International Research Funding Circular – 19 December 2024

Aim of allocation is to fund promotion activities for sustainable and high-quality EU agri-food products in the internal market and worldwide including the U.K. The [2025 promotion policy work programme]2025 promotion policy work programme https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/common-agricultural-policy/market-measures/promotion-eu-farm-products_en, is designed to develop new agri-food market opportunities for EU farmers and the wider EU food industry and help them secure their existing business. The work programme identifies regions and countries with high growth potential outside the EU as the main promotion target markets to produce agri-food products. Funding for promotion initiatives worldwide aims at raising awareness of EU agri-food products in key growth markets, including China, Japan, South Korea, Singapore, North America and the United Kingdom.

The European Commission has announced 63 projects will receive a share of €315 million through Teaming, Excellence Hubs, and ERA Chair actions to advance research and innovation in Widening countries. The three funding opportunities were launched in 2023, and all projects are due to start their activities between end of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025. Details of all 63 projects selected under the three Widening calls are available in the dedicated overview.

The UK was awarded the second highest number of projects (38), ex aequo with France (38), after Germany (67 projects) and before the Netherlands (37).

Colleagues are invited to attend a series of research funding proposal writing sessions.  These sessions are designed to give you quiet time and space to work on your research funding proposal.  The time will be largely for you to write quietly. A Research Funding Development Team colleague will be available.

To attend, you need to have an idea for a research project, programme or fellowship and be ready to start writing to convert this into a funding proposal (or have already started writing).  You ideally need to have identified the funding competition that you are writing for.

The sessions will be two-hour writing sessions.  You are not required to attend every session, although you are welcome to.

Please click here to see more detail and book your place:  Getting Those Grants: Quiet Time for Writing

If you have any questions, please contact Jo Gascoigne-Owens (Johanna.gascoigne-owens@ncl.ac.uk).

King’s College London is hosting two NIH in-person workshops from 28^th-31^st January 2025 – the workshops are organised by NIAID, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and there will be 1 day on grant writing and 3 days on post-award policy and management. They will be held at the Strand campus in central London.

The registration links can be found below:

The British Academy, in collaboration with the Association of ERC Grantees, will be hosting a half-day conference on The European Research Context for the Humanities and Social Sciences on 22 January 2025 from 13:00 to 18:45. This event will bring together leading academics to discuss key aspects of European research in the humanities and social sciences, and to share insights on the ERC grant application process, researcher mobility, and the values underpinning European research initiatives. Participants can register here. For more information or inquiries about the conference, please contact Barbora Krasova at b.krasova@thebritishacademy.ac.uk.

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The call is open to basic and translational research programmes that will develop links between bench and bedside. The scheme is intended to work as a collaboration between the Fondation ARC and the host institutions, with host institutions matching the Fondation ARC funding budget of €1.5 million over five years. The aim of this scheme is to ensure selected researchers remain in France in the long-term and as such, the research structure must commit to supporting the candidate as part of a long-term process. Deadline:  14 February 2025

Supporting at-risk Researchers, 60 fully-funded fellowships (up to 24 months) for doctoral and postdoctoral researchers of any non-EU nationality to work at a research institution in the EU. Call open to potential host institutions.

The Brazilian National Council of State Funding Agencies (CONFAP) has published a new call to co-fund projects involving Brazilian entities under the MSCA Staff Exchanges 2024 call. The co-funding will allow these organisations to second their staff to European research organisations for training, skills and career development and knowledge sharing. Deadline: 5 February 2025

The Helmholtz Association develops research programmes in six research fields: Energy, Earth and Environment, Health, Aeronautics, Space and Transport, Key Technologies plus Structure of Matter. The Helmholtz Investigator Groups initiative aims to provide outstanding foreign and German junior researchers with funding and resources to set up their own research team with the benefit of excellent working conditions in a research-oriented environment at a Helmholtz Centre. Funding is at least €350,000 euros p.a. for five years. Deadline: 30 April 2025.

The objective of the programme is to enable universities and other research institutions to receive foreign researchers who are subject to significant and continuous personal threat in their country of origin while also raising awareness of the plight of threatened researchers in general, and offer opportunities for stakeholders interested and involved in this issue to network. Eligible for funding are research-performing institutions in Germany. The Initiative provides a monthly stipend of €2,700 to the host institution for the fellowship recipient. The fellowship is limited to a maximum of 24 months. Deadline: 16 February 2025.

Zentrum für interdisziplinäre Forschung (Centre for Interdisciplinary Research – ZiF) at Bielefeld University fosters outstanding and innovative interdisciplinary research projects. The ZiF is an independent thematically open research institution and is open to scholars from all disciplines and all countries. ZiF offers a grant of €50,000 to up to €400,000 to cover the costs for travel and accommodation. Deadline 24 April 2025.

Sblue is an interdisciplinary graduate school which brings together research teams and laboratories in western France to increase knowledge and promote technological innovation and training in the area of marine science.Funding is available through the ISblue International PhD Mobility scheme to support research visits by doctoral students. The only eligible costs are the actual costs of travel within the limit of the allocated package of support.The total budget allocated to this scheme is €90,000 per year. Deadline 15 February

Teaming funds establish new centres of excellence in Widening countries or modernise existing ones with the help of leading institutions from elsewhere in the EU or associated countries. The last Teaming call of Horizon Europe is scheduled to open on 3 December. Teaming is a two-stage call, with the deadline of first stage applications on 10 April 2025. Successful applicants in the first stage are invited to submit complete applications to the second stage by 20 January 2026.

COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) is an intergovernmental framework for European Cooperation in the field of scientific and technical research, including social science and humanities. COST does not fund research itself, but funds the expenses of interdisciplinary research networks called COST Actions (networks that engage a team of proposers from at least 7 COST member countries with at least half from inclusiveness target countries). These support a range of networking tools, such as workshops, conferences, training schools, short-term scientific missions (STSMs), communication activities, and virtual networking tools. COST Actions enable researchers from academia, SMEs, public institutions and other relevant organisations to investigate a topic of their choice for four years. No budget forecast is requested when submitting a proposal. An estimated €125,000 is made available for a COST Action in its first year and an average of €150,000 per year for the other three years. Deadline is 21 October 2025.

16. British Academy Horizon Europe Pump Priming Funding: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/Horizon-Europe-Pump-Priming-Collaboration-between-UK-and-EU-Partners/

Principal Investigators (PIs) at universities and research institutions can apply for a grant of up to £10,000 to help them in their preparations for submitting a Horizon Europe proposal for Pillar 2 of Horizon Europe – Global Challenges and European Industrial Competitiveness. The ambition is to support the effective uptake of the opportunities provided by the UK’s association to Horizon Europe. The purpose is not to implement the proposed projects that will be submitted to Horizon Europe, but to give the UK-based partners the resources needed to collaborate with EU organisations and stakeholders to further develop the idea and the market opportunities. The expectation is that the funding will be utilised in a variety of ways but could include feasibility studies, application advice and training, partnership building, and dedicated resource to take forward an application. Proposals are welcome in all disciplines, including engineering, natural sciences, medical and health sciences, humanities, and social sciences. The British Academy is holding a series of webinars providing further information about the opportunity and details of how to apply. Applicants can register to attend the webinars online, which will be held on the following dates: 19 November 2024, 14:00-15:00 [past, but see   slides]; 8 January 2025, 14:00-15:00; 5 February 2025, 14:00-15:00. Assessment will be undertaken over multiple rounds, while funds remain. The round deadlines are: • 4 December 2025 (17:00) • 15 January 2025 (17:00) • 12 February 2025 (17:00) • 5 March 2025 (17:00).

Following the bilateral research dialogue between France and UK which took place in London on 29 February 2024, the UK government has committed £400k funding to boost and foster UK-France research collaboration. We are delighted to announce that following the launch of our pump-priming scheme last month, we have now launched the call for the second strand, a mobility programme. A total funding pot of £300k is available for mobility activities of UK researchers to institutions in France, with the aim of developing collaborative activity between the UK and France which supports both institutional and UK-wide research and innovation priorities and prepares a submission to a Horizon Europe or other international collaborative funding bid. Mobilities are expected to take place between April 2025 and January 2026. Deadline 12 January 2025. For any general enquiries, please email UK-France-grants@international.ac.uk.

