Global Challenges Research Network

The Global Challenges Research Network at Keele University will enable the University to apply for grants from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) - a £1.5 billion fund announced by the UK Government in late 2015 to support cutting-edge research that addresses the challenges faced by developing countries.

The purpose of the network is:

to identify common approaches and areas of collective interest from researchers across the University with an interest in global challenge and development-focused research;
to identify capacity building needs to feed into a programme to support growth of Keele’s global challenge research portfolio;
to feed into development of future QR GCRF strategies;
to identify individual and collective research interests to provide a focus that enables the RaISE team to target identification and dissemination of global challenge-related funding opportunities.

Where can I get support?

GCRF Leads

Upcoming events

Previous events

What is the Global Challenges Research Fund?

The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) is a £1.5billion fund announced by the UK Government in late 2015 to support cutting-edge research that addresses the challenges faced by developing countries.

The GCRF budget is derived from the Government’s Overseas Development Aid (ODA) commitment; as a result, any research funded by the scheme must:

have a partner in a country which is on the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) list of lower and middle income countries;
address a problem for that country which maps onto at least one of the seventeen UN Sustainability Goals.

GCRF funding is usually distributed through existing research funding mechanisms, often in the form of short-notice calls with particular themes (for example, the AHRC Education in Conflict and Protracted Crises network call).

In order to apply successfully for these grants, researchers need to have international networks already developed, so that they can respond at relatively short notice. To facilitate this, we are launching a Global Challenges Research Network, inviting staff from across the University, whether they are currently working on Global projects or just aspire to, to meet, network, and learn from each other and key external leaders in the Global Challenges field.

Projects

To find out more information about some of the Global Challenges research that has been supported by QR GCRF funding, please visit the Projects page.