The British Council USA is pleased to launch a call for proposals for transatlantic academic coalitions to support the new phase of Bridging Voices. Three academic consortiums will be chosen to partner with the British Council over the next three years with grants of up to $38,200.

From 2013-2016, Bridging Voices was funded by the Henry Luce Foundation to produce transatlantic policy dialogues on religion and international affairs. Starting 2017-2020, the project will continue these transatlantic conversations and add new, exciting components to the program; including a formal Bridging Voices network and closed online platform, multiple digital and one face-to-face transatlantic academic and policy workshops, media and public outreach activity and the publication of two external reports.

The Bridging Voices project seeks dynamic academic partnerships between US and UK universities to conduct research on the theme of "religion in the public sphere" and organize policy workshops exploring their new research with academics, policymakers, practitioners, young leaders and religious leaders in the field. This research and these policy conversations will culminate in the release of policy recommendations, which will inform governments around the world on how religious issues affect day-to-day life.

The following are the sub-themes of the program under which a consortium can apply:
• Religion and diversity
• Religion and identity
• Religion and social justice
• Religion and public education
• Religion, politics and ideology
• Religious minorities, intolerance and discrimination
• Religion, peace and violence
Universities located outside of the US or UK, plus civil society organizations, research institutions or think tanks operating at the nexus of religion and public life are also encouraged to join proposals in order to strengthen US and UK academic partnerships.

Applications and instructions can be found on the British Council's website and are due by 5:00 pm EST on November 15, 2017 to bridgingvoices@britishcouncil.org.

The British Council will host a webinar on October 23, 2017 in order to answer enquiries about the project and proposal process.