Wendy Waring & Karen Moses Newton Fund British Council August 2016 Newton Fund British Council

About the British Council? We are the UK’s international cultural relations organisation, and have been working for more than 80 years to forge links between people in the UK and other countries Our main purpose is to build engagement and trust through the exchange of knowledge and ideas between people worldwide One of our charitable purposes is to: ‘encourage cultural, scientific, technological and other educational cooperation between the United Kingdom and other countries’ We have 218 offices in 110 countries worldwide We were involved in the genesis and development of the Newton Fund, helping to shape the programme since inception

Newton Fund The Newton Fund is funding from the UK Government’s Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, totalling £735 million over 7 years. Fund launched in 2014 and will now run until 2021 It is part of the UK’s official development assistance (ODA) commitment. Programme aim – to promote the economic development and welfare of the 16 partner countries or, through working with the partner country, addressing the problems of low-income people around the world. Three Pillars People, Research and Translation.

Newton Fund PEOPLE: increasing capacity in science and innovation. Working with individuals and institutions in partner countries (TG/WK/RC) RESEARCH: research collaborations on development topics TRANSLATION: creating collaborative solutions to development challenges and strengthening innovation systems (IL)

British Council and the Newton Fund British Council is working in partnership with Universities UK International to deliver Newton Fund Working across 16 countries in the Newton Fund, in close collaboration with the Embassy leads Majority of activity with British Council as delivery partner is in the ‘People’ area, focus on capacity building, mobility, and supporting the research e.g. travel grants and workshops, Researcher Connect programme British Council programmes aim to lay foundations for deeper engagement using other funding mechanisms – pathway for future collaboration 5

6 Brazil China Chile Colombia Egypt India Indonesia Kazakhstan Kenya Malaysia Mexico The Philippines South Africa Thailand Turkey Vietnam Partnering Countries

British Council and the Newton Fund Grants programmes: PhD programme – scholarships and placements (people) Researcher Links – workshops and travel grants (people) Institutional Links – initial stage collaborative R&I projects (translation) Capacity building: Professional Development Technical training and employability 7 Five strands to Newton Funding

Newton Fund - ODA The Delivery Partner (British Council) must be able to defend the ODA-eligibility of the project Projects with potential to contribute to the economic development and welfare of low- and middle-income countries (benefitting low-income and vulnerable populations in these countries Demonstrating a pathway to impact within a short to medium time frame (3 to 15 years) – projects must show a clear benefit to the country Reporting, monitoring and evaluation requirements are in place Programme can build in priorities for partner funders and governments in‐country

Chinese Delivery Partners Ministry of Science and Technology National Natural Science Foundation of China Chinese Academy of Sciences Ministry of Education Chinese Academy of Social Sciences China Meteorological Administration Chinese Academy of Engineering Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

Strategic Priorities for China Environmental Technologies HealthFood and Water security Energy UrbanisationEducationCreative Economy

Newton Fund Full PhD scholarships (3-4 years) at UK universities (Not China) Joint supervisions - One year placements Funding for individual partner country PhD students to spend a period of their study (up to one year) in the UK, and sometimes vice versa. Typically places available Must be in an area relevant to development. University or research centre must be part of Mission’s plan Current call open until 20 September PhD Placements

British Council China PhD Placement Up to 1 year in UK as part of Chinese PhD. Partnered with CSC MoU signed at the P2P Open once a year, Partnered with NSFC Share research and Establish long-term connections With local authorities and universities

Newton Fund Workshops Grants for bilateral workshops for UK and Chinese researchers to share their research and develop partnerships Typically 3-5 days – and includes lectures, interactive sessions, field visits, breakout discussions, etc Aimed at early career researchers

Researcher Connect Science Communications training Build capacity to successfully engage with international counterparts Knowing your audience, abstracts, presentation, writing s, persuasive proposals, academic collaboration modules 14

Capacity Building Professional Development and Engagement: building the skills of researchers, research managers in areas such as communication and research management, as well as supporting good research governance and community and policymaker engagement. Technical training and employability: supporting workforce planning and development in the area of technical and vocational training for the research and innovation sector. Working with partners in country to define needs and co-develop capacity building programmes 15

Assessment Process: Ensuring high quality and ODA eligibility Researcher Links/ Institutional Links grants Process designed with support from UK Research Councils To ensure high quality and ODA eligibility of all proposals UK Selection panel – Chaired by senior researchers Scored for Quality and ODA separately Threshold score for quality – applications below threshold are not fundable Scores shared with country partners – parallel process occurs in country, and final decision meeting held to confirm results. 16

British Council 2015 PhD Placement 89 PhD students and 20 UK supervisors 15 workshops, 30 universities, 400 participants participants 10 trainers 76 IHEs 15 workshops

British Council 2016 PhD Placement Call opened in May Council & CSC website Aim to support 100 PhD students Researcher Links Workshops Call opened in July Council & NSFC website Aim to support 15 workshops Researcher Connect Workshops 14 Workshops in Tianjin, Harbin, Qingdao, Wuhan, Changsha, Chongqing, Guiyang, Xi’an, Lanzhou, Nanjing

Resources & Links Newton Fund Website: British Council Newton Fund Website: opportunities opportunities Universities UK International: opportunities/the-newton-fund/finding-a-collaborator.aspx opportunities/the-newton-fund/finding-a-collaborator.aspx Euraxess newsletter on Follow us on 19

Contacts British Council China: British Council UK: Universities UK International: 20