Under the theme ‘Who Are We Now?’, the UK/Australia Season will reflect on both nations’ shared history and culture. It will explore the current relationship between the two countries, and imagine our future by bringing together artists, universities, and civil society leaders from both countries in a diverse and inclusive way.

UK/Australia Season education programme provides an opportunity for UK and Australian universities to focus on common interests and areas where there is substantial common ground, and to explore and identify ways in which cooperation and collaboration can be enhanced in order to achieve long-term mutual benefit.

UK and Australian higher education institutions are invited to put forward proposals for a series of events and activities which align with the overarching theme of Who Are We Now? And to a series of sub-themes which focus on key areas of common interest including:

• Innovation: 4th industrial revolution, science and health, arts practice and creative industries
• Environment: collaboration on sustainability, climate, green growth, biodiversity, sci-communications
• Equality, diversity & inclusion: decolonization, structural inequities in sectors, public engagement
• Cultural relations: ‘national identity’, soft power, future of cultural policy and international collaboration.

The core objective of the UK/Australia Season education programme is to support the development of closer links between the two HE sectors.

We are looking for:

  • thought-provoking public engagement events that will appeal to general audiences;
  • interactive activities which will attract and inspire younger audiences;
  • specialized events which bring together academics from the UK and Australia and which may result in new partnerships;
  • ideation events that seed new collaborative research projects and bring together early career researchers from the UK and Australia;
  • showcasing existing joint projects which are interdisciplinary and/or which bring together the arts and sciences in an innovative way, and/or bring together participants from other sectors including the arts, government and industry;
  • proposals for events/activities that focus on key areas of common interest such as epidemiology; space; climate and the environment; gender and economic empowerment; diversity and inclusion; and innovation;
  • proposals from any academic discipline or a combination of disciplines;
  • Events which can be run face-to-face or digitally and/or an innovative combination of the two. However, all proposals must have a contingency plan for how activity will be delivered digitally/remotely should the current Covid-19 crisis continue into the Season period.
  • All or part of the event/activity must be presented in Australia (either face-to-face or digitally) between 1 September 2021 to 13 March 2022.

Please also make us aware of any joint initiatives between UK and Australian HE institutions which are scheduled to be announced/signed during the Season period (November 2021 to March 2022), such as bilateral agreements, MoUs or the publication of joint research findings. We would like to use the Season platform to celebrate and raise the profile of these.

Further details, terms and conditions and the application form can be accessed via the following link: www.britishcouncil.org.au/UKAustraliaSeason .

Please note that the British Council cannot provide funding for this element of the programme

Please return completed application forms to the email address provided by Friday 13 November.

Seed Grants
We have available funding for focused one-year grants of between £10,000 and £25,000 to fund joint initiatives/events presented by UK and Australian universities in partnership with one or more university from ODA eligible countries. These joint initiatives must be focused on key climate and/or environmental issues facing ODA eligible countries and align with the objectives of COP26.

  • Proposals must have societal and or economic development outcomes and impact which will be delivered in ODA eligible countries.
  • Proposals should be aligned to Sustainable Development Goal 13 and other related SDGs.
  • Proposals must demonstrate a high level of involvement of ECRs (preferably from ODA eligible countries) and be designed so that they have:
    1) a component which can feature as a core part of the UK/Australia Season.
    2) a component which can be delivered or featured at COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021.

Further details of eligibility criteria and how to apply for funding will be available soon on the UK/Australia Season website: www.britishcouncil.org.au/UKAustraliaSeason

Contact person: Anna Capon, IHE@britishcouncil.org