Funding
Global Partnerships can offer both strategic and open funding calls in support of developing and strengthening our global relationships. Information regarding active funding calls can be found below.
- Unless otherwise stated in the guidelines, these funding calls are all largely defined as:
- Open to eligible members of the University of Exeter (acting as the lead PI).
- Will constitute a competitive bid process, during which applications will be,
- Peer-reviewed and assessed by theme / discipline / faculty relevant academics,
- Secondary review by members of the Global Partnerships Team and
- Final funding decisions will be ratified by an appropriate senior member of staff (academic or professional services, as appropriate).
All Global Partnerships funding schemes seek to support high-impact proposals and initiatives that endeavour to both directly and indirectly support both Faculty and University level Global Strategy plans. Examples of this might include initiatives and proposals that seek to bring together teams from Exeter and our partners from across the globe in support of high-impact collaborative research and education.
To ensure good alignment to Faculty and University level global plans, potential applicants to any of the below schemes are highly encouraged to discuss their applications with their Faculty APVC Global and / or Global Partnerships Business Partner.
Please also note that Global Partnerships funding is largely calculated on a financial year-to-year basis. Occasionally, the lifetime of the initiatives that our funding calls support will cross over financial year-end. On such occasions project PIs will be asked to declare (in advance of receiving funds) how their award should be split across the financial year-end.
All internal funding awards allocated by Global Partnerships must be delivered in line with principles of the University Sustainable Travel Policy University Travel Policy 2024.
Funding opportunities
There are numerous external opportunities available for our Exeter academics and students. Please see below links for further information on scholarships, fellowships and exchanges:
The QUEX Institute is a partnership between the University of Queensland and the University of Exeter. Its mission is to deliver research that addresses major global challenges linked to ‘Global Sustainability and Wellbeing’.
Four themes (Healthy Living, Global Environmental Futures, Digital Worlds and Disruptive Technologies and Mineral Security and Sustainability) underpin its work. The Workshop Grants are designed to promote a broadening of academic and research collaboration between the two institutions.
Workshop Grants (up to £3500) are available to support the delivery of, attendance at, joint workshops and symposia.
Application deadline: 17th June 2025. Please see the Workshop Scheme Guidelines below for more information, including details of how to apply.
We are pleased to announce the launch of a new Professional Services Fellowship scheme together with Tsinghua University in Beijing, which is piloted for PS staff homed in the External Engagement and Global (EEG) directorate at Exeter.
Alongside the Exeter-Tsinghua Academic Fellowship scheme already in place, the new Professional Services Fellowship scheme has been established to promote collaboration in areas in which the two institutions share common objectives. Each university will support one professional service staff member each to take up a placement at the partner university for a period of up to two weeks, to take place between August and December 2025. The scheme will facilitate one member of EEG being placed at the Office for International Affairs (OIA) at Tsinghua and will also facilitate one member of staff in the OIA at Tsinghua being placed in EEG at Exeter.
The purpose of the award is as follows:
- Building of expertise, familiarisation and mutual understanding of each partners’ global engagement, professional services and academic structures and relevant decision-making bodies that relate to the smooth running of the Exeter-Tsinghua partnership.
- Collaboration on processes, protocols and human resource matters as regards staff exchanges, secondments, and research placements to support effective delivery of Exeter-Tsinghua partnership objectives.
- Coordination and planning of online and offline events, including research seminars involving academic staff at each partner institution.
- Building channels of professional and academic engagement to support the growing of our mutual networks and the identification of new collaborative initiatives.
The Fellowship will provide for up to £4,000
Applications should be submitted to GP-Funding@exeter.ac.uk by 15 June 2025. Please see the guidance notes and application form below. Please read the notes carefully before submitting your application.
| Key Dates | Activity |
|---|---|
| 12th May 2025 | Calls for applications launch |
| 15th June 2025 | Application deadline |
| 30th June 2025 | Fellowships nominated |
| Between August and December 2025 | Fellowship placements |
We are pleased to announce the UBCO-Exeter Excellence initiative to support collaboration between Exeter and the University of British Columbia Okanagan. Through the initiative the two Universities have co-invested to create grant funding opportunities. We hope these grants will help academic staff to collaborate on research and/or education challenges with UBCO colleagues - supporting shared aspirations to increase the impact of the research or education activities of Exeter and UBCO.
Opening for a second round of funding, the Initiator Grants are intended to support pilot projects to establish or broaden academic and research collaboration.
Three Initiator Grants up to a maximum GBP £4,000 / CAD $7,000 each will be available to Exeter and UBCO collaborators, with the following objectives:
• To develop and expand relationships between Exeter and UBC Okanagan
• To support both research and education initiatives
• To enable grant holders to develop projects for Catalyst funding and/or competitive, larger scale external grant applications.
