The International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) is designed to enable potential and foster prosperity. It puts research and innovation at the heart of our international relationships, supporting UK researchers and innovators to work with peers around the world on the major themes of our time. It is managed by the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. The British Council is one of the delivery partners among the consortium of the UK’s leading research and innovation bodies.
Grants under the ISPF Fund Research Collaborations programme will fund bilateral research and innovation collaborations under the ISPF themes, with priorities set with partner countries and territories at call design. The call will fund Global Challenges Research Grants to support and facilitate research that tackles global challenges.
Applications will follow a two-step process:
Expression of Interest (EOI): Only applicants who submit an EOI by 30 June will be eligible to proceed to the full application stage.
Full application: Applicants accepted following successful EOI and eligibility review will be invited to submit the full application by 4 July.
Primary research themes
We welcome project applications with the following primary themes:
- Resilient Planet: Clean energy, extreme weather and climate, agri-tech, environmental resilience
- Transformative Technologies: Artificial intelligence, quantum, semi-conductors, future telecommunications
- Healthy People, Animals and Plants: Biosecurity and pathogen detection, global health and pandemics, genomics and digital health, antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
- Tomorrow’s Talent: Research capacity, research systems, research pipeline
Funding
Size of grant: 4 projects
UK maximum: £40,000 (£50,000 FEC)
Türkiye Maximum: £40,000 (£40,000 FEC)
The grant agreement will be signed with UK higher education institutions, and the funding will be disbursed to UK higher education institutions. UK Project leaders should submit proposals with figures of 100 per cent Full Economic Costs (FEC).
If successful, the British Council will meet 80 per cent of the FEC paid to the UK Research Organisations and that institution will be expected to support the remaining 20 per cent.
Applicants should discuss the process for transferring funding to their partner with the respective finance teams before applying.
Eligibility Criteria
Applicants are required to submit their expressions of interest by 30 June. Only those who successfully submit an expression of interest will be eligible to proceed with a full application by 4 July.
- Each proposal must have one project leader from the UK and one project partner from Turkey.
- Other eligibility criteria apply. Please refer to the guidelines document available from the download section below for full eligibility criteria.
ODA Eligibility: In order to be considered for funding under the Research Collaborations Programme, all proposals must clearly articulate a plausible route to a positive impact on the economic development or social welfare of Turkey within a short to medium term timeframe (within 10 years).
For more on ODA, please see: https://web-archive.oecd.org/2021-05-07/154009-What-is-ODA.pdf
How to apply?
Applicants for all calls must submit a completed online application form at the following link: https://grants.britishcouncil.org
If you are unable to use the online application for accessibility reasons, please contact us at uk-ispf@britishcouncil.org
In addition to filling in the online form, applicants are required to upload the following documents (Please refer to the guidelines document available from the download section below for more details):
- Project leaders’ narrative CVs (up to two sides of A4 each) in the R4RI format
- Letters of support
- Weblink to Institution Safeguarding and Whistleblowing Policies
- Weblink to Institution Codes of Conduct on Acceptable Behaviours for staff and
- project participants
- GANTT Chart
Projects will be considered ineligible if files are missing, incomplete or not submitted via the on-line portal with the application.
Activity |
Date |
| Call opens for Expression of Interests | 2 June 2025 |
| Deadline for Expression of Interests | 30 June 2025 |
| Notification to submit full application | 4 July 2025 |
| Deadline for full applications | 4 August 2025 |
| Review panels | October 2025 |
| Implementation | January 2026 |
| Project end dates | 31 December 2027 |
Contact
For application and more details please visit this web page (All queries or comments about this call should be addressed to the ISPF email address: uk-ispf@britishcouncil.org