The British Council is inviting proposals for its Researcher Links Climate Challenge workshops which is a grant funding for interdisciplinary research workshops on climate change.

Combating climate change and its impact is critical for promoting global sustainable development. This call is one of many activities the British Council is delivering in the run up to COP26 (the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties) which takes place in Glasgow in November 2021.

The aim is to harness the power of people all over the world – particularly young people and those most vulnerable to the effects of climate change – to connect and collaborate through culture and education to combat climate change.

Researcher Links Climate Challenge (RLCC) grants are designed to provide financial support to host virtual research workshops for participants from the UK and partner countries to work on innovative solutions to development challenges caused by climate change. Complex problems such as climate change cannot be addressed from the perspective of one discipline alone.

Lead applicants are required to take an interdisciplinary approach by bringing together early career researchers from different fields to work on existing challenges in partner countries. As part of the workshops, participating early career researchers can apply for funding prizes to further develop their research. Workshops must take place before the end of August 2021 to allow for relevant outcomes to be featured in the lead up to COP26.

Objectives

All Researcher Links-funded workshops will have the following three overarching objectives:

• Support international development-relevant research on climate change
• Contribute to capacity building of early career researchers
• Establish new research links or significantly develop existing links, with the potential for longer term sustainability

Priority areas

• Workshop themes proposed by Lead Applicants must address climate change related problems from an interdisciplinary perspective and must meet the needs of partner countries.
• The workshop themes should align with one or more of the COP26 priorities (Adaptation and Resilience, Nature, Energy Transition, Clean Road Transport, Finance).
• The themes must also be linked the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and must have a particular focus on Goal 13 (Climate Action) contributing to the global targets.

Funding Information

• Funding:
  • Maximum British Council funding available for one Researcher Links Climate Challenge workshop is £49,700 inclusive of the Challenge prizes.
• Virtual workshop costs:
  • Applicants can claim a maximum of £14,700 to cover the costs for facilitators and technicians that are recruited to manage the virtual platform for smooth workshop delivery. Facilitators and technicians from the Principal applicant’s institutions are not covered.
• Challenge prizes:
  • For each workshop, the prizes available for joint proposals of participants from the UK and partner countries and will be in the range of £5,000 to £35,000.
• Contribution to additional workshop costs:
  • Principal Applicants can request a maximum of £5,000 to cover administrative costs such as interepretation costs, travel costs for visiting and post-workshop

Partner Countries

Invites proposals between the UK and the following partner countries:

• Vietnam
• Indonesia
• Pakistan
• South Africa
• Egypt
• Brazil

Eligibility Criteria

Proposals must fulfill the following criteria in order to be eligible for funding under this Programme:

• Each proposal must have one Principal Applicant from the UK and one Principal Applicant from the partner country
• Both Principal Applicants must be Leading Researchers or Established Researchers
• Principal Applicants cannot assume role of workshop Mentors
• Principal Applicants must be permanent employees or have a fixed term contracts of one of the following (this means that Emeritus and Honorary Professors may not apply as lead):
  • A not-for-profit higher education institution unless specified otherwise
  • A UK higher education institution (all UK higher education institutions are eligible)
  • A not-for-profit research organisation. A Catapult Centre (in the case of the UK Principal Applicant).
• Principal Applicants with a fixed term contracts must be able to deliver the grant and activities within the given duration.
• Both of the Principal Applicants’ institutions (the ‘Lead Institutions’) must have the capacity to administer the grant where contracting requires
• Individual departments within a single institution can make multiple applications per call provided that the proposed activities are clearly different
• Principal Applicants may only submit one Researcher Links application per Researcher Links call.
• Principal Applicants that have received Researcher Links grants in previous years can submit further applications for Researcher Links provided the proposed activities are clearly distinct from, or build on, any already funded through Researcher Links (for example, under the Newton Fund). In all cases the additionality must be clearly articulated in the application.
• Researchers based in an overseas campus in the partner country must apply as the Principal Applicant of the partner country. They should also recruit mentors and participants from the partner country. Locally appointed researchers in an overseas campus are also encouraged to apply as the Principal Applicant of the partner country. However, in this case the UK Principal Applicant must not be affiliated with the UK Higher Education Institution which owns the overseas campus.
• Not-for-profit higher education institutions or publicly-funded research organisations are eligible to apply as Lead Institutions. For-profit organisations and not-for-profit organisations can participate in but are usually not eligible to apply for Researcher Links grants. Furthermore, for-profit organisations are not eligible to receive any grant funds.

For more information, visit British Council.