[Call for Applications] British Council: ISPF Grants for international research collaborations

31 May 2024

Applications are now open for Round 2 of the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) grants for international research collaborations. The British Council invites applications from UK institutions for research proposals in collaboration with partners from Egypt, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Thailand, or Turkey.

The grants will provide small scale seed funding for collaborations between the UK and the partner countries/territories to initiate new research and innovation collaborations between academic groups, departments, and institutions.

Application Deadlines: 9 July 2024, 12:00 pm BST

Thai Partners:

  • Program Management Unit for Human Resources & Institutional Development, Research and Innovation (PMU-B)
  • Program Management Unit for Competitiveness (PMU-C)
  • National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT)
  • Office of permanent secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation (OPS MHESI)
  • N/A with associated partners in Laos and/or Cambodia

Funding:

  • UK Institution:  £80,000 (£100,000 FEC)
  • Thailand Institution: £100,000 FEC

Thai Priorities:

  • PMU-B:
    • Resilient Planet: Climate change and clean energy
    • Healthy People, Animals and Plants:  Personal Health AI
    • Tomorrow’s Talent:  High Calibre and Talent Mobility
  • PMU–C:
    • Resilient Planet: Green and Clean Energy, Environmental resilience 
    • Transformative Technologies:  Artificial Intelligence, Engineering biology, Semi-conductors, Future telecommunications
    • Healthy People, Animals and Plants:  Biosecurity and Pathogen detection, Genomics and digital health, Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
  • NRCT:
    • Healthy People, Animals and Plants: Microplastic and Nano-plastic Pollution
  • OPS MHESI:
    • Resilient Planet
    • Transformative Technologies
    • Healthy People, Animals and Plants
    • Tomorrow’s Talent
  • N/A with associated partners in Laos and/or Cambodia
    • Cambodia
      • Resilient Planet
      • Tomorrow’s Talent
    • Laos
      • Resilient Planet

Duration:

The durations of selected projects funded by British Council and each Thai partners are as follows:

  • PMU-B: Up to 22-24 months
  • PMU-C: Up to 22-24 months
  • NRCT: Up to 24 months (2 years for Thai partners; 22 months for UK)
  • OPS MHESI: 22-24 months
  • N/A with associated partners in Laos and/or Cambodia: 22 months

Eligibility:

Proposals must fulfil the following criteria to be eligible for funding under this Programme:

  • Each proposal must have one Project Leader from the UK and one Project Leader from the specified Partner Country/Territory.
  • Both Project Leaders must be Leading Researchers or Established Researchers.
  • UK Project Leaders must be permanent employees of one of the following (this means that Emeritus and Honorary Professors may not apply as lead):
    • A not-for-profit higher education institution with the capacity to undertake high-quality research, unless specified otherwise in Appendix 1 (Please refer to this link in Page 26).
    • A UK higher education institution (all UK higher education institutions are eligible).
    • A not-for-profit research organisation with the capacity to undertake high quality research.
  • Both Project Leaders’ institutions (the ‘Lead Institutions’) must have the capacity to administer the grant.
  • Individual departments within a single institution can make multiple applications per call provided that the proposed activities are clearly different.
  • Project Leaders may only submit one Research Collaboration application per call.
  • Project Leaders who currently hold an ISPF Research Collaborations grant from the British Council are not eligible to apply under this call.
  • Organisations affiliated to higher education institutions in the UK or any other country and based in the partner country, (e.g. an overseas campus) may apply as the Lead Institution in the partner country provided that other eligible higher education institutions or research organisations are also involved as Associated Partners in‑country.

Additional criteria:

  • PMU-B:
    • Thai organisation (Public/Non-profit organisation research institute or university in Thailand)
    • Thai organisation approve the proposal submission in NRIIS
    • Researcher – Thai/Non-Thai affiliated with Thai organisation
    • Proposal topic match with the topic in the call (PMU-B)
    • Budget within limit
  • PMU-C:
    • It must be a single project, or a series of research projects cooperated through UK partnership networks. The submitted project should align with the following types of partnership:
      • Technology partnership: such as technology transfer, opportunity study, and technology searching.
      • Market development partnership: such as growing current market, moving into new market segments, and expanding into new geographical markets.
      • Entrepreneur & talented partnership: such as in tech start-ups, SMEs and IDEs (scale up).
    • It must be a joint research project between government agencies and private sectors from Thailand and abroad, which leads to the development of science, research, and innovation to be commercialised.
    • Must present documents showing cooperation and/or joint budgetary support from higher education institution provider or not-for-profit research organisation.
    • Must present documents as evidence of joint budgetary support from the Thai private sector(s), which indicates the budgetary support of at least 10% in cash and 10% in kind.
    • The technology must be at TRL or SRL Level 4 or above.
    • Special consideration will be given to project proposals which include plans to organise networking forums/workshop events with financial support from partners in the project. The networking and workshop should create a network of international cooperation, leading to the adoption and transfer of knowledge and technology to improve the country’s competitiveness, or promote the commercialisation.
    • Departments/institutions/team should be knowledgeable and have experience in research management and operation. The team should be able to work on the project throughout the entire period of receiving the funding.
  • NRCT:
    • Applicants must be individuals employed in either the public or private sector, or higher education institution or a research institution recognised as legal entities according to the following criteria:
      • Applicants must be a Thai nationality and have a permanent residence within the country and evidence of employment.
      • Applicants must hold doctoral degree and have strong academic records in related issues in the last 5 years:
        Science and Technology field: Obtained a doctoral degree and published research work in an international academic journal listed in the Web of Science database with an Impact Factor and/or Scopus within the last 5 years, apart from the thesis. Applicants should either be the primary author of the article or serve as the corresponding author, and among at least 5 articles. Furthermore, they should possess an h-index of no less than 10 in the Scopus database following the completion of a doctoral degree or its equivalent.
        Humanities and Social Sciences field: Obtained a doctoral degree and published research work in an international academic journal indexed in the Web of Science database, with a high Impact Factor and/or Scopus, a humanities and social science database. Applicants should either be the primary author of the article, serving as the corresponding author, or by having at least three internationally published books, textbooks, or academic documents (monographs).
      • Applicants must submit their proposal through the NRIIS (https://nriis.go.th/), as well as through the British Council’s portal.
      • Applicant’s institution must certify the proposal in the NRIIS within the specific deadline.
      • Applicant must comply with the national regulation and NRCT’s rules and regulation.
      • Applicants should possess the capability to conduct and oversee research promptly and continuously throughout the grant duration, ensuring timely completion of research projects with high quality. 
  • OPS MHESRI:
    • For Thai Applicants, only Higher Education Institution Provider, Public Research Institute can apply as a lead applicant.
  • N/A with associated partners in Laos and/or Cambodia:
    • For Thai Applicants, only Higher Education Institution Provider, Public Research Institute can apply as a lead applicant.
    • The application must include at least one associated partner from either Laos or Cambodia or both countries.

Submission Process:

  • PMU-B:

Parallel system where

  • UK Lead applicant submit the proposal through British Council’s system
    • Thai Lead applicant submit the proposal through NRIIS 
  • PMU-C:
    • Application is submitted through the British Council’s portal.
    • Supporting documents as required by PMUC (Budget Sheet and PMUC Application Form) need to be submitted within the deadline (9 July 2024 12:00 noon UK time) via the British Council on-line portal.
      • These must be filled by Thai Lead Applicants in reference to the PMUC’s guideline here.
  • NRCT:
    • UK Lead applicant submit the proposal through British Council’s system.
    • Thai Applicants must submit their proposal in Thai language directly through NRIIS system (https://nriis.go.th/).
  • OPS MHESRI:
    • Application is submitted through the British Council’s portal.
  • N/A with associated partners in Laos and/or Cambodia:
    • Application is submitted through the British Council’s portal.


*British Council’s system: https://grants.britishcouncil.org/

For more information: