Clone of Reach Alliance - Mentor Application Form 2025-26

Reach Alliance Mentor Application Form 2026-27

Deadline date: 15th July 2026
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
- 15th July 2026: Deadline for applications.
- Early August 2026: Successful mentor and project selected.
- August-October 2026: Students’ selection.
- November 2026-February 2027: Preparation work and literature review.
- February-April 2027: Ethics approval (if needed).
- April-July 2027: Fieldwork and writing.
- 31st July 2026: deadline of spending for the first part of the funding.
- August-October 2027: Finalisation of the case study.
- November-December 2027: Reach Conference attendance (case study has to be published by the Reach Conference in November 2027 and representation of the team/part of the team at the conference is expected).
- January-July 2028: Outreach and impact activities.
- 31st July 2028: 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: ucypsob@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 2028.

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
Lead Applicant UCL Person Identifier (UPI) number
This can be found on your UCL ID card in the bottom left corner.
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 November 2026 (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
Please confirm that you can hold funds at UCL
Are you are an Early Career Researcher? This can be defined as within eight years of your PhD award or six years of your first academic appointment. However, there is flexibility within this definition, so please feel free to select 'Yes' if you feel Early Career Researcher applies to you. Please note that this is for monitoring purposes only and will not influence the outcome of your application.
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Reach Alliance Mentor Application Form 2026-27

Section 1: About the Applicant

Section 2: About the Project