Following a moment of hope with regards to the UK’s association to the EU’s Horizon Europe Research and Innovation (R&I) programme, the delay and the uncertainty of this event are once again the ‘new normal’. Despite the availability of the Horizon Europe guarantee scheme which covers the funding for the successful eligible UK bids, and which has been recently extended until the end of June 2023, recent records revealed that the proportion of applications from the UK to Horizon Europe has declined since 2020.

At the same time, there is an increased awareness and consensus both within Government and academia regarding the increasing importance of international collaboration in R&I. Perhaps the time has come to expand our horizons. Both to explore new partnerships beyond Europe taking advantage of the new funding opportunities, but also other non-Horizon Europe funding schemes for EU countries. After all, it makes perfect sense to solve global challenges at global level.

One such opportunity is the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) launched in December 2022. The ISPF is led by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology and aims to support collaboration with strategic international partners to address global challenges, build knowledge and develop the technologies of tomorrow. The initial budget for the first two years of ISPF is £219m, with calls for proposals being streamed through a range of funding bodies, including UKRI and national academies. ISPF is based on a top-down approach, with themes and countries of collaboration selected by the UK Government and the programmes and calls developed by the respective delivery partners.

Find out details about the ISPF’s themes and priority countries on the RIS Intranet page and follow our next RIS blog posts to discover more foreign R&I landscapes and funding opportunities. 

Moreover, join us online on the 24th of May 2023 at the R&I International Collaboration event to find out about past and current engagement with International R&I at the University of Portsmouth.