UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), the Medical Research Council (MRC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) are collaborating with the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), India, to invite proposals to the UK-India Covid-19 Partnership Initiative.

The objective is to deliver research funding for internationally competitive and innovative collaborations between researchers from India and the UK.

Proposals must consider the immediate morbidity and mortality associated with COVID-19 and demonstrate how progress within the period of award could make a direct and significant contribution to the understanding, prevention or management of the COVID-19 outbreak among south Asian populations in the UK and India.

Through the UK-India Covid-19 partnership initiative, the funders aim to:

• Support world-leading collaborative research teams focussed on mitigating the severity of COVID-19 in South Asian populations in the UK and India.
• Enhance existing partnerships and develop new partnerships between the UK and India in efforts to address COVID-19
• Strengthen the strategic relationship between the UK and India.

UKRI and DBT will fund research collaborations that:

• study related ethnic groups in different environments
• explore the role of external influences and demographic variables in influencing COVID-19
• improve the understanding of the differential outcomes in populations of similar ethnic origin.

Your research should focus on south Asian populations in the UK and India and can involve:

• mechanistic studies of the disease and its long term effects
• virology, immunity and pathophysiology
• epidemiology.

Funding Information

• In total, UKRI will make up to £4 million available in support of the UK component of the collaborative projects, with matched equivalent resource provided by DBT in support of the Indian components.
• Projects must be up to 18 months in duration.

Eligibility Criteria

• This call will fund partnerships between UK and India-based researchers working on COVID-19.
• Principal investigators/applicants may only submit one application to this scheme as principal investigator, but may be involved in more applications if listed as a co-investigator.

For more information, visit UKRI.