The International Relations Office is proud to announce the awards for the 2019/2020 International Funding Schemes.

24 research projects, 6 PhD students, and 8 partnerships for professional services have received funding.

This year's panel was chaired by Professor Jeremy Bradshaw, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International and Doctoral), and included Professor Jonathan Knight, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Catherine Montgomery, Academic Director of International Partnerships, Professor Cathryn Mitchell, Academic Director of the Doctoral College, and Amanda Harper, Director of Administration, Faculty of Science.

Reflecting the priorities of Bath's Internationalisation Strategy 2019-2021, the International Funding Schemes support collaborative research and doctoral mobility with partner institutions around the world. A new strand in this call also provides the opportunity for our professional services staff to engage with European universities and core partners globally.

Reflecting the call’s focus on our core University partners, projects will strengthen existing research links and support engagement in new disciplines.

Global core partners

Our core partners include Stellenbosch University; Monash University; Zhejiang University (ZJU); Yonsei University; Nanyang Technological University (NTU); Universidade de São Paulo (USP); and Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).

Monash University

Building on our links with Monash in chemical engineering, Bath Prize Fellow Dr Hannah Leese will explore new diagnostic tools for sepsis patients. Her project will develop and optimise artificial sensors from molecularly imprinted polymer membranes.

A new collaboration will be led by Dr Justin Rogers in comparative social work research, which will investigate support available to young people leaving public care in the UK and Australia.

Colleagues at the Centre of Learning & Teaching, Dr Christopher Bonfield and Marie Salter, will visit both Monash and NTU to explore how the partnerships can help support innovation in digital provision and curriculum transformation at Bath.

Nanyang Technological University

Projects with NTU will focus on health and healthcare technologies.

Dr Despina Moschou and colleagues at Bath’s C3Bio, the UK’s largest research centre in the area of biosensors, will organise a workshop with HealthTech, NTU’s recently established Healthcare Technology Institute, to build a sustainable partnership in the medical technologies field, supported by researcher exchanges and joint funding opportunities.

Diagnostic technologies are also the focus area for Prof Tony James’ project in Chemistry, who will be engaging with colleagues at NTU for his project on developing sensors for non-communicable diseases (NCDs).

Zhejiang University

For his project on sensors, Prof James will also engage with Zhejiang University (ZJU), including the College of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering.

Health and sustainability are a project focus with ZJU in the social sciences as well. Working with the School of Public Affairs at ZJU, Dr Andrew Manley and Dr Bryan Clift in the Department of Health will investigate sustainable urbanisation and the challenges of new town planning and place-making in China.

Stellenbosch University

Projects will further contribute to Bath’s strong existing engagement with Stellenbosch University, building networks in wider Southern and sub-Saharan Africa and globally.

A joint workshop on improving learning outcomes, led by Dr Robin Shields in the School of Management and Dr Lizzi Milligan in Education with colleagues at Stellenbosch’s Department of Economics, will bring together a network of partners in Uganda, Rwanda, India and Nepal.

Exploring new funding for key collaborative research areas such as global health, Ben Hutchinson in Development and Alumni Relations will visit South Africa to meet colleagues at Stellenbosch and the Rockefeller Foundation’s 100 Resilient Cities initiative.

Stellenbosch will also be a partner in an emerging Europe-Africa network on urban water security, building on links Bath has forged with UNESCO and Utrecht University through Prof Kees van Leuuwen, a Bath Global Chair 2018/2019, and Prof Jan Hofman in Chemical Engineering.

Projects with European partners

In addition to our global core partners, our European networks will be supported by 18 projects, which will work with universities and research institutes across Europe, including, among others, Ghent University, Utrecht University, and Technical University of Dortmund.

Collaborators also include several Max Planck Institutes (MPIs), including the MPI for Extraterrestrial Physics (MPE) and the MPI for Astrophysics (MPA), in a project led by Dr Stijn Wuyts in Physics; and the MPI for Demographic Research (MPIDR), in a project on the economics of ageing led by Dr Ricky Kanabar in Social & Policy Sciences.

A unique partnership initiative will be led by Emily Richards, Business Engagement Manager in the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences, and Josh Callander, Anti-Harassment Campaign Manager, who will be launching a Citizenship in Higher Education network with existing European university partners, including Vesalius College, the University of Lille and Freie Universitat Berlin.

For a full list of this year’s awarded projects, please see the links below: