A Sandpit is an intensive, interactive workshop designed to produce radically innovative research proposals. Participants from a diverse range of disciplines come together in a creative, free-thinking environment – away from their every day routines and responsibilities – and immerse themselves deeply in a collaborative process around an important challenge.

With the goal of inspiring more innovative and multi-disciplinary research proposals, the Sandpit was conceived by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) in 2003. Knowinnovation helped with the early design, and we’ve been privileged to facilitate about 40 of these workshops, known for being extremely intense, interactive and demanding.

The event itself is a 5-day residential program. Typically, 20 to 30 participants are invited, from different disciplines and universities. Over the course of the week, the group works to deepen their shared understanding of the designated challenge, to redefine the problems within the challenge and to generate novel ideas for research proposals. The outcome: Multi-disciplinary research that’s risky, cutting edge and unlikely to get funded through another source.

Read this if you want to learn more about Sandpits and how they’re run.