• Staff essentials
• Learning and teaching
• Research
  • About Research Innovation and Knowledge Exchange
  • Research Staff induction
  • Working with business and industry
  • External funding, grants and contracts
    • Is this project research?
    • Develop a research idea
    • Applying for funding
    • Match funding (Internal only)
    • Find an external partner
    • EU Research Funding
    • US Funding (Federal Wide Assurance)
    • Intellectual property
    • Contracts
    • Post-award
    • Support for grants and contracts
    • International engagement
  • Internally-distributed funding (Staff access only)
  • Research impact
  • Publicising your research
  • Commercialising research
  • Knowledge exchange
  • Consultancy
  • Research governance
  • Research Excellence Framework (REF)
  • PURE
  • Training and forums
  • Research Equipment
  • Internal Webpage for Continuing Professional Development
  • Sparks (Internal Only)
  • Open research at York
  • Responsible research and innovation
  • Research Culture & Researcher Development
  • Public Engagement with Research at York
  • HE-BCI
  • White Rose University Press
• Policies and strategies
• Community and culture
• What's happening

Developing a research idea

Staff in professional services are available to assist you in developing a research idea from early stage to application. This can include a second opinion on an early stage research idea, suggestions for collaborators within the University or a plan of activity to gauge interest from an external partner.

Staff in the Research and Innovation Development Team can contact potential research partners on your behalf to engage them with your research, a specific project and to provide letters of support for a research bid. The Research and Innovation Development Team also run a wide range of events designed to foster interdisciplinary activities and enable staff to meet colleagues with related research interests. 

Global Partnerships can help find and develop new international collaborations by putting you in touch with York’s existing international partners and by helping you identify potential new research partners and in-country funding. They also organise international visits and matchmaking workshops to develop new research collaborations with partners around the world.

The Office of Philanthropic Partnerships and Alumni (OPPA) can provide support in identifying and working with international trusts, foundations, philanthropic corporate supporters and individual benefactors. Our global network of graduates might also provide helpful links into organisations and networks.

The Research Champions support academic staff by facilitating opportunities for collaboration across and between disciplines, internally and externally through events, workshops, introductions and promotional activities and provide pump-priming funding for development of new research ideas.

The Library has a wide range of e-resources to enable a comprehensive literature search. 

Financial support is available for development of research ideas proof-of-concept data and relationships with research collaborators via internal pump-priming funding.

Further information

Find an external partner and assess interest in collaborative research projects

Guide to Co-production with the Public for Researchers

A Guide for Co-Researchers working on Co-produced Research Projects  Stonger Together Guide to co-producing research (PDF , 6,610kb)