Research Agreements with UK Research Councils
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Print Current PageBBSRC/DFID Joint Funding Scheme
DFID and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) have announced a new scheme to fund biosciences research that provides answers on how to increase agricultural productivity and food security so as to make significant differences to the lives of poor people in Africa and Asia. The scheme responds to demand from developing countries for increased focus on science and technology to tackle development problems (see the Framework for African Agricultural Productivity - FAAP).
The scheme has a budget of £6 million over four years and will provide research grants to UK and non-UK researchers to undertake strategic research that contributes to growth and poverty reduction in developing countries. The first research call will focus on crop sciences.
This scheme is one of the new initiatives being implemented under DFID’s £100 million Strategy for Research on Sustainable Agriculture, announced in March this year. The scheme builds upon DFID’s and BBSRC’s strengths in development and scientific research. DFID currently spends 4% of its development budget on research, placing it in the top three bilateral donors, and over the last three decades supported research on new technologies and ideas to help achieve poverty reduction. BBSRC is the UK’s largest funder of basic and strategic biological research, investing around £350 million annually, and has supported development related research at UK universities and its sponsored institutes. By combining this experience BBSRC and DFID will support research which meets the needs of poor people, and helps builds the research capacity of developing countries.
ESRC/DFID Joint Research Funding Scheme
The ESRC-DFID Joint Scheme for Research on International Development (Poverty Alleviation)
The new DFID/ESRC funding scheme aims to enhance the quality and impact of social science research and contribute to the achievement of the MDGs.
DFID and the Economic and Social Research Council launched a £23 million joint funding scheme for short to medium research on poverty reduction on 3rd July 2009. The first call of the scheme is open until 24th September and all relevant information can be found on the ESRC website (see link below). Two further calls will be announced in 2010 and 2011. Applications are invited for projects with an FEC value of between £100,000 and £500,000.
As well as research excellence, all applicants will have to demonstrate that research outputs have potential impact on poverty reduction and relevance to decision makers.
In addition to work under the overall banner of poverty alleviation, DFID and ESRC have identified three thematic areas for this call where work will be of particular interest. These are:
- Security, Conflict and Development;
- Economic Crisis, Poverty and Growth: the Implications for Development Theory and Practice;
- Cities and Development
Applications (to ESRC) are invited from researchers based in recognised higher education institutions, research organisations or organisations with a credible research capacity in both the UK and worldwide.
- The latest information can be found on the ESRC website here
- The call specification can be viewed here
- An Independent Review of the previous 2005 to 2008 Scheme and the ESRC/DFID response to it can be viewed here
DFID/MRC Concordat
DFID/MRC Concordat record
The concordat agreement between DFID and the UK Medical Research Council (MRC) is the basis of a partnership that supports UK-led biomedical and public health research to tackle the priority health problems of poor people in developing countries. Under the concordat DFID provides a grant to the MRC of the order of £4m per year to augment its own support for projects and programmes in line with an agreed strategy relevant to the needs of poorer countries. DFID is consulted on the development of MRC’s strategy and is represented on MRC’s Physiological Medicine and Infections Board and relevant sub-committees.
DFID reviews the MRC’s portfolio of research on health in developing countries on an annual basis and commissions evaluations periodically. Since 1992, when the concordat first came into effect, these reviews and evaluations have consistently concluded that this partnership delivers high-quality knowledge in a cost effective manner.