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Ocean Country Partnership Programme
Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs
The Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) supports countries to manage the marine environment more sustainably, including by strengthening marine science expertise, developing science-based policy and management tools and creating educational resources for coastal communities. The programme is funded through official development assistance (ODA) as part of the UK’s £500 million Blue Planet Fund. Through the OCPP, the UK government partners with ODA-eligible countries to deliver positive impacts for coastal communities that depend on healthy marine ecosystems. Bilateral partnerships under the OCPP are primarily delivered by the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) and the Marine Management Organisation (MMO), agencies of the UK government that possess unique expertise in marine science and management. The OCPP also funds two international initiatives that align with its aims and help to develop global public goods, the Global Ocean Accounts Partnership (GOAP) and the Friends of Ocean Action (FOA). GOAP is a global, multi-stakeholder partnership established to enable countries and other stakeholders to effectively measure and manage progress towards sustainable ocean development. FOA is a platform hosted by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the World Resources Institute, which brings together ocean leaders from a wide range of sectors to encourage action and investment into sustainable ocean projects. GOAP and FOA are both strategic partners of the OCPP, and are funded by the Blue Planet Fund (BPF). They do however remain independent organisations from OCPP, BPF, and Defra. Their work, and its intended outcomes and impacts, are strategically aligned with the OCPP and complement its programming in bilateral partnerships. GOAP and FOA were originally developed as separate business cases under the BPF, then in 2022 introduced as integrated components under OCPP to provide a clearer overall BPF offer to recipient countries. The investment to GOAP supports ODA-eligible countries to develop 'ocean accounts' to more accurately and comprehensively capture data on the natural capital assets contained within their oceans. Using this data - and through further technical, advisory, and capacity building support - GOAP aims to ensure that biodiversity is valued and integrated into policy making, decision making, and infrastructure investments in these countries, resulting in the inclusive and sustainable use and management of the ocean. An initial investment of £1million was awarded to GOAP in FY 2021/2. Following good performance in year one, a further £6million of investment was awarded, split evenly over FY's 2022/3, 23/4, and 24/5; giving a total of £7million. From December 2023, following evidence of strong value for money, this investment has since been uplifted to a total of £14.2million, involving new and expanded scope for certain activities, as well as extending the strategic partnership into FY 2025/6. FOA is a multi-stakeholder platform hosted by the World Economic Forum in collaboration with the World Resources Institute, which brings together ocean leaders from a wide range of sectors to encourage action and investment into sustainable ocean projects. FOA, working closely with the High Level Panel for Sustainable Ocean Economy, aims to mobilise ocean leaders to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water. Through OCPP the investment supports pillars of FOA's work that strategically align with OCPP's own outcomes. There was an initial investment of £1million to FOA in FY 2021/2. After FOA performed well against investment and performance criteria in year one, a further investment of £2million was awarded in both FY's 2022/3 and 2023/4; rounding total investment for FOA to £5million.
Royal Academy of Engineering - Transforming Systems Through Partnership -International Science Partnerships Fund
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The Transforming Systems through Partnership (TSP) programme is designed to foster partnerships between universities in emerging countries and local industries, aiming to amplify the impact of research on economic growth and social development. This initiative is closely aligned with the primary objective of Official Development Assistance (ODA), which is to promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries. By facilitating collaboration between academic institutions and local industries, the programme seeks to stimulate additional research impact and strengthen research capacity in these regions, directly contributing to economic advancement and social progress. The thematic focus on the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) challenges of Net Zero and Healthy Populations ensures that the research addresses pressing global issues, enhancing the sustainability and resilience of partner countries.
Royal Academy of Engineering - Higher Education Partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa -International Science Partnerships Fund
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The Higher Education Partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa (HEP SSA) addresses the urgent engineering skills gap in sub-Saharan Africa by aligning higher education with industry requirements. Through grants to universities for projects spanning six months to two years, the program enhances academia-industry relationships, producing engineers with the skills and knowledge to meet local challenges and industry demands. Utilizing a hub and spoke model, HEP SSA maximizes impact through bilateral secondments with local industry partners and spreads knowledge to regional universities via workshops, reports, and other collaborative activities. Partnering with UK universities, HEP SSA not only strengthens engineering education but also highlights engineering's role in economic development. This initiative supports the International Science Partnerships Fund's (ISPF) mission to empower institutions in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) to address global challenges with a well-trained workforce focused on locally relevant research and innovation. By building the capacity of universities in ODA-eligible countries to produce employable engineering graduates, the program ensures these graduates contribute to sustainable community and national development. This positions the UK as a preferred partner in achieving the primary goal of Official Development Assistance (ODA) purposes: fostering sustainable development and improving the quality of life in developing countries.
Royal Academy of Engineering - Africa Catalyst -International Science Partnerships Fund
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Africa Catalyst aims to strengthen professional engineering bodies in sub-Saharan Africa, ensuring these institutions can effectively promote the engineering profession, share best practices, and enhance local engineering capacity to drive development. This initiative awards grants to professional engineering bodies in ODA eligible sub-Saharan African countries for projects lasting between six months and three years. The primary objective of this ODA-eligible program is to catalyze and bolster these professional bodies, ensuring they become robust institutions capable of leading the profession locally, with strong Continuing Professional Development (CPD), accreditation systems, and governmental linkages. By partnering with UK counterparts who have advanced further in institutional development, African bodies can learn and share best practices tailored to their local contexts. This program is designed to support sustainable development by enhancing the professional capabilities of engineers who, in turn, contribute to the development of their communities and countries. The focus on building capacity in ODA eligible countries aligns with the overarching goals of ODA to promote economic development and welfare, ensuring the program's alignment with international aid objectives.
Royal Academy of Engineering - Leaders in Innovation Fellowships -International Science Partnerships Fund
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The Leaders in Innovation Fellowships (LIF) programme is a comprehensive initiative designed to support talented entrepreneurs from around the globe in transforming their engineering innovations into impactful, sustainable businesses. The programme nurtures bold, scalable innovations across various engineering and technology domains, addressing complex environmental, economic, and societal challenges. Through LIF Global, engineering and technology innovators gain access to experienced mentors, an international network of peers, and high-quality skills training focused on commercialization and maximizing their technology's societal impact. The flagship and introductory programme recruits up to 100 engineers, researchers, and early-stage tech entrepreneurs from supported countries, who aim to commercialize their research through a 7-month programme of specialized training, mentoring, and networking events in both their home country and the UK, ultimately developing a market strategy and growth plan. Participants work towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in areas such as cleantech, healthtech, agtech, and edtech, utilizing novel technologies like AI, Blockchain, sustainable materials, novel chemical processes, and new hardware to address socio-economic problems with global potential. Additionally, the LIF Community supports programme graduates through bimonthly newsletters and the LIF Advance initiative, which offers deep dives into scaling later-stage businesses. This ODA-eligible programme primarily aims to promote the economic development and welfare of developing countries, aligning with the core objectives of Official Development Assistance (ODA) by empowering local innovators to create sustainable, market-ready solutions to pressing global challenges.
Royal Academy of Engineering - Frontiers -International Science Partnerships Fund
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Frontiers connects and empowers enthusiastic researchers, innovators, and practitioners from the UK and around the world to collaboratively address complex global development challenges. By promoting collaboration and interdisciplinary thinking, