ODA Global Innovation Fellowships 2024

Through the ODA Global Innovation Fellowships, researchers in the SHAPE community will be supported to create new and deeper links beyond academia, so enabling knowledge mobilisation and translation, as well as individual skills development.

This programme is part of the £337m International Science Partnerships Fund, which is designed to enable potential and foster prosperity. It puts research and innovation at the heart of the UK’s international relationships, supporting UK researchers and innovators to work with peers around the world on the major themes of our time. It is managed by the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology and delivered by a consortium of the UK’s leading research and innovation bodies. In the context of this call, funding from the International Science Partnerships Fund is funded by ODA therefore applications for this funding must be ODA-eligible.

The aim is to have a mutually beneficial partnership between the fellowship award holder and partner organisation in creative and cultural, public, private and/or policy sectors with each able to take advantage of fresh perspectives and expand their networks and reach. It will enable the award holder to strengthen and create new links outside academia, enabling knowledge mobilisation and translation, and the opportunity to develop new approaches and solutions to societal, cultural, commercial and/or policy challenges through providing a different perspective.

Focus Areas

• Environment, Sustainability & Nature: Applications are welcome from researchers and partner organisations engaged in the broad areas of environment, sustainability and nature. This can include work related to climate change, environmental resilience, energy, biodiversity, just transitions, climate mitigation and adaptation, water, pollution, agriculture, conservation, food, and climate action for example.
• Transformative Technologies: Applications are welcome from researchers and partner organisations engaged in the design, accessibility, development, regulation and implementation of responsible technologies. This can include work related to various technologies such as AI, quantum, vaccines, robotics, and augmented reality, as well as how such technologies will shape the future of work, ways of living, governance and economic development for example.
• Health & Wellbeing: Applications are welcome from researchers and partner organisations engaged in the broad areas of health and wellbeing. This can include work related to the social determinants of health including social protection, education, employment, housing, food insecurity, early childhood development, social inclusion and health services; global health; pandemic preparedness, and antimicrobial resistance for example.
• Cities & Urbanisation: Applications are welcome from researchers and partner organisations engaged in the broad areas of cities and urbanisation. This can include work related to urban space, city policymaking and planning, place-based policymaking, conflict, resilience and adaptation, governance, social inclusion, inequality and poverty, prosperity, climate action, lived experience and representation of the city for example.
• Global Order, Geopolitics and International Affairs: Applications are welcome from researchers and partner organisations engaged in the broad areas of global order, geopolitics and international affairs. This can include work related to foreign policy, international trade and finance, conflict, security, governance, civil society, civic activism, international development, and regional and international institutions for example.

Funding Information

• These are offered as awards for up to £150,000 for 12 months in duration (with Full Economic Costing at 80%).
• Awards are for one year in duration.

Eligibility Criteria

• The British Academy is inviting applications from early-career and mid-career researchers who are working on the themes (paragraphs 29-33) who could contribute fresh perspectives to the specified challenges. Please note that applications from independent researchers cannot be accepted in this round of the scheme.
• Applicants might have expertise from a range of disciplinary, conceptual and methodological perspectives, including analytical, policy and practical perspectives.
• Eligible applicants must be ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom with a current longterm appointment that will continue for at least as long as the period of the award. You must be an early-career or mid-career researcher based at an institution in the UK (e.g., a Higher Education Institution [HEI] or Independent Research Organisation [IRO]), from disciplines within the Humanities and Social Sciences that is listed as an approving-organisation in the British Academy’s grant management system, Flexi-Grant. This institution will be issued the Terms and Conditions of the award, if successful.
• In this call applicants must apply with a partner which they have identified, and who will be designated the ‘co-applicant’.
• This is an opportunity for award holders to form new collaborations and draw on the insights this brings to inform, influence and develop their future development. They seek open-mindedness, a willingness to explore new perspectives and to experiment with innovative approaches. You will have an appetite for working across academia, policy and practice, and will demonstrate a commitment to being genuinely challenge driven and dedicated to integrating the perspectives, needs and priorities of the partner organisation.
• All applicants should strongly consider the potential for engagement between academic and non-academic environments and the value this would bring to their career and the value they can bring to the work and purpose of the partner organisation.
• Applicants may not hold more than one British Academy award of a comparable nature at any one time.
• Postgraduate students are not eligible to apply for grant support from the Academy, and Applicants are asked to confirm in the personal details section(s) that they are not currently working towards a PhD, nor awaiting the outcome of a viva voce examination, nor awaiting the acceptance of any corrections required by the examiners.
• Co-applicant and partner organisation eligibility
  • For ODA Global Innovation Fellowships, the Co-applicant is defined as the main individual from the partner organisation who has prime responsibility of supporting, working with and embedding the award holder into the partner organisation and the wider location. This may include acting as the Lead Applicant’s line manager or supervisor.
  • The partner organisation must be based in at least one of the following countries: Brazil, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kenya, Malaysia, Philippines, South Africa, Türkiye, Thailand, Vietnam and/or any country from this list of Least Developed Countries. The Lead Applicant and Co-Applicant must be based at the partner organisation’s office in one of these countries throughout the duration of the award.
  • Partner organisations can include: business and commercial organisations, charity and public sector organisations, community organisations, organisations in the creative industries, policy-relevant organisations, think tanks or voluntary organisations. The partner organisation must not be the same organisation at which the Lead Applicant is based.
  • The partner organisation may be working in the creative and cultural, public, private and/or policy sectors. They may not be an academic organisation, such as a university or a research institute.
  • In the application, the researcher must detail the challenge they seek to address and the existing nature of the relationship with the partner (if applicable). The application submitted must be collaborative between the researcher and a collaborator (the Co applicant) within the partner organisation.
  • the application how they will support and embed the Lead Applicant into their work and the wider organisation, as well as the pastoral support inside and outside of work they will be able to offer.
  • The Co-applicant may have a PhD or equivalent experience, but are not required to have an academic background.

For more information, visit The British Academy.