Shaun LowthorpeTwo Norwich schools and city-based science centre are to benefit from a slice of �47,000 of funding to support community initiatives in Norfolk.The University of East Anglia's community engagement fund (CUE East), has awarded cash to 15 projects which were picked to increase the UEA's involvement with local communities, utilise Norwich Research Park expertise and promote sustainable living.Shaun Lowthorpe

Two Norwich schools and city-based science centre are to benefit from a slice of �47,000 of funding to support community initiatives in Norfolk.

The University of East Anglia's community engagement fund (CUE East), has awarded cash to 15 projects which were picked to increase the UEA's involvement with local communities, utilise Norwich Research Park expertise and promote sustainable living.

The schemes to receive funding include business breakfasts, poetry in schools, an art project about 'invisible dust', 'science cafes' for youngsters at the Inspire Discovery Centre in Norwich, and a performance piece about coastal erosion.

Schools will benefit from workshops to explore poetry and the environment in 'ecopoetry in schools and beyond'.

Lionwood Junior School, in Wolfe Road, Norwich, will use its funding to encourage pupils and their families to look at food preparation, usage and wastage in a more sustainable way with Food for the Future. And Costessey Junior School will be creating a sustainability resource centre by linking with the local community to create stimulating multifunctional outdoor spaces.

Another project will research Sustainable Long Term Care for Older People an oral history project collecting experiences from the elderly and their care providers.

Project leader Mayumi Hayashi said: "I am thrilled to be obtaining the CUE East funding for my project, which aims to collect grassroots experiences and views of older residents and staff in care or nursing homes in East Anglia through interviews with them. It will hopefully contribute to producing practical impacts on current and future long-term care policies both regionally and nationally."

One of the new projects to receive funding, The Big Urban Heat Experiment, will chart how Norwich influences its own climate. The partnership between BBC East and UEA's School of Environmental Sciences will work with local schools, and Scouts and Brownies to measure and map activities in Norwich that contribute to climate change. Their results will be fed into a nation-wide experiment by the Royal Meteorological Society.

Project leader Dr Steve Dorling, a senior lecturer from the university's School of Environmental Sciences, said the support was a great way to help raise awareness of how all the activity in a city can affect local climate.

"We hope to get as many people as possible making measurements to help us map temperature both within Norwich and in the surrounding rural areas," Dr Dorling said.

Business Breakfasts brining together the academic world with local businesses to swap ideas on how to promote low carbon initiatives in local firms, are also being funded.

This is the second year that funding has been available and last year's awards have helped a range of projects come to fruition, including the launch of a sustainability challenge badge for Girlguiding Norfolk, set to be rolled out nationally later this year.

CUE East steering group chairman, Prof Keith Roberts, said: "It was encouraging to be deluged with excellent proposals, all keen to forge new and productive partnerships with university staff and their expertise, and we are delighted to be able to support and nurture 15 outstanding projects in this year's funding round."