Application deadline: Wednesday 2nd July 2025
Please see full guidance notes, application form and signature form below
UBCO - Exeter Initiator Guidelines
Building upon previous rounds of partnership seed funding, Catalyst Grants are intended to support larger scale initiatives with the aim of securing external funding and/or producing high level outputs and impact. It is anticipated that academic staff at both Universities, with excellent and complementary expertise and capability, will have already established a working relationship and track record that can be demonstrated as part of the application.
Applications up to a maximum GBP £16,000 / CAD $27,500 are invited, with the following objectives:
• To position the project group to win major external funding, publish significant research, and/or to influence national/international policy.
• To address research questions and/or to develop innovative teaching and learning initiatives with potential for high impact that could not be as effectively carried out by a partner on its own.
• To facilitate further development of novel research and/or teaching and learning concepts to the point of submission of bid(s) for significant external funding.
• To expedite ground-breaking interdisciplinary research and/or teaching and learning initiatives, taking them to the next level.
Application deadline: Wednesday 2nd July 2025
Please see full guidance notes, application form and signature form below
UBCO - Exeter Catalyst Grant Guidelines
The Visiting Academic Program offers funding for a faculty member at the University of British Columbia’s Okanagan campus to invite a faculty member at the University of Exeter (or vice versa) for two weeks to one month, with the purpose of initiating new or reinforcing existing initiatives. Researchers and Scholars from all disciplines are eligible. Applications up to a maximum GBP £4,000 / CAD $7,000 are invited.
The key aims of the Visiting Academic Program are:
• To develop and expand relationships between Exeter and UBCO
• To support both research and education initiatives
• To enable grant holders to develop projects for Initiator funding, Catalyst funding, and/or competitive, larger scale external grant applications.
Application deadline: Wednesday 2nd July 2025
Please see full guidance notes, application form and signature form below
UBCO - Exeter Visiting Academic Guidelines
Other funding opportunities and links
CUHK faculty members will develop joint research projects with their international collaborators in their SPARC applications. SPARC aims to seeds new collaborative research programmes which will be impactful and can be sustained through external funding sources for the next phase of their development.
It supports expenses, including but not limited to those involved in scoping studies, data collection, preparation of publications, submission of major international grants, hosting of joint workshops, and research visits. International collaborators are encouraged to reach out to CUHK faculty members and discuss the possibility of making an application.
Application deadline: 31 March 2025
Programme details: https://www.oal.cuhk.edu.hk/sparc/
The PhD IMPAC Award sponsors CUHK PhD students and visiting PhD students for short-term research attachments. It aims to support research collaboration between CUHK faculty members and international collaborators in order to drive research excellence. Visiting PhD students will receive supervision from our world-class scholars, adding value to their learning experience. Free on-campus accommodation will be offered.
Application deadline: 14 March 2025
Programme details: https://www.oal.cuhk.edu.hk/phd-impac-award/
Université Paris-Saclay make up to 150 ‘Excellence Scholarships’ available to support international internship opportunities - allowing some of their best students to have an international experience during their studies, and to develop professional and inter-cultural skills. Together with Saclay International Affairs we invite Exeter faculty to share internship offers they could make available to Saclay students - with the aims of…
- increasing the attractiveness of Saclay’s programme,
- strengthening Saclay - Exeter cooperation,
- opening new collaborative opportunities between our institutions.
The opportunities are open to Undergraduate and Masters level students – i.e. Bachelor degree: BUT2/BUT3/Licence 2/Licence 3 level; Master degree: Students of engineering school/Ecole Normale Supérieure/Master 1/Master 2 level.
These internships must start between 1st January and 1st December 2025; and run for a minimum duration of 4 weeks for undergraduate students and for a minimum of 6 weeks for postgraduate students. Please see guidance notes below for more information.
IDEX International Internship Scholarship Guidelines 2024
If you would like to submit an internship offer, please fill in this form: Internship Offers for UPSaclay IDEX Internship Applicants/Laureates (office.com)
The UUKi 'Global research and innovation funding gateway' is a regularly updated depository of funding opportunities for international research and innovation collaboration and knowledge exchange, aimed at UK based researchers/institutions.
Global research and innovation funding gateway (universitiesuk.ac.uk)
The Fulbright University of Exeter Award covers a three-to-nine month project for researching, lecturing or teaching in or across any research-active departments at the university.
The Fulbright All Disciplines Scholar Award allows academics and professionals to undertake lecturing and/or research in any discipline at any accredited US university for between three-to-twelve months.
More information can be found here and here.
