I'm Chris Manion, Head of Grants.

I’m responsible for The Ideas Fund, which supports communities to work with researchers to try out ideas related to mental wellbeing. We are funding projects in four areas of the UK – Oldham, Hull, North West Northern Ireland, and the Highlands and Islands of Scotland, and announced our first round of grants in 2021. Projects are supported by our brilliant Development Co-ordinators, who are local to each area.

We’re always interested in hearing from other funders, charities, or institutions who are doing similar work, either in the same locations or elsewhere. So please get in touch if you have examples or ideas to share!

[email protected]   

I'm Jill Cornforth, Grants Manager.

I work on The Ideas Fund which connects communities with researchers to work on mental wellbeing projects. I lead on work in two of our focus regions; North West Northern Ireland and Oldham, finding out how we can make the biggest difference to how communities work with researchers there.

I work across most parts of the wider fund, helping things run smoothly – often to be found with a spreadsheet or in Salesforce, or learning about new ways to share power in funding through participatory grantmaking.

Ask me what we’re learning about doing public engagement with health research differently, or get in touch for a chat about how we can make these relationships work better in Oldham or Derry & Strabane. 

(She/her/hers)

[email protected]

I’m Kirsty Neale, Grants and Learning Manager.

I work on The Ideas Fund which supports communities to work with researchers to try out ideas related to mental wellbeing. As part of this programme, I lead on supporting communities to work with researchers in the Highlands and Islands of Scotland and in Hull.

My background is in community funding so feel free to ask me about that, alongside learnings from The Ideas Fund - from participatory grant-making to doing public engagement with health research differently.

I’d love to hear from you if you have any ideas on how we can make relationships work better in Hull or the Highlands & Islands of Scotland too. 

(She/her/hers)

[email protected]