Global Engagement Funds Submission Portal 2026-27

Summary of call

Offered as part of the wider Research, Innovation and Global Engagement (RIGE) funding streams, UCL Global Engagement Funds (GEF) provide seed funding to UCL academics to work with global partners to facilitate research or education collaboration, public engagement, global policy and capacity building through partnerships that address global challenges, and which may have the potential for global reach and real-world impact.

Applications from all fields are welcome. Funding can support a wide variety of activities and research initiatives with global partners in any country. For full details on what can and cannot be funded please consult the criteria and guidance document. Examples of previous projects can be found at the bottom of the GEF webpage.

How to apply

1) UCL lead applicants can apply on behalf of their project team via this application portal. A completed GEF application form should be submitted via section 3 below.

2) A brief summary of the principal participants (from UCL and global partners) and some summary project details are also required under sections 1 & 2 below.

Key dates

Deadline for application: 11:59 pm (BST) Friday, 19 June 2026

Decisions communicated to applicants on or before: Friday, 31 July 2026

Project Title

0/35

Total amount applied for in GBP

Total amount of project cost in GBP (if higher)

Please tick to confirm that the activity is planned to be purchased and take place between 1 August 2026 and 31 July 2027. All activity and expenditure MUST be completed within this activity window, after this funds will disappear and cannot be carried over by Global Engagement into the next financial year

All anticipated costs in the attached application have been calculated according to any required UCL/*Partner* expenses and travel policy (A Worktribe costing is not necessary)

Please tick here to confirm you will undertake the relevant and appropriate ethical approval and due diligence for the size and scope of your project (see guidance pdf for further details)

Please tick here to confirm that the lead applicant of this proposal did not receive GE seed funding as a lead applicant for a project taking place in the 2025/26 Academic Year OR that a special exception has been made due to strong potential for significant impact based on the outcomes of 2025/26 project activity.

Please tick here to confirm that your project does not include travel to a country the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) currently advises against.

Does your project involve covering the cost of travel for your global partner to UCL? Please note that funds are not intended to support the costs of travel to UCL for global partners except where mitigating circumstances apply (see guidance pdf for further details)

Are you an Early Career Researcher? This can be defined as within eight years of your PhD award or six years of your first academic appointment. However, there is flexibility within this definition, so please feel free to select 'Yes' if you feel Early Career Researcher applies to you. Please note that this is for monitoring purposes only and will not influence the outcome of your application.

How did you hear about the Global Engagement Funds? Select all that apply.

Other

A. UCL Applicant Information

Please note that applicants must have an open-ended UCL contract or a fixed-term contract which lasts until at least July 2027. If an applicant has a fixed-term contract that does not last until July 2027 they can apply if their contract covers the dates in which the project is due to take place and have a co-applicant who is a UCL staff member with an open-ended contract. In this case, the co-applicant will be responsible for reporting outcomes to UCL Global Engagement.

In line with UCL’s commitment to equality and diversity, we encourage applications from a range of backgrounds regardless of career stage, age, disability, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and religion.

Name of UCL lead applicant

PrefixFirst NameLast Name

E-mail

Role

Faculty

Arts and Humanities Department

Brain Sciences Department

Bartlett Department

Engineering Sciences Department

Life Sciences Department

Maths & Physical Sciences Department

Medical Sciences Department

Population Health Sciences Department

Social & Historical Sciences Department

Institute of Education Department

Other

Professional Services Department

Lead applicant UCL Person Identifier (UPI) Number

This can be found on your UCL ID card in the bottom left corner.

Is there more than one UCL applicant?

Name of UCL co-applicant

PrefixFirst NameLast Name

E-mail

Role

Department

Faculty

Is there a second UCL co-applicant?

Name of second UCL co-applicant

PrefixFirst NameLast Name

E-mail

Role

Department

Faculty

Is there a third UCL co-applicant?

Name of third UCL co-applicant

PrefixFirst NameLast Name

E-mail

Role

Department

Faculty

If your group has more than 3 co-applicants, please list any additional names under section 1d in your project proposal attachment.

B. Global Partner Applicant Information

Project must be in collaboration with one or more named ‘global partner/s’ that is, one or more colleague(s)/research team(s)/department(s), based at an overseas HEI, research institute or international public/corporate/charitable organisation. This could be collaborations initiated and run by individual academics or departments, e.g. by a PI and their research group with other individuals across the globe. Applicants may have worked with the selected partners in the past, or it may be a new collaboration - but the project activity which is the subject of the GEF funding application must be new.

Name of Lead Global Partner

PrefixFirst NameLast Name

E-mail

Role

Department (if applicable)

Organisation Name

Country of Lead Partner

Is there more than one Global Partner?

Name of second Global Partner

PrefixFirst NameLast Name

Role

Department (if applicable)

Organisation Name

Country

Is there another Global Partner?

Name of third Global Partner

PrefixFirst NameLast Name

Role

Department (if applicable)

Organisation Name

Country

If your group has more than 3 Global Partner co-applicants, please list any additional partner in section 1d of your project proposal attachment.

The Global Enagement Funds application form should be submitted as a PDF document via the button below. Please note submissions should be no longer than 5 pages.

The application form requires proposals to include a-d (below) in section 2 of the form, please ensure these subheadings are used on your application before submitting the form:-

a) Description of the activity. Please bear in mind this will be reviewed by a panel including non-specialists in your field of expertise. If you have received Global Engagement Funding previously, ensure you explain how this funding will build on previous outcomes. (500)

b) Intended outcomes. Please describe what outcomes you anticipate from the project. This could include outlining your short term, medium term and long term aims. (500)

c) Strategy to disseminate outcomes. e.g. a publication, blog, engagement event, funding bid etc. (150)

d) How do you plan to develop the partnership or project after this initial activity is complete? (150)

Please upload your proposal here:

Click to Upload Proposal

Global Engagement Funds 2026-27

Section 1: About the Project

Section 2: About the Project Team

Section 3: Application Upload