Deadline: 3 June 2020
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), on behalf of UKRI, has announced a new funding initiative for Partnership Development awards under the Global Challenges Research Fund’s Collective Programme.
The aim of this funding call is to support the development of equitable partnerships and an interdisciplinary community to explore the intersections between conflict and fragility (SDG 16: Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions) and wider development challenges such as health, environmental resilience, sustainable cities and food systems, as well as cross-cutting development issues such as gender, inequalities, poverty reduction and sustainable livelihoods.
This call is part of the interdisciplinary Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) Collective Programme being delivered by UK Research and Innovation, managed by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, working in collaboration with other Research Councils within UKRI.
Funding Information
Applicants may apply for funding of up to £200,000 (fEC) over a period of between 12 and 24 months in duration.
Focus Areas
The call has a particular focus on addressing the needs of vulnerable and at-risk groups facing multidimensional, intersecting and compounding risks and challenges, including those which cross borders and/or are multi-scalar and multi-temporal. It aims to support the development of:
- Contextually informed research engaged with local cultures, histories, identities, knowledges and communities;
- Equitable partnerships, cross-national collaboration and reciprocal learning; and,
- Inter-disciplinary and cross-sectoral research innovation.
Cross-cutting themes
- Tackling gender and other inequalities;
- Addressing the risks of conducting collaborative research in contexts of conflict, fragility, violence, crises and other intersecting risks, and in contexts of extreme poverty, inequalities and vulnerabilities;
- Inclusive engagement with at-risk, vulnerable or marginalised communities, and/or with specific groups such as young people, ageing populations, etc., to support the co-design of culturally informed responses and as foundations for social innovation, civic engagement and community-driven development;
- Building a stronger evidence base including tackling the challenges of evaluating the sustainability and effectiveness of preventative and resilience-building approaches over time in complex interconnected systems.
In terms of Partnership development, awards will be expected to support:
- Development of equitable partnerships between UK and LMIC researchers and other development and local LMIC partners as appropriate with the aim of catalysing the creation of sustainable, balanced, equitable relationships and partnerships which foster learning and knowledge exchange that is reciprocal with clear mutuality of benefit for all collaborators;
- Cross-disciplinary and cross-sectoral creativity and innovation bringing together expertise in:
- Local contexts, knowledges, cultures, identities and histories, including where appropriate those that cross borders, and the contextual factors that have contributed to extreme poverty, inequalities and vulnerabilities;
- The dynamics of cycles conflict and fragility, including contextual understanding of conflict histories, identities and violence, governance, human rights and access to justice, conflict prevention, peacebuilding and/or transitions from conflict as appropriate; and,
- Inter-connected development challenges such as environmental change, health, urbanisation, food systems, sustainable livelihoods, etc.
- Innovation and methodological development, drawing across disciplines and fields as appropriate, to support advances in areas such as:
- Approaches for integrated research to understand complex, multiple, intersecting, dynamic challenges, working across borders and boundaries and/or combining diverse expertise knowledges and/or data;
- Working with at risk or vulnerable groups in contexts of conflict, fragility, violence.
Eligibility Criteria
Applications may be submitted by researchers based at either:
- UK Higher Education Institutions, or Independent Research Organisations eligible to receive funding from the UK Research Councils. All UK-led applications should have a balanced international leadership team consistent with the principles of equitable international partnership working, and must include a minimum of at least one named international coinvestigator based in a research organisation in a low or middle income country.
- It is the responsibility of the UK lead organisation to ensure that appropriate and proportionate due diligence and financial assurance processes are in place for international co-investigators and collaborating partners funded under the award.
- LMIC based, universities and ‘not for profit’ research organisations that are confident that they would fully meet UKRI due diligence and financial assurance requirements. LMIC based proposals must include a minimum of at least one named coinvestigator based at an eligible UK research organisation.
- Lead research organisations which have not already completed UKRI due diligence processes will need to provide information as outlined in the UKRI International Due Diligence Questionnaire and will need to fully complete UKRI due diligence procedures before any award can be made.
For more information, visit https://ahrc.ukri.org/funding/apply-for-funding/current-opportunities/gcrf-conflict-intersections/