For assistance with the application process, please contact:
Marie-Joelle West
M.A.West@exeter.ac.uk
The Fullbright Commission are looking to applicants who can engage with the USA in an atmosphere of openness, academic integrity and intellectual freedom, thereby promoting mutual understanding.
There are several Postgraduate Awards available each year. The All Disciplines Award is by far the most competitive, so it’s important to apply for an award that best fits your experience and interest.
Visit the Fullbright Commission website for further details regarding all the awards available.
The Fulbright Specialist Programme allows universities, cultural centres, non-governmental organisations, and other institutions abroad to host a leading U.S. academic or professional to work on diverse, short-term collaborative projects.
Information on eligibility and the application process for the Fulbright Specialist Programme can be found on the website.
Applications for this programme are accepted all year. The Bilateral Teaching Exchange Programme aims to strengthen the international teaching experience and exposure of Chinese University of Hong Hong (CUHK) faculty members by supporting term-time teaching opportunities at overseas universities.
Find more information here.
Through its Jean d'Alembert fellowship programme Université Paris-Saclay wants to allow highly qualified foreign scientists to stay for long periods (from 6 to 12 months) in one of the 275 laboratories of UPSaclay to conduct research, training & dissemination activities. Scientists from all disciplines and all countries are eligible. The topic and the period of the stay must be decided with the Paris-Saclay host laboratory before the application.
Eligibility:
- Junior Researchers: Candidates who have obtained their PhD less than ten years before the date of application;
- Senior Researcher: Candidates who have obtained their PhD at least ten years before the date of application.
Benefits:
- Additional monthly salary of €2,800, which will be paid by Université Paris-Saclay during the presence in the lab (employment contract)
- A maximum budget of €10,000 to cover expenses related to the beneficiary’s research activities in the host laboratory of Université Paris-Saclay
Applicants must mention in their scientific project the requested amount and the details of these expenses. Only operating expenses are eligible, personnel expenses are excluded. Duration: 6 months to 1 year For further query: The Jean d'Alembert fellowship program | Université Paris-Saclay (universite-paris-saclay.fr)
The Jean d’Alembert fellowship program Université Paris-Saclay 2024-2026 call for applications is now open, the next deadline is likely to be April 2025
The invited faculty programme offers funding to host international faculty members for 1 week to one month within UPSaclay constituent colleges, with the purpose of initiating new or reinforcing existing initiatives. Scientists from all disciplines and countries are eligible.
Successful applicants can receive up to €850 per week (for up to 4 weeks max) to cover their travel and business trip expenses.
Eligibility:
- faculty members from Paris-Saclay partner institutions invited by their Paris-Saclay fellows.
Duration:
- up to 4 weeks.
Disciplines/Nationalities:
- no restriction
Applications are made by Saclay faculty members for external (to Saclay) faculty members that they wish to invite. Exeter faculty are therefore encouraged to contact Saclay counterparts and look into the Invited Faculty Programme with their contacts at Saclay. If help needed in connecting with faculty members at Saclay, please don’t hesitate to contact Stuart Westhead (s.westhead@exeter.ac.uk).
The call for proposals occurs in two waves, for stays in the first and second semester of the academic year. Each request (submitted by a Saclay academic) must specify the details of the proposed visiting researcher; proposed duration of stay and month of arrival; brief description of the reason for the stay; host research unit inviting researcher. A brief CV of the visiting researcher should be attached to the application.
Contacts in departments to whom applications should be submitted:
UFR Droit-Économie-Gestion departement-recherche.jean-monnet@universite-paris-saclay.fr
UFR Médecine recherche-faculte.medecine@universite-paris-saclay.fr
UFR Pharmacie elias.fattal@universite-paris-saclay.fr lorraine.thirion@universite-paris-saclay.fr
UFR Sciences missionnaires-invites.sciences@universite-paris-saclay.fr
UFR Sciences du Sport michel-ange.amorim@universite-paris-saclay.fr
The Shared Scholarship scheme is a joint initiative between the UK Department for International Development (DFID) and UK universities, to support students from developing Commonwealth countries who would not otherwise be able to study a Masters programme in the UK.
Applications for the 2021/22 Commonwealth Shared Scholarships are not yet open. More information on the scheme will be available on the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission’s website (link broken) in due course. Please note that all candidates are expected to have met our English Language Requirements before applying.
Scholarships are available to students of high academic quality from certain Commonwealth countries. You must apply well in advance through the Commonwealth Scholarship Agency in the country in which you have your permanent home. Full details are available on the Commonwealth Scholarships Commission’s website [broken link].
You can also check the Funding Database to search for all available scholarships offered by the University in each department.