We have obtained, in strict confidence, early drafts of some of the Horizon Europe consortium call topics for the 2025 Work Programmes – please note that these are subject to redrafting and change but may help indicate potential call topics to start to find partners and build European country consortia. Formal Work Programmes will not be finalised and published until about April 2025. Please treat confidentially:

In addition, here are draft work programmes for:

As a reminder, the European Commission has recently adopted and published the:

19. ERC Proof of Concept Grants 2025: https://erc.europa.eu/apply-grant/proof-concept

Proof of Concept grants are open to ERC grant holders of a frontier research project that now want to explore the commercial or societal potential of their work. All Principal Investigators in one of the ERC frontier research main grants (Starting, Consolidator, Advanced or Synergy) are eligible to participate and apply for an ERC Proof of Concept Grant. Principal Investigators in an ongoing main grant, or Principal Investigators in a main grant that has ended after 1 January 2024, are eligible to apply. The Principal Investigator must be able to demonstrate the relation between the idea to be taken to proof of concept and the ERC frontier research project (Starting, Consolidator, Advanced or Synergy) in question. The call deadlines for submissions are: 13 March and 18 September 2025.

The purpose of the Horizon Europe travel fund is to support the development of proposals to Horizon Europe funding opportunities. Awards will be made to cover the basic costs of travel and subsistence (typically ~£500-2000) of Newcastle University staff members to meet with EU partners—we request that funds are spent within 3 months of a request being approved. It is the applicant’s responsibility to arrange travel bookings. Please complete the travel request form: https://forms.office.com/e/xu0FZ65dif . We will return a decision to you asap, typically within five working days. Should you have any queries, please email sarah.urquhart@newcastle.ac.uk

The UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation) together run the UK-German Funding Initiative in the Humanities to bring together arts and humanities (including law and linguistics) researchers in the UK and Germany to conduct outstanding joint UK-German research projects. Projects must last between 24 and 36 months starting between January and mid-February 2026. Awards will not exceed, on the UK side, £420,000 (at 100% FEC, of which the AHRC will fund 80%) per project, meaning £336,000 is available per project on the UK side. DFG does not specify a maximum limit to the amount of funding that can be requested for the German component. Deadline 16 February 2025.

UKRO has recorded two information sessions for prospective applicants

Please follow the links below to watch the recordings.

24. Horizon Europe Climate Neutral and Smart Cities Mission Call: https://cinea.ec.europa.eu/funding-opportunities/calls-proposals/horizon-europe-eur-98-million-available-climate-neutral-and-smart-cities-mission-projects_en

A new call for projects has now launched to support research and innovation under the Cities Mission titled: Changing urban spaces and mindsets to accelerate the transition to climate neutrality. A total of €98 million is available for proposals across the following four topics with deadlines 11 February 2025:

The European Research Council (ERC) is the European Commission’s leading funding organisation for supporting bottom-up, investigator-driven frontier research. This approach to research funding ensures that support is aimed primarily at new and promising opportunities, with a greater degree of flexibility. Research funded by the ERC is expected to lead to advances at the frontiers of knowledge and to set a clear and inspirational target for frontier research across Europe. The ERC has published the preliminary opening and deadline dates for its calls to be released for the 2025 cycle of applications:

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The British Academy is inviting proposals related to evidence-informed policymaking in Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand, Vietnam and/or Least Developed Countries. The aim of this call is to support ODA-eligible international collaborations. The Academy is looking to support awards that work in the following fields: • Environment, sustainability and nature, • Transformative technologies, • Health and wellbeing, • Cities and urbanisation, • Global order, geopolitics and international affairs. The Principal Investigator must be a researcher in a discipline within the social sciences or humanities and either UK-based with co-applicants that include at least one researcher who is based in the above countries, or vice-versa. The value of the award is set at a maximum of £150,000 for 12 months. Deadline 19 February 2025.

Invitations are open for proposals for Writing Workshops in Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Turkey, Thailand, Vietnam and/or LDC’s. These workshops should aim to develop the skills of early career researchers, including supporting and promoting the uptake of their research in journals and publications. Closes 25 January 2025

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Michael J Fox Foundation (MJFF) Seed Amplification Assay Innovation Program seeks to advance the development of high-performance, quantitative alpha-synuclein seed amplification assays (aSyn-SAAs), addressing the critical need for less invasive, highly sensitive and quantitative biomarkers in PD clinical trials. Awards may be held in any country. Funding of up to $1 million for 6-24 months is available. Deadline 30 January 2025

The ‘Engineering a safer world’ call supports the delivery of Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s new five-year strategy  enhancing safety across three priority areas:

The aim of the call is to support impactful groups or networks who demonstrate relevant expertise and understanding of local, in-country need, particularly within developing economies in the Global South. It is expected that individual proposals will request up to £1 million. The duration of grants is up to 5 years. Please submit your proposal summary by Friday 10 January 2025.

The Queen Elizabeth Commonwealth Scholarships (QECS)  offer the opportunity to study a two-year Master’s degree in a low or middle-income Commonwealth country.

Aimed at students who are committed to creating change in their communities, the scholarships are a life-changing opportunity to experience a new country and culture, to broaden horizons, and to build a global network. Applicants must be a citizen of or hold refugee status in a Commonwealth country https://thecommonwealth.org/our-member-countries  other than the intended host country. Deadline 14 January 2025 deadline.

Award funding of up to £250,000 over two years to support outstanding postdoctoral science or engineering researchers undertaking unclassified basic research in areas of interest to the UK intelligence, security and defence communities. The awards will fund up to 80% (fEC) of projects that address any of the priority topics, which are identified by members of the UK Intelligence Community. Application is open to early career postdoctoral researchers, within five years of award of a PhD, who are citizens of Australia, Canada, the EEA, New Zealand, the UK or the US. Deadline 29 April 2025.

The initiative, jointly run by Innovate UK and India’s Department of Science and Technology, aims to accelerate innovations in areas like advanced materials, renewable energy, and decarbonising manufacturing. Grants ranging from £100,000 to £300,000 are available for UK participants, with a total allocation of £2 million for this funding round. Deadline 12 February 2025 (11:00 GMT)

Apply for a funded fellowship at an international institution. Fellowships are available at:

You will receive £1,000 for travel and visa costs (£1,200 for travel to Japan and China) and £1,925 for each month of the fellowship. You can apply for two to six months of funding. Deadline 13 March 2025.

The Academy of Medical Sciences is delighted to announce the call for applications to its Professorship Scheme. Working in partnership with UK Higher Education Institutions, they will be providing an attractive package of support to biomedical and healthcare researchers taking up a full Professorship in the UK. These awards will offer flexible support to biomedical and healthcare researchers, who have moved to the UK, during the initial years of a full Professorship. Deadline: 8 January 2025

35. Google Research Scholar Program: https://research.google/programs-and-events/research-scholar-program/

The Research Scholar Program aims to support early-career professors [UK-speak] who are pursuing research in fields relevant to Google (see list of areas in the link) – applicants must have received their PhD within seven years of submission. The funds granted will be up to $60,000 USD and are intended to support the advancement of the professor’s research. Deadline 27 January 2025.

Newcastle University’s Selection and Support Exercise for Round 10 of the UKRI Future Leader Fellowships is now open. The scheme is open to early career researchers and innovators and welcomes applicants from around the world. While not strictly international funding, we encourage you to reach out to your international contacts to encourage them to consider to be hosted at Newcastle. Awards are for an ambitious programme of research and to support career development for up to four years, with the ability to extend for a further three years, to focus and continue your development. Newcastle is limited by the funder to making 6 applications in this round.  We will therefore be holding a Selection and Support Process.

NIH funding opportunities for which foreign organizations and/or foreign components of U.S. organizations may apply:

NIH funding opportunities for which foreign components may apply:

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If you’re in the process of developing a research proposal please ensure you submit a PIF as soon as possible. The PIF is not just a mechanism to initiate a costing, it enables the research support team to identify and engage on your behalf the varying types of research and business support beneficial to your bid. Please note you don’t need to define all resources required before engaging with the team. To maximise the support available to you, PIF submission is advised at your earliest convenience.