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Find European and International research funding

Internal and external funding sources, supporting European and International collaborations and projects.

Find international research funding
Find international research funding

Developing European and international funding

We can help you with developing research project ideas for European funding, such as the European Commission, or International funding, such as the National Institutes for Health and National Science Foundation.

We can advise you on developing your collaborations and networks, finding research collaborators and identifying international funding opportunities.

Horizon Europe

The EU and UK have a Trade and Cooperation Agreement outlining the terms of their continued relationship following the UK’s withdrawal from the EU. According to the deal, the UK will take part in Horizon Europe, Euratom, ITER, Copernicus, SST programmes. The UK will no longer participate in the Erasmus+ scheme for student and staff mobility. More on this from our Brexit advice for staff involved in research.

Researchers at UK institutes remain eligible to apply for European funding through the Horizon Europe programme.

While UK association to the programme remains an unknown, the UK Government has published details of a guarantee to honour payment of grants obtained through the Horizon Europe Programme, meaning academics based in the UK are not at risk of missing out on awarded funding. See the details of the safety net guarantee.

Below are details of available funding through this programme.

European Research Council

The Excellent Science Pillar of the European Research Council has the following calls:

ERC Starting Grant
The ERC Starting Grant is for early-career researchers to establish their own (and often first) research group. They will then obtain independence through excellent research. Eligibility: 2-7 years post PhD Duration: up to 5 years Budget: €1.5 million (pro rata)

ERC Consolidator Grant
The ERC Consolidator Grant is for researchers to consolidate their independence with a view to becoming a future research leader. Eligibility: 7-12 years post PhD Duration: up to 5 years Budget: €2 million (pro rata) Next deadline: 2 February 2023 (tentative)

ERC Advanced Grant
The ERC Advanced Grant is for excellent researchers making breakthroughs through high quality research ideas. Applicants must still be active researchers and have a strong track record over the previous 10 years. Eligibility: >12 years post-Ph.D. but usually Professorial researchers Duration: up to 5 years Budget: €2.5 million (pro rata)

ERC Synergy Grant
The ERC Synergy Grant provides funding for 2-4 Principal Investigators (PIs) to propose an ambitious, interdisciplinary research project. Projects will lead to breakthroughs not possible by any individual PI working with a single team. Eligibility: No specific criteria but all PIs are assessed for ERC quality relative to career stage Duration: up to 6 years Budget: €10 million (pro rata)

ERC Proof of Concept ERC Proof of Concept grants are only open to current or recent ERC grant holders to demonstrate potential commercialisation opportunities that have arisen from their ERC-funded research. Eligibility: Current ERC grant, or grant ending in last 12 months Duration: 18 months Budget: €150,000

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships
MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships (PF) aim to enhance the creative and innovative potential of postdoctoral researchers, providing them with a period of international mobility and facilitating a two-way exchange of knowledge between the researchers and their host organisation(s).

MSCA Doctoral Networks
MSCA Doctoral Networks (DN) are training for doctoral candidates via international networks of academic and non-academic institutions.

Research Infrastructures

Research Infrastructures are facilities that provide resources and services for the research communities to conduct research and foster innovation in their fields.

These include:

  • major equipment or sets of instruments
  • knowledge-related facilities such as collections
  • archives or scientific data infrastructures
  • computing systems
  • communication networks

Global Challenges

Calls under the Global Challenges Pillar of the ERC are top-down, challenge-led across a range of themed areas. They primarily support multi-disciplinary cooperation via international consortia. See the summary.

2021-2027 Work Programmes
All the calls for proposals can be found in each work programme:

Open and forthcoming calls for each of these global challenges can be found on the EU Funding and Tenders Opportunities portal.

EC: Missions

Each mission from the European Commission (EC) will operate as a portfolio of actions, such as research projects, policy measures or even legislative initiatives, to achieve a measurable goal that could not be achieved through individual actions.

The five EU Missions:

European Innovation Council

  • EIC Pathfinder supports the exploration of bold ideas for radically new technologies - welcomes high-risk / high gain and interdisciplinary cutting-edge science collaborations that underpin technological breakthroughs

  • EIC Transition funds innovation activities that go beyond the experimental proof of principle in laboratory

  • EIC Accelerator funds and invests in individual start-ups and small companies to develop and scale up game changing innovations. (Note, restrictions apply on UK access to Investment component of EIC Accelerator)

See the summary of the EIC Calls.

Global R&I funding gateway

Universities UK international (UUKi) has has a Global Research and Innovation Funding Gateway which you can access.

This a regularly updated​ depository of funding opportunities for international research and innovation collaboration and knowledge exchange, aimed at UK based researchers/institutions.

Newton Fund

The Newton Fund aims to develop science and innovation partnerships that promote the economic development and welfare of its 18 collaborating countries.

International Relations Office

The International Relations Office works with and builds partnerships with other international universities and organisations. It also runs the Bath international research funding scheme, which is an internal call inviting applications for developing international partnerships.

Contact the Research Development team

Enquiries

If you have any questions, please contact us.