Funding Friday
Hi everyone,
This week’s funding opportunities bring a rich mix of global and regional funding opportunities—ranging from inclusive education partnerships and regenerative medicine to creative community projects and youth-led agricultural innovation. Whether you’re seeking international collaborations, addressing local challenges, or exploring cultural and scientific exchanges, these highlights are designed to spark ideas, prompt strategic questions, and connect you with resources that can turn vision into impact.
Happy funding,
Jesse
Global
🤝 Building Inclusive Education Partnerships
📝 The British Council’s Going Global Partnerships program has opened the TNE Exploratory Grants 2025 for higher education institutions in select countries. These grants support UK and partner institutions in developing inclusive, transnational education initiatives. Goals include promoting sustainable institutional change, cocreating curricula, enabling dual/double degrees, enhancing quality assurance, and contributing to SDGs. Applications are submitted by the UK leading institution via an online platform.
🤔 Thought-provoking Questions and Insights
Global & Local Learning: How can joint UK–partner country curricula respect local cultural contexts while meeting global standards?
Equity & Access by Design: What structures—like scholarships or language support—can ensure equitable access for marginalized learners in TNE programs?
Policy Levers for TNE Scale: How might academic policy advancements (e.g., degree recognition frameworks) be built into projects to support sustainable, system-level adoption?
🔗 TNE Exploratory Grants – Building Inclusive Education Partnerships
🧬 Catalyzing Regenerative Medicine Innovation
📝 The Novo Nordisk Foundation has launched its Regenerative Medicine Catalyst Grants 2025, a catalytic funding call designed to accelerate translational research in regenerative medicine across the Nordic region. The program targets areas like cell therapy (autologous & allogeneic), stem cell disease modeling, biomaterial engineering, and accelerating therapies toward clinical development. It supports both Nordic-led and international collaborative projects.
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
From Bench to Bedside: Which milestones in translational regenerative medicine should be prioritized to maximize real-world impact and accelerate clinical applications?
Cross-Border Research: How can Nordic institutions best structure partnerships with international collaborators to ensure meaningful scientific exchange and equitable research roles?
Sustainable Research Pipelines: What strategies can help ensure the innovations funded outlive the grant period, through open protocols, regulatory engagement, or early commercialization pathways?
🔗 Catalyzing Regenerative Medicine Innovation
🌱 Plant Science, Agriculture & Food Biotechnology
📝 The Novo Nordisk Foundation is inviting applications for Project Grants supporting excellent research within plant science, agriculture, and food biotechnology. These must be conducted at universities or other non-profit research institutions in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, or Sweden. The research should address major challenges related to sustainable agriculture and food production, with a strong fundamental and strategic outlook.
🤔 Thought-provoking Questions and Insights
Sustainability Through Science: How can fundamental research in plant or food biotechnology be positioned to ultimately influence sustainable farming practices or food system innovation?
Nordic Research Strengths: What unique advantages do research institutions in the Nordic region bring to global challenges in food sustainability, and how can collaboration amplify that impact?
High-Risk, High-Impact Projects: Given the expectation for strategic outlook and potential high-risk projects, how might proposals articulate visionary science that pushes boundaries responsibly?
🔗 Project Grant – Plant Science, Agriculture & Food Biotechnology
Africa
🎯 Tech-Enabled Safety for Women & Girls
📝 The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) has launched a €4 million Call for Projects to combat technology‑facilitated gender‑based violence (TFGBV) in Africa, the Near East, and the Middle East. It aims to select a consortium of feminist CSOs to manage and distribute the funding over 3 to 4 years, supporting grassroots feminist organizations in digital gender-equality initiatives.
🤔 Thought-provoking Questions and Insights
Digital Gender Justice: How can digital tools and advocacy initiatives be leveraged to prevent online GBV effectively?
Consortium Model: What strategic strengths and challenges arise when managing the fund via a consortium rather than direct grants?
Local Leadership, Global Scope: How should feminist organizations balance local relevance and broader regional impact in Africa, Near & Middle East contexts?
🔗 Tech-Enabled Safety for Women & Girls
🔥 Gender Resilience in Cabo Delgado
📝 The Agence Française de Développement (AFD) has launched a €6 million Call for Proposals to strengthen community resilience and reduce gender inequalities in Montepuez District (Cabo Delgado, Mozambique). The initiative focuses on better responses to gender-based violence (GBV) via a holistic approach encompassing education, health, protection, community development, and social norm shifts (within the humanitarian–development–peace nexus).
🤔 Thought-provoking Questions and Insights
Education as Prevention: How can education systems serve as a pivotal platform for preventing and responding to GBV in crisis-affected communities?
Holistic Programming: What does an integrated, conflict-sensitive model (incorporating health, protection, education, and community norms) look like in real-world implementation?
Local Leadership & Security: How can organizations ensure effective implementation in Montepuez, given the need for local presence, security risk management, and deep contextual knowledge?
🔗 Gender Resilience in Cabo Delgado
🎭 Creative Roots Beyond Cities
📝 The Goethe-Institut Johannesburg invites applications for the Project Space Grant (GPS) 2026, supporting non-commercial artistic projects in South Africa, Lesotho, and Eswatini. This initiative awards up to ZAR 105,000 (~USD 5,900) to projects situated outside major cities like Johannesburg, Cape Town, or Durban, encouraging creativity in rural or peri-urban areas. It prioritizes collaboration with local communities and spaces and seeks to bridge cultural divides through visual arts, performance, music, and interdisciplinary work.
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
Cultural Decentralization: How can artists bring powerful engagement and visibility to underserved areas through context-aware, site-specific works?
Creative Ecosystems: What support systems (logistical, financial, infrastructural) are necessary for non-commercial art to thrive outside urban centers?
Interdisciplinary Storytelling: How might combining multiple art forms—visual, sound, movement—unlock new pathways for community expression and healing?
🔗 Goethe-Institute Project Space Grant – Creative Roots Beyond Cities
🌱 Youth Innovators Tackling Value Chain Challenges
📝 The National Youth Commission of Sierra Leone, in collaboration with the European Commission (EuropeAid) and the International Labour Organization (ILO), has opened a Call for Proposals inviting young entrepreneurs, students, and organizations to submit innovative ideas or improvements for the fabrication of value chain equipment targeting cassava, palm oil, and vegetables. Proposals should aim to reduce waste, minimize post-harvest loss, improve energy efficiency, and support the circular economy. Selected applicants will be invited to pitch their solutions at regional and national levels.
🤔 Thought-Provoking Questions and Insights
Youth-Led Fabrication: How can young innovators harness local materials and design approaches to develop value chain equipment that’s both functional and affordable for their communities?
Sustainable Impact: How might prototypes be designed to maximize post-harvest yield and reduce energy consumption—while remaining scalable across diverse agricultural contexts?
Pitch-to-Prototype Pipelines: What support structures (e.g. mentorship, fab labs, investment-readiness) would help youth move from idea-pitch to real-world prototypes rapidly?
🔗 Youth Innovators Tackling Value Chain Challenges
Asia-Pacific
🎨 Fulbright Egyptian Scholar Program – Arts, Museums & Heritage
📝 The Fulbright Egyptian Scholar Program – Arts Management, Museum, and Heritage Studies offers Egyptian professionals and academics the opportunity to conduct 3 to 9 months of research or study at U.S. institutions. Targeted at those working in cultural management, museums, or heritage studies, the program includes a travel stipend, living allowance, excess baggage support, and health benefits, and is administered by the Binational Fulbright Commission in Egypt.
🤔 Thought-provoking Questions and Insights
Cultural Exchange Impact: How can scholars share knowledge from U.S. institutions to strengthen Egypt’s cultural heritage sector upon return?
Sustainable Heritage Management: What innovative models of museum practice or heritage conservation can be adapted to local Egyptian contexts?
Equity & Access: How might this program encourage broader participation, especially by mid-career professionals or underrepresented groups within the arts?
🔗 Fulbright Egyptian Scholar Program – Arts, Museums & Heritage
🧪 ICMR Centre for Advanced Research (CAR) Extramural Program
📝 The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) under its Extramural Research Program has launched a Centre for Advanced Research (CAR)–2025 call. This grant targets experienced Indian research teams to establish CARs that address critical health challenges—from communicable and non-communicable diseases to maternal and child health, emerging health threats, and climate-related health impacts.
🤔 Thought-provoking Questions and Insights
Strategic Research Centers: How can CARs be structured not just as research vessels but as enduring hubs for innovation, training, and cross-institutional collaboration?
Translational Impact: With significant funding and multi-year scope, how can CARs ensure research outcomes—such as diagnostics, countermeasures, or guidelines—directly influence health policy and clinical practice?
Regional Health Priorities: Which context-specific health challenges (e.g., AMR, maternal mortality, climate-related diseases) should be prioritized in proposals to align with ICMR’s focus and maximize societal benefit?
🔗 ICMR Centre for Advanced Research (CAR) Extramural Program
🎭 NCCA Competitive Grants Program – Celebrating Filipino Culture
📝 The National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA) of the Philippines has opened its 2026 Competitive Grants Program, administered under the National Endowment Fund for Culture and the Arts (NEFCA). The program provides financial assistance to individuals, NGOs, indigenous peoples' organizations (IPOs), LGUs, SUCs, POs, and more. This year's grants support projects aligned with four strategic outcomes under the Philippine Development Plan for Culture and the Arts 2024–2029: Filipino Identity Reaffirmed; Creativity & Innovation Harnessed; Humane, Inclusive, & Sustainable Communities; Culture-Responsive Governance Enhanced.
🤔 Thought-provoking Questions and Insights
Culture as Catalyst: How can arts and heritage initiatives foster collective identity and inclusivity across diverse Filipino communities?
Governance Through Culture: How might cultural projects inform local policies or strengthen community governance via arts-based approaches?
Accreditation as Opportunity: What support mechanisms—especially for under-resourced or remote artists—can be designed to assist in navigating the accreditation and proposal process effectively?
🔗 NCCA Competitive Grants Program – Celebrating Filipino Culture
🧬 Bridging Science: DOST–JSPS Joint Research Project
📝 The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) of the Philippines and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) have officially opened the 2026 Call for Proposals for their joint research collaboration. This bilateral initiative supports research partnerships between Filipino and Japanese scholars.
🤔 Thought-provoking Questions and Insights
Bilateral Research Synergies: How can Filipino and Japanese researchers leverage complementary expertise to address complex challenges in health, technology, and innovation?
Joint Submission Challenges: What practical steps can teams take to ensure alignment and consistency in proposal content across both DOST and JSPS submissions?
Strategic Milestones: How should project timelines be structured to align with DOST’s and JSPS’s funding and evaluation schedules, maximizing impact during the grant period?