For Zinc’s third mission, which focused on adding five more years of high quality to later life, Aspect funded a Research Fellowship programme, through which three researchers joined Zinc’s in-house R&D team. The researchers worked hands-on with the entrepreneurs who were part of the mission, as well as with the Zinc team and network of experts.
Their work with the entrepreneurs focused on translating and embedding existing research as well as facilitating the generation and dissemination of new evidence. They also worked to build a network of researchers across different institutions that are interested in specific problem areas, with a view to creating learning transfer opportunities.
Learnings and outputs from the fellowships included:
- An event showcasing the opportunities for early career researcher (ECR) social scientists in startups, held as part of the ASPECT annual conference.
- A short video showcasing scientists and researchers in Zinc ventures.
- Career opportunities for researchers – in addition to the three scientists funded through these Fellowships, Zinc was also able to offer short-term research project opportunities to other PhD students and Postdocs. One of our Fellows talked about her role at Zinc on a podcast as part of Glasgow’s Abacuss programme (available here).
- New science-rich ventures – 24 ventures were created through Zinc’s later life programme, of which 12 were selected to join the Zinc portfolio – these are all listed on the Zinc website.
- A blog on research in startups, and a series of other blogs available on Zinc’s Medium account.
- A number of collaborative partnerships between Mission 3 ventures and university researchers, exemplified through this case study.
Resources
6 June 2023
Programme to support mid-career researchers with venture engagement for professional development
This is a report about the Zinc Mid-Career Researcher Innovation Safari 2022. It explains how mid-career researchers have fewer opportunities than ECRs to explore developmental routes outside academia, which leads to limitations of opportunities for professional and personal development.
30 May 2023
Zinc offers an Innovation Internships scheme for PhD students to learn about early-stage innovation within placements in start-ups
This is a detailed report available to Aspect members about Zinc’s offerings of the Aspect-funded Innovation Internships scheme that supports students from both disciplines, SHAPE and STEM, for three-month placements outside academia, with mission-focused start-ups to gain commercial experience.
30 September 2021
Social Science Commercialisation Case Studies
Sharing insights and examples that inspire social science commercialisation.
27 September 2021
Zinc Case Studies
Case studies demonstrating some of the partnerships between Zinc ventures and universities.
26 January 2021
Tackling taboos through research in ventures
Supporting start-ups working on taboo topics, in ageing and wider aspects of health.
21 January 2021
Catalysing Innovation Funding for Healthy Ageing
An event report from Tim Shakespeare, Research and Innovation Design Manager at Zinc.
17 December 2020
Invitation for social scientists to apply ideas for later life innovation
Q&A with UKRI’s Huw Vasey on the Healthy Ageing Catalyst Awards, run in partnership with Zinc
11 December 2020
Bringing startups and social science together for later life innovation
Tim Shakespeare highlights the key points from Zinc’s new report on innovation and healthy ageing
22 October 2020
Webinar recording: The case for working in start-ups
Early career social scientists: The case for working in start-ups