Springboard Programme for UK-France ECR Partnerships

The British Council aims to facilitate exchanges between researchers of the UK and other countries. This bilateral programme call is designed to help UK early career researchers strengthen their collaboration with a partner in France as a first step towards deeper collaboration, developing international networks and possibly joint bids to relevant funding organisations, especially under the Horizon Europe programme.

Thematic Priorities

• Health
• Culture, creativity and inclusive society
• Civil security for society
• Digital, industry and space
• Climate energy and mobility
• Food, bioeconomy, natural resources, agriculture and environment

Funding Information

• The Springboard Programme expects to support at least 10 projects with a maximum value of £10,000 each, for a 12-month period, starting from January 2025.
• Applications from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are particularly encouraged, with the following grant repartition:
  • 3 grants for France-UK collaborations
  • 2 grants for France-Northern Ireland/Scotland/Welsh collaborations
• Funds will be disbursed directly to the Contracting Institution from the UK according to the approved final budget. Applicants may be asked to adjust their budget if their request does not fit within funding guidelines or if this is considered not appropriate by the application reviewers.
• For an equitable partnership, the Contracting Institution should be able to timely transfer funding to the partnering institution(s) in France for activities which support the objectives of the collaboration and the overall project, allowing activities implementation to be implemented without delay.
• For-profit associate partners are only eligible to receive funds to cover travel-associated costs.

Eligibility Criteria 

• Team leaders of established research groups/ laboratories with a proven track-record in research in France  and the UK can jointly apply.
• Lead applicants must come from a UK research institution, supported by the team leader from the French or German research institution.
• Each application can include up to 10 participants, with a minimum of 6 ECRs (researchers who have obtained their PhD less than 10 years ago).
• Lead applicants are asked to also consider encouraging participation from researchers from under-represented groups in the teams implementing their proposed activities.
• All disciplines are welcome (medicine, biology, social sciences, arts and humanities, physics, chemistry, environmental sciences …) and priority will be given to multidisciplinary proposals. Proposals must fulfil the following criteria in order to be eligible for funding under this call:
  • Each proposal must have both:
    • One Lead institution from the UK
    • One Lead institution from France and
    • The proposal must be prepared jointly by leads from both institutions but submitted by the Lead from the UK Institution.
  • UK Lead institution must be one of the following:
    • Higher Education provider with degree awarding powers.
    • England
    • Northern Ireland
    • Scotland
    • Wales
• Not-for-profit research institutions, establishment and organisations.
  • France lead institution must be one of the following:
    • Higher Education provider, as locally defined.
    • Not-for-profit research institutions, establishment and organisations, as locally defined.
• The Lead institutions in France must jointly administer the grant with the UK partner.
  • The partnership can include in their proposals Associated Partners (from both France and the UK) affiliated with:
    • Higher Education providers.
    • Not-for-profit research institutions, establishment and organisations.
    • TVET/FE providers.
    • Other education organisations/charities/foundations/membership bodies.
    • Not-for-profit organisations, including Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs)
    • For-profit/commercial organisations, including small and medium enterprises (SMEs)
    • Branch and satellite campuses of UK Higher Education providers.
    • Government organisations.
    • Employer organisations and industry bodies.
    • Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and Social Enterprise organisations.
• For-profit non-education organisations are not eligible to receive any grant funds, except to cover travel-associated costs. The proposal must clearly define their contribution to achieving call objectives.

For more information, visit British Council.