Co-design for health and wealth is a HEIF funded project led by Professor Leon Cruickshank from Lancaster University.

This is an excellent opportunity for organisations to create projects in collaboration with Lancaster University to not only further research but also provide tangible benefits for your local community.

Working with various public, health, private, and third sector organisations we facilitate the creation of cross-sector collaborative project ideas and assist you through the process of developing your idea, writing the bid, and submitting for funding.

This initiative is mainly based in Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool & Fylde, and also our local communities of Morecambe and Lancaster.

January workshop

Our workshops are an opportunity to meet other like-minded people from across various sectors and create collaborations on exciting new projects to benefit the health and wealth of your local communities. Each workshop has a theme for you to learn knowledge and skills which will help you create, write, and successfully fund your bid.

Refreshments will be provided and there will be a chance for networking over a buffet lunch.

January theme

During the morning session you will learn about funding: including how to create project ideas and find the right partners for your project, ways to pitch your ideas, discovering the right funding sources, and an overview of getting started on writing your bid.

After lunch will be an opportunity to discuss project ideas and spend time working with potential project partners to create initial bid proposals. Those who are already writing bids will have time and space for focused work on their proposals.

Please let Sharon know of any dietary requirements as soon as possible on s.a.summers@lancaster.ac.uk

If you are arriving by car then permits will be available from the University security lodge between 9am - 10am

Looking forward to seeing you at the event.

Future events

This is the first of a series of workshops which we will be holding in Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, and Lancaster.

These workshops will give you the opportunity to discuss ideas and form partnerships to create projects and bid for the funding necessary to make them a reality. Each workshop will also cover a different aspect of bid writing with guest speakers sharing their expertise.

We will also be organising a series of half-day focused writing events to give you the time and space to really get down to developing and writing your bids in order to submit them. A 2-day intensive writing retreat is planned for 6th-7th March and will be held at Brantwood on Lake Coniston. All our events are fully funded through HEIF, so your only expense would be transport to and from the events.

Our objective is to ensure you are fully supported on your journey from project idea to submitting for funding. We first held this series of workshops between January and July 2018 and they were a huge success with the potential for over £4 million worth of projects being developed and submitted for funding.

Writing bids for funding can seem difficult and time consuming, however we believe that the process can be fun and (fairly) easy - you simply require the right support and information.

You can find out more about the Funding Accelerator on our website.

Dates for your diary

February Workshop: Blackburn, 28th February 2019

Writing Retreat: Brantwood, Coniston, 6th - 7th March 2019

March Workshop: Blackpool, 21st March 2019

April Workshop: ImaginationLancaster, 3rd April 2019

CELEBRATION: ImaginationLancaster, 17th April 2019

Each of the events is a standalone workshop and you can attend one/some/all of them. We are holding them in various locations to ensure that as many people as possible have the chance to attend. Each workshop will have a different theme for the morning – aimed mainly at those who are fairly new to bid writing although others may find it useful as well - and the afternoon will be either focus time to work on writing your bid or an opportunity to get together with others and find ways you might be able to collaborate on a new bid.