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Office of Global Engagement

University Global Partnership Network Research Collaboration Fund

About the UGPN Research Collaboration Fund

The University Global Partnership Network (UGPN) is a consortium that advances collaborative research and education. Members include North Carolina State University (NC State), the Universidade de São Paulo (USP), and the University of Surrey. The Research Collaboration Fund (RCF) provides seed-funding to foster innovative, high-quality and transdisciplinary research collaborations among the UGPN partner institutions. With a focus on addressing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the RCF supports bilateral and trilateral research teams to catalyze projects for academic and societal impact. We welcome engagement with industry, policy or community stakeholders, and we encourage projects that support early-career researchers in building their global networks or include PhD students for enhanced research training.

Funding Support

We will fund projects with up to US$10,000 (or the £, R$[1] equivalent) per participating institution in each successful proposal. This means that a bilateral collaboration may be funded with up to US$20,000, and a trilateral collaboration may be awarded up to US$30,000.

Funding will be awarded on the basis of strategic benefit and scholarly merit of proposals along with availability of resources.

We encourage proposals that include matched funding from other sources.

The 2025/2026 Call

For the 2025 call, the UGPN particularly welcomes proposals which:

  • Contribute to addressing at least two SDGs
  • Are transdisciplinary across STEM, Social Sciences, Humanities and the Arts
  • Contribute to the broad research areas of food and water solutions; climate change and healthy communities; and one health more broadly (although all subject areas will be considered)
Food and water solutions 

Addressing food and water challenges across the human, plant, and animal dimensions. Includes the nexus of food security, water scarcity, infectious diseases, and the environment, as well as related social structures, policies, and supply chains that impact global and local communities.

Climate change and healthy communities 

Protecting the health of human populations, animals, and the environment from the effects of climate change and avoiding widening health inequities among aging adults and other vulnerable populations. Includes the challenges of climate resilient built and natural environments; sustainable cities, communities and campuses; agricultural production; and nature-based health solutions.

One Health

The idea that the health of humans is connected to
the health of other animals, plants, biodiversity and the environment. This call particularly welcomes proposals addressing the One Health theme in the following topics:

  • Agricultural production and land use
  • Antimicrobial resistance
  • Biodiversity and climate change
  • Disease surveillance, prevention and response of chronic and infectious diseases
  • Environmental health and sustainability
  • Food safety and food security
  • Global trade, commerce and security
  • Mental health
  • Occupational health
  • Social structures, public policy, and ethics
  • Water safety and security
  • Wellbeing of humans, animals and ecosystems

Expected Outputs and Outcomes

Academic Impact

Proposals should involve substantive international engagement and are expected to lead to high-quality outputs, including:

  • Publication of co-authored papers from collaborative research and workshops.
  • Joint proposals for external funding bids (including bids for PhD scholarships).
  • International research training activities for graduate students, including PhD mobility and co-supervision, and engagement of early-career researchers.
  • The RCF also supports research-led engagement with teaching and internationalizing the curriculum (Potential outputs could include guest lectures, master classes, COIL and short courses; the development of teaching materials, joint modules or collaborative programs).
  • Outputs may also include the development of resources such as databases and data repositories, websites, research collaboration sites, or social networking tools to inform external funding bids or disseminate results.
Societal Impact

Engagement with industry, policy and/or community stakeholders, with potential outputs including:

  • Publication of policy briefs or opinion papers.
  • Industry or policy-relevant training for PhD students and ECRs. 
  • Living labs for data collection, testing and analysis or proof-of- concept studies. 
  • Capacity-building for climate literacy or climate leadership, including activities to policy research, behavioural change and enhanced awareness.
  • Public engagement activities
UGPN Community of Practice Talks

During the grant period, awardees are expected to provide a webinar with the support of the UGPN Secretariat to engage the
broader UGPN community.

Who Can Apply

All proposals must involve collaboration between faculty from at least two UGPN member institutions, with trilateral collaboration
particularly welcomed.

Proposals are invited from permanent, tenured or tenure track faculty at all UGPN universities, as well as research professionals (those who comply with Sponsored Programs eligibility requirements) at NC State.

Please note:
  • Post-doctoral researchers based at the Universidade de São Paulo are not eligible to lead a project or receive funding for mobility.
  • We welcome proposals by applicants who have previously been involved or worked together on a UGPN RCF project, but the PI and research team must demonstrate how the proposal tackles a new problem and is distinct from previously funded projects.

Deadline for Submission & Key Dates

  • Submission deadline: Monday, May 19, 2025 (17:00 UTC)
  • Results announced: Monday, July 14, 2025
  • Funding period: August 1, 2025 – July 31, 2026. Please note that NC State project funds must be expended by 30 June 2026 to align with the end of the fiscal year.
  • Project period: August 1, 2025 – January 31, 2027. All projects in the 2025 call will benefit from 6-month cost-neutral extension with a view to supporting project management and encouraging more scope for impact and engagement

Eligible Costs & Activities

Eligible costs include:

  • NC State: travel and subsistence; consumables directly related to the project; dissemination of results.
  • USP: travel and subsistence; consumables directly related to the project; dissemination of results.
  • University of Surrey: travel and subsistence; consumables directly related to the project; dissemination of results; and payment for research assistants.

Travel & subsistence costs may include international and local travel, accommodation and subsistence associated with researchers spending time at partner institutions. Subsistence costs need to be line with staff expenditure policies at each participating institution.

Consumables directly related to the research project may include costs associated with hosting meetings, workshops and seminars, or costs for testing equipment, databases etc.

Dissemination costs may be requested for publications, media and other resources; the development of teaching and curriculum materials; and public engagement activities.

Research assistants can only be funded at the University of Surrey.

The inclusion of PhD or other Higher Degree Research students as project investigators must be indicated in the application.

Please note that funding for the use of a UGPN partner’s laboratory facilities and infrastructure may not be included.

How to Submit Your Application

As this is an internally funded opportunity, submissions should not be routed through PINS. The Principal Investigator should submit the grant proposal via the online form available at this link no later than: Monday, May 19, 2025, 17:00 (UTC). Please use your institutional email address to access this section of the website.

Submission guidelines

Please complete the online proposal form and budget template, and upload the supplementary documents as detailed below:

Proposal form

  • Title of the project
  • Principal investigator (please allocate one PI for the project from the lead partner university) with contact information.
  • Co-Principal Investigators (please name one co-PI for each additional university participating in the project), with contact information.
  • Further Co-Investigators (optional) (an opportunity to list further collaborators or PhD student participants at each partner), with contact information.
  • Synopsis of the proposed project (max. 1,000 characters) and a list of 5 key words. This should be a summary of your proposal and may be used to promote the project on our website.
  • Project description (max. 1,000 words), which should include:
    • the objectives of the collaboration and the relevance of the project;
    • how the project addresses a new question or area of research (and has not previously been funded by the UGPN);
    • a work plan which clearly articulates the activities to be undertaken to achieve the objectives;
    • how the project aligns with the thematic focus of this RCF call and addresses least two Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs);
    • overview of the research team, including their respective roles and contributions in the project.
  • Benefit statement (max 300 words) outlining the expected project outputs, outcomes and impact for academia and society.

Please include sufficient detail to reviewers to evaluate the proposals according to the evaluation criteria. Please remember that some reviewers may come from outside your discipline, therefore remember to avoid jargon or to explain highly technical terms.

Budget (1 page maximum): please use the template to include a budget table with justification.

CVs of the PI and Co-PIs (2 page maximum): please include the CV of one named representative per partner. The CV should include education, professional appointments, up to five (5) publications related to the proposed research or scholarship, and activities relevant to this grant application.

Letters of support from Faculty Deans (or their designees) from each collaborating institution and from sources of any matching funds.

Evaluation Criteria

Proposals that meet the eligibility requirements will be reviewed and assessed by internal review panels at each of the three universities. A joint committee consisting of representatives from all UGPN partners will make the final decision for awards. In making their decisions, the joint selection panel will seek to support a representative variety of research topics.

Proposals will be assessed with reference to the following criteria:

  • Relevance: degree to which the project addresses a globally important challenge and demonstrates innovative, transdisciplinary and sustainable collaboration among UGPN partners;
  • Proposal content: clearly articulates measurable goals, objectives and activities that are feasible (evidenced by a reasonable and justified budget) and align with the purpose of the RCF;
  • Outputs & impact: focus on achievable results that can lead to high impact outputs and the potential to leverage future funding, and clearly articulated pathways to academic and societal impact.
  • Research Team: involvement of a team of appropriately qualified researchers from at least two UGPN partners representing a variety of disciplinary approaches and career levels/profiles.

In making their decisions, the joint selection panel will seek to support a representative variety of research topics.

Reporting & Acknowledgement

Acknowledgement of UGPN support
Recipients are expected to acknowledge UGPN in all subsequent published material and presentations.

Reporting
Successful applicants are required to submit a final report no later than one month after the end of the grant period.

Contact & Enquiries

Please direct enquires to the following contacts at each UGPN partner university:

  • NC State: NC State Global Team: ncstateglobal@ncsu.edu
  • UoS: International Partnerships Team: ugpn@surrey.ac.uk
  • USP: Mr Daniel Barcelos, International Relations Assistant: international.networks@usp.br

[1] Equivalent to R$ upon conversion made based on the sale price of the US dollar, published by the Central Bank of Brazil, referring to the date of 31 August 2024, with no change due to any exchange variation.

Further Information & Previous RCF Projects

Previous RCF projects are listed online at this site (UGPN Institution log-in required).