Applications should demonstrate a defined challenge, a feasible delivery plan, meaningful partner involvement, inclusive and responsible delivery, and a clear route to practical outputs or follow-on activity.

• Challenge fit: does the proposal address a clearly defined low carbon hydrogen or, hydrogen-related decarbonisation or energy security challenge? Is the need partner-informed and regionally relevant?

• Project feasibility: does the proposal demonstrate a clear, deliverable work plan that can be completed within the 9-month maximum project duration?

• Partner engagement and demand: is there meaningful involvement from at least one external civic, local authority or public sector partner? Does the proposal show that the work responds to a real civic, local authority or public sector  need?

• Value for money: are the project costs reasonable and robustly justified? Does the proposal provide value for money when costs are compared against potential outcomes, evidence, partner benefit and regional impact? Is the partner contribution appropriate to the partner type and project model?

• Project sustainability: is there potential for follow-on funding, future collaboration, partner adoption, investment, policy use, demonstrator activity or other mechanisms that support impact beyond the Challenge Fund funding?

• GW-SHIFT alignment: does the proposal demonstrate that it will deliver on the aims and objectives of GW-SHIFT? Which KPIs does it support, and how will evidence be captured?

• Public engagement quality, where requested: is the proposed activity necessary and clearly linked to the project; does it identify appropriate audiences, expertise, methods, quality assurance and evaluation; and is the additional budget justified?

• Trusted research and responsible innovation: does the proposal identify relevant partner, data, security, ethical or wider societal considerations and set out proportionate mitigations and governance?

• Equality, diversity and inclusion: does the proposal identify and address potential barriers to participation, include relevant perspectives and demonstrate fair and inclusive project practices, engagement and decision-making?

• Confidence in delivery: does the team demonstrate the track record, capacity and confidence to deliver the project successfully? Does the proposal recognise trusted research, responsible research and innovation principles and any relevant EDI considerations?

• A short final report setting out the challenge addressed, work undertaken, partner involvement, findings, outputs and recommended next steps will be required within one month of the project completing. If the project finishes between 1 - 30 November 2027, the report will be required by 30 November 2027.

• Evidence suitable for GW-SHIFT KPI reporting, including partner engagement, outputs, geographic relevance, sector/application category, contribution to the regional low carbon ecosystem and follow-on potential.

• At least one dissemination or knowledge-exchange output, such as a briefing, webinar contribution, case study, partner presentation, policy note or technical summary.

• A clear next-step pathway, identifying whether the work should progress to follow-on funding, partner adoption, further research, demonstration, investment readiness, policy engagement or closure.