RSE Scotland Asia Partnerships Higher Education Research Fund

Research Themes and Geographies

• Key themes:
  • Clean Energy and Environment (inc. animal welfare)
  • Digital, Physics and Space, Advanced Manufacturing
  • Health
  • Sustainable Cities and Urbanisation
• Subthemes:
  • Food, soil and water, environmental change
  • Transport
  • Energy, resources
  • Advanced manufacturing
  • Health (Medicine and life sciences inc. public health)
  • Climate research, emissions research, or sustainable energy
  • Sustainable agriculture, biodiversity, water and food, circular economy, biobased industries
  • Sustainable Cities and Urbanisation (could include transport)
  • Space, ICT, Big Data, Cybersecurity
  • Robotics, autonomous systems, sensors/internet of things and photonics
  • Marine science (ocean science e.g. climate related, or coastal protection etc).

Funding Information

• The Scottish Government has made up to £80,000 available under the SAPHIRE scheme in 2023-24.
• The scale of funding is £5,000–£10,000 per project. They will give priority to smaller projects, in order to benefit as many partnerships as possible.
• Funding can be used to meet costs incurred by Scottish universities/research institutes in delivering research (e.g. materials, travel, facilities, IT, catering, staff time). Funding must be spent by 30th June 2024.
• The funding can only be used to cover the activities of the applicant based in Scotland and cannot cover the activities of partners based overseas.

Eligibility Criteria

• The SAPHIRE scheme is open to researchers, from all Scottish universities and research institutes, on open ended or continuing contracts, that wish to establish new or further develop existing peer reviewed research projects which:
  • Relate to one of the themes in points;
  • are already receiving peer reviewed funding (from UK or international funding bodies). For new projects the applicant needs to have experience/track record of being awarded peer reviewed funding;
  • include a partner from either Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, South Korea, and Indonesia (projects can include additional partners from other countries).
  • Industry participation welcomed as part of consortia.
• Applicants on short or fixed-term contracts should ensure their contracts extend for at least 3 months after the end of the proposed project. Early Career Researchers (ECRs) on staged contracts to permanent lectureship positions are eligible for the Research Fund but must be in contract for the duration of the award.
• Successful applicants can start from Monday 1st January 2024. All award funds must be spent by 30th June 2024. In exceptional circumstances, awardees can apply for a time extension, however no money extentions can be granted after 30th June 2024.

For more information, visit RSE.