Reach Alliance Submission Portal

Reach Alliance Mentor Application Form 2025-26

Deadline date: 3rd October 2025
Summary of call

This call for proposals seeks applications from a PI or two co-PIs (called mentors under the Reach Alliance programme), from different faculties, working on an urgent challenge of reaching the hardest to reach - those under-served for geographic, administrative, or social reasons - to lead the next Reach Alliance research team at UCL. Funding of up to £20k is available to support a team of 3-5 UCL students, mentored by 1 or 2 PIs, to lead an 18-month research project responding to an urgent challenge of reaching the hardest to reach.

This bespoke programme sits between the demarcation lines of education and research, as it offers a strongly research-led learning experience and leadership coaching to a group of students led by an academic mentor. The project is extra-curricular and non-credit bearing.

Key dates
- 3rd October 2025: Deadline for applications.
- Early October 2025: Successful mentor and project selected.
- October-December 2025: Students’ selection.
- December 2025-February 2026: Preparation work and literature review.
- February-April 2026: Ethics approval (if needed).
- April-July 2026: Fieldwork and writing.
- 31st July 2026: deadline of spending for the first part of the funding.
- August-October 2026: Finalisation of the case study.
- November-December 2026: Reach Conference attendance (case study has to be published by the Reach Conference in November 2026 and representation of the team/part of the team at the conference is expected).
- January-July 2027: Outreach and impact activities.
- 31st July 2027: deadline of spending for the second part of the funding.
Contact

For any questions about the call for proposal and the Reach programme at UCL, please contact Siobhan O’Brien, Senior Global Engagement Manager: siobhan.o'brien@ucl.ac.uk, and Elena Méndez-Piedra Paredes, Global Engagement Manager: e.paredes@ucl.ac.uk or directly on MS Teams.
Section 1: About the Applicant
A. UCL Applicant Information

Please note that applicants must have an open-ended UCL contract or a fixed-term contract which lasts until at least July 2027.

In line with UCL’s commitment to equality and diversity, we encourage applications from a range of backgrounds regardless of career stage, age, disability, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and religion.
Name of UCL lead applicant*

PrefixFirst NameLast Name
E-mail*
Role *
Faculty*
Arts and Humanities Department*
Brain Sciences Department*
Bartlett Department*
Engineering Sciences Department*
Life Sciences Department*
Maths & Physical Sciences Department*
Medical Sciences Department*
Population Health Sciences Department*
Social & Historical Sciences Department*
Institute of Education Department*
Other*
Do you have a co-mentor for this project? *
Name of UCL co-applicant

PrefixFirst NameLast Name
E-mail
Role
Faculty
Department
Section 2: About the Project

Please refer to the guidance webpage for more information on the duties and framework for the call.
Please describe the research issue related to “hard to reach” populations the students would investigate (500 words max) *

0/500
Please identify the partner organisation and/or external stakeholders related to this field of research that will work with the students for their data collection and potential field work? (300 words max) *

0/300
Do you have pre-approved ethics applicable to this project? If not, how will this be secured?’ *
Please describe your plan for selecting a team of 3-5 students before the end of the year 2025 (500 words max) *

0/500
Please describe how the research experience will benefit the students’ development and leadership (300 words max) *

0/300
Please confirm that you understand that the funding is split between two financial years and that 1) internal UCL financial rules apply with a deadline for spending funding by July 31st of each year 2) once transferred, the funding is the responsibility of the PI and its department*

Tick here to confirm
Please confirm that you can hold funds at UCL*

Tick here to confirm
Should be Empty:

Reach Alliance Mentor Application Form 2025-26

Section 1: About the Applicant

Section 2: About the Project