SHAPE is a collective name for ‘Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts for People and the Economy/Environment’ and is often used to refer to non-STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) research in universities.

We support innovation in all forms, across all faculties of King’s College London, which includes areas related to SHAPE research.

We have a dedicated team within Innovation@King’s that supports SHAPE researchers, alongside Research Development and Impact Managers, in:

• Faculty of Arts & Humanities
• Faculty of Social Sciences & Public Policy
• King’s Business School
• Dickson Poon School of Law
• Florence Nightingale Faculty of Nursery, Midwifery & Palliative Care
• Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience

While academic pathways to innovation are typically associated with translational research or tech transfer for health or ‘hard sciences’, there are many ways to make commercial, social and economic impact from SHAPE research, for example:

• Offering consultancy services
• Influencing policy
• Developing products from tools or methodologies you’ve created
• Setting up a social enterprise or charity
• Founding a startup or a spinout
• Collaborating with the public or private sector to implement your research
• Licensing your intellectual property (IP) or know-how
• Seeking IP protection and patents for your work

If you’re a SHAPE researcher based at King’s, we recommend that you follow these steps to get support with creating impact from your research:

1. Contact SHAPEinnovation@kcl.ac.uk to set up a 1:1 meeting with our IP & Innovation Executives.
2. Following your introduction, you may be advised to submit an innovation disclosure form, this allows the team to assess your research project in detail and work with you decide on the best route forward.
3. You will be signposted to further support to develop the potential impact of your research, including entrepreneurial skills training, commercialisation funding and SHAPE-focused accelerators.

Our Innovation Executives can help recommend sources of support to develop your SHAPE research into real-world impact.

Here are some examples: 

ARC Accelerator

ARC Accelerator is a first-of-its-kind accelerator dedicated to helping SHAPE researchers identify pathways to innovation and scale with success. Their programme is broken down into three stages. ARC Discover and ARC Launch consist of free workshops and exercises to generate initial plans for enterprise. ARC Accelerate is a six-month accelerator with a grant of up to £62,500 and time buyout to work on your business model.

Arts and Humanities Research Council Commercialisation Grant

This grant of up to £50,000 in support can be used to develop commercialisation outcomes from arts and humanities-led research. It can support projects that have received any UK Research and Innovation funding in the last 24 months.

Official Development Assistance Innovation Fellowships 2024

The British Academy’s innovation fellowships is designed for early- and mid-career researchers from across the humanities and social sciences to develop their skills, networks and careers in the creative and cultural, public, private and policy sectors to address challenges with innovative approaches and solutions. These fellowships are offered as awards for up to £150,000 for 12 months.

SHAPE Involve and Engage

The British Academy is offering awards up to £8000 for humanities and social sciences researchers to deliver innovative public engagement projects working in partnership with a gallery, archive, library or museum. Alongside the project, you will take part in a ‘community of practice’ workshop with other awardees to share ideas, provide feedback and troubleshoot challenges.

SHAPEinnovation@kcl.ac.uk