Call for Proposals: Engineering X Skills for Safety Impact Grants

The Engineering X Skills for Safety Impact Grants support organisations and consortia in eligible countries to scale engineering skills, strengthen safety practices, and build partnerships that reduce engineering-related risks. Grants of up to £25,000 for individual organisations and £50,000 for consortia are available for projects lasting up to 15 months.

About the Engineering X Skills for Safety Impact Grants

The Engineering X Skills for Safety Impact Grants are designed to strengthen engineering capability and improve safety practices, particularly in low- and middle-income countries.

Led by the Royal Academy of Engineering, the Engineering X Skills for Safety programme supports initiatives that address unsafe engineering practices and build long-term engineering capacity.

Since 2019, the programme has awarded more than £2 million in grants across 20 countries, supporting almost 40 organisations.

The third open grant call focuses on scaling proven interventions and strengthening partnerships that can deliver safer engineering outcomes.

What the Grant Supports

The programme supports two broad types of projects:

Scaling existing interventions that strengthen engineering skills, capacity, and safety.
Building or expanding partnerships that improve collaboration and create systemic improvements across the engineering ecosystem.

Projects should demonstrate a clear connection between engineering skills, capacity development, and improved safety.

Funded activities should ultimately help protect:

Human life
Property
Infrastructure
The environment

Key Programme Priorities

Proposals are expected to align with the objectives of Engineering X Skills for Safety and priorities identified in the Global Engineering Capability Review (GECR) 2025.

Relevant priorities include:

Strengthening engineering skills and professional capacity.
Improving collaboration between engineering stakeholders.
Using data to identify context-specific engineering capability gaps.
Developing evidence-based approaches to safety.
Strengthening partnerships across the engineering ecosystem.
Increasing industry involvement in safer engineering practices.
Supporting approaches that can create sustainable or systemic change.

Funding Available

Approximately £500,000 is available through the grant call.

Funding levels depend on the type of applicant.

Individual Organisation Grants

Individual organisations can apply for up to:

£25,000

These grants are intended primarily for organisations seeking to scale existing engineering skills and safety initiatives.

Consortia Grants

Consortia can apply for up to:

£50,000

Consortium projects are intended to support broader initiatives involving multiple organisations and potentially generate systematic changes across the engineering ecosystem.

Consortia must provide matched funding of up to 20% of the total project budget, according to the programme requirements.

Project Duration

Funded projects may last for up to 15 months.

Projects are expected to:

Start in December 2026.
End no later than 28 February 2028.

Applicants should therefore propose activities that can realistically achieve measurable results within this timeframe.

Who Is Eligible?

Eligible applicants must be organisations based in one of the specified eligible countries.

For consortium applications, additional requirements apply.

A consortium must:

Include at least one co-applicant from a different organisation.
Include representation from the engineering industry.
Demonstrate meaningful collaboration between participating organisations.
Deliver funded activities in eligible countries.

All proposed activities must take place in eligible countries and align clearly with one or more of the programme’s objectives.

Who Should Consider Applying?

The opportunity may be relevant to organisations working on:

Engineering education and training.
Professional engineering development.
Engineering safety.
Technical skills development.
Industry capacity building.
Engineering standards and practices.
Risk reduction.
Engineering workforce development.
Data-driven assessment of engineering capability.
Cross-sector engineering partnerships.

Organisations should be able to demonstrate how their proposed activities will contribute to safer engineering outcomes.

What Makes a Strong Project?

A strong proposal should demonstrate more than simply a need for engineering training.

It should explain:

What engineering skills or safety gap currently exists.
How the applicant identified the gap.
What intervention or partnership already exists, where relevant.
How the project will scale or strengthen that intervention.
Who will benefit.
How industry will participate.
What measurable improvements are expected.
How the results can continue beyond the grant period.

Projects that use evidence and data to identify context-specific engineering capability gaps can demonstrate strong alignment with the programme’s priorities.

How the Grant Works

Applicants should approach the proposal around a clear progression from an identified problem to measurable safety improvement.

1. Identify the Engineering Challenge

Explain the specific engineering skills or safety problem that needs to be addressed.

The problem should be relevant to the local context and supported by evidence where possible.

2. Describe the Existing Intervention or Partnership

Explain what already exists and why additional investment is needed.

For scaling projects, demonstrate that the existing intervention has produced useful results.

For consortium projects, explain how collaboration between organisations will address the identified challenge.

3. Define the Scaling or Partnership Strategy

Clearly describe what the grant will enable the organisation or consortium to do that it cannot achieve at its current scale.

4. Involve Relevant Stakeholders

Projects should demonstrate meaningful engagement with engineering stakeholders.

Industry participation is particularly important for consortium applications.

5. Establish Measurable Outcomes

Define practical indicators that can demonstrate improvements in:

Engineering skills.
Professional capacity.
Safety practices.
Stakeholder collaboration.
Industry engagement.
Risk reduction.

6. Demonstrate Sustainability

Explain how the project’s benefits, partnerships, skills, or practices can continue after the grant period ends.

Why It Matters

Unsafe engineering practices can result in significant risks to people, property, infrastructure, and the environment.

Improving engineering capability is therefore not only about increasing technical knowledge. It can also strengthen the systems, institutions, professionals, and industry practices responsible for designing, constructing, operating, and maintaining infrastructure.

The Skills for Safety programme takes a capacity-building approach by supporting initiatives that can produce lasting improvements rather than short-term activities alone.

Tips for Applicants

Applicants can strengthen their proposals by:

Clearly identifying a specific engineering capability or safety gap.
Using data and evidence to demonstrate the need.
Explaining why the proposed intervention is appropriate for the local context.
Demonstrating previous results where an existing initiative is being scaled.
Clearly defining the role of industry partners.
Providing realistic project milestones.
Establishing measurable safety and skills outcomes.
Explaining how partnerships will continue after funding ends.
Ensuring every proposed activity takes place in an eligible country.
Keeping the project within the 15-month maximum duration.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Applicants should avoid:

Proposing activities unrelated to engineering skills or safety.
Failing to demonstrate a specific local need.
Treating the grant as general organisational funding.
Providing vague or unmeasurable outcomes.
Failing to explain how an existing intervention will be scaled.
Submitting a consortium without the required cross-organisation collaboration.
Omitting engineering industry representation from a consortium.
Proposing activities outside eligible countries.
Creating a project that cannot realistically be completed by February 2028.
Failing to explain how the project will generate longer-term impact.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the Engineering X Skills for Safety Impact Grants?

They are grants supporting organisations and consortia to strengthen engineering skills, capacity, collaboration, and safety practices in eligible countries.

How much funding is available?

Individual organisations can apply for up to £25,000, while consortia can apply for up to £50,000. The overall funding pool is approximately £500,000.

What is the maximum project duration?

Projects can run for up to 15 months, beginning in December 2026 and ending no later than 28 February 2028.

Who can apply?

Organisations based in specified eligible countries can apply. Consortium applicants must include at least one co-applicant from another organisation and have representation from the engineering industry.

What types of projects are supported?

The call supports projects that scale existing engineering skills and safety interventions or build and expand partnerships and collaboration mechanisms that can improve engineering safety.

Is matched funding required?

For consortium projects, matched funding of up to 20% of the total project budget is required under the programme requirements.

Where must project activities take place?

All funded activities must take place in the programme’s eligible countries and must align with one or more of the grant objectives.

Conclusion

The Engineering X Skills for Safety Impact Grants offer organisations and consortia an opportunity to scale engineering skills initiatives, strengthen collaboration, and improve safety practices in eligible countries. With grants of up to £25,000 for individual organisations and £50,000 for consortia, the programme is particularly suited to projects that use evidence to address engineering capability gaps, involve industry stakeholders, deliver measurable safety outcomes, and create sustainable improvements across the engineering ecosystem.