Researcher Challenges grants from Going Global Partnerships support international research partnerships between the UK and other countries, with a focus on women’s resilience to climate change.

Grants are open to higher education institutions and non-profit research institutions in the UK, with a view to collaborating with institutions in Iraq, Mexico, Morocco or Peru.

Overall call objectives

Under the core theme of supporting women’s resilience to climate change, the grants aim to:

• establish new networks and collaborations and bring together various backgrounds and disciplines
• strengthen the voices of early-career researchers in the climate change community
• develop relevant research around women’s resilience to climate change
• generate innovative ideas for businesses to support women’s resilience to climate change
• enhance capacity of early-career researchers, with a specific focus on women and climate change.

Thematic context

Climate change is the biggest intergenerational, human rights and equity issue of our time. It exacerbates existing inequalities, creating new risks to humanity and undermining progress on gender equality and the Sustainable Development Goals.

Climate change amplifies risks to marginalised populations, particularly women and girls, as they face multiple barriers that limit their ability to cope with the consequences of its impact. According to the UN, about 80 per cent of people displaced by climate change are women.

Researcher Challenges grants have been designed to respond to the urgent need for gender transformative climate action and to support the agenda by strengthening pathways for inclusion of women and girls in climate action.

Within this context, some focus areas for grants are suggested below, although the list is not exhaustive.

• Solutions that benefit women
• Role of women in climate change planning/decision making
• Empowering/upskilling women for climate change adaptation
• Women and the green net zero economy.

Partnership activities

Partnerships are expected to conduct a range of activities, including:

• organisation of a virtual workshop between the UK and international partner organisation attended by established researchers (in the role of mentors) and early-career researchers (as participants)
• design of a Challenge Prize for early-career researchers to develop projects that address existing climate challenges
• promotion of partnership activities and outcomes to external stakeholders.

Key details

Grant amount: up to £30,000

Grant length: 12 months, starting January 2025

Countries involved: UK lead institution, partnering with Iraq, Mexico, Morocco or Peru

Open to: higher education institutions and not-for-profit research institutions, establishments and organisations

Clarification deadline: 5 August 2024

Application deadline: 30 August 2024