LEAP Digital Health Community Innovators

Digital health means using technology to look after our health and improve health and social care. The goal is to make healthcare easier to access, more personal, and better at keeping people healthy.

LEAP’s research strategy focuses on four areas of digital health research. Your challenge doesn’t need to fit perfectly within these themes. Instead, use them as a guide to the kinds of technologies we mean when we talk about ‘digital health’.

1. Care outside of the hospital
Digital tools can help people stay well at home and avoid unnecessary hospital visits. This could include things like virtual wards, online check-ins, or even new services in local spaces such as pharmacies, community centres, or pop-up clinics.

2. Service and resource planning
Health and care services often struggle with limited staff, space, and equipment. Digital systems can help make better use of these resources, for example, by helping plan staff rotas, manage patient flow, or coordinate ambulances more effectively.

3. Frailty, fall prediction and fall prevention
Falls are one of the main reasons older people end up in hospital. Digital health tools can help predict and prevent falls, supporting older adults to live safely, confidently, and independently at home for longer.

4. Smartphones and wearable technologies
Everyday technology like smartphones, watches, and video tools can now help track health and wellbeing. From monitoring heart rate or sleep to helping carers and professionals check in remotely, these tools put powerful health support in people’s hands.

A: No, this is not a full time role. Successful applicants will need to be available for:

• A short (30 mins – 1 hr) meeting during week commencing 20 October 2025
• The Community Sandpit event on Friday 14 November 2025. This will be approximately 4 hours between 10:30 – 14:30.

If a team is formed at the sandpit and a successful application is made with an academic for the seedcorn funding, there will likely be an additional commitment of around 2 hours per week from the Community Innovator. It will be up to the team to decide on the number of hours involved for all team members.

A: No, this is not a paid opportunity. Travel expenses (reasonable costs within the South West of England and Wales) will be paid for successful applicants for attending the meeting with the LEAP researcher (if held in-person) and the Community Sandpit event.

In the application form, there is an opportunity to share any support requests with the Hub which could include financial support for access or childcare – these will be managed on a case-by-case basis.

A: No, it is not possible for the seedcorn funding to be paid to an individual as a salary for their time on the project. Use of the funding will need to be in line with the eligibility requirements of the Hub’s funder (the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council).

The funding is intended as a small amount of resource to support the initial exploration into the challenge. Examples of what it might be used for include:

• Materials and supplies for prototyping, testing, or co-design activities
• Travel expenses for team members to attend meetings or events
• Services (e.g. facilitation, translation) to support project delivery
• Small equipment or software needed to explore a technical idea
• Printing and production of outreach or engagement materials
• Catering for community events or workshops

A: No. The Community Innovator scheme is designed specifically for individuals who are from or working within communities, particularly those who may not have prior experience with university research or access to academic resources.

The aim is to support community-led ideas and innovation, and to create opportunities for people outside of academia to collaborate with researchers. As such, academics are not eligible to apply as Community Innovators. There will be an opportunity for academics to attend the Community Sandpit event and become part of collaborative teams formed during that stage. These teams can then apply for seedcorn funding to develop their ideas further.

A: For this programme, “academic” refers broadly to individuals with formal research training or a research background, including postdoctoral researchers and postgraduate students. The call is designed to prioritise applicants without a research background, particularly those bringing lived experience as patients, carers, or community members.

That said, applications from individuals with research training will not be automatically excluded if their proposal is clearly rooted in lived experience rather than a research project. However, the emphasis and priority will be given to community‑led ideas grounded in lived experience rather than academic research.

A: Eligible applicants will need to be based in the South West of England or Wales or have a strong connection to the region (e.g. through their work or a connection with an organisation based in the region).

Please note, the Community Sandpit event will take place in-person in Bristol and the Hub will only be able to support travel costs within the region of South West England and Wales. Travel from beyond the region will need to be paid for by the applicant.

A: Applications for projects that have already begun will be assessed on a case‑by‑case basis. Projects with substantial existing funding are unlikely to be considered. However, if an application demonstrates a clear need for additional support from LEAP, and shows the value of partnering with academics, the NHS, and industry to achieve its aims, it may still be eligible.

A: No. Each successful project will receive £10,000 or support of equivalent value. Further details about the funding will be provided in the next stage of the application process.

A: No. The scheme is focused on early-stage research, feasibility, and innovation. It supports projects at the initial stages of development, helping ideas move from concept towards early implementation.

Once a project reaches the stage of marketing or commercial rollout, it would fall outside the scope of this scheme and the Hub and may be better suited to other funding opportunities.

A: This is a brand-new scheme, so we don’t yet have examples to share. However, you can explore some of the Hub-funded projects within our research themes here: Hub Funded projects. Please note that these projects are larger in scale and led by multidisciplinary academic teams. Community applications are not expected to be at this same technical level.

A: Due to the short turnaround time for applications, we are unable to offer detailed feedback on proposals before submission. However, we will do our best to respond to specific queries sent by email to leap-dh-hub@bristol.ac.uk. Successful applicants will then be paired with a LEAP researcher, who will work with them to refine and develop their project idea in preparation for the Community Sandpit event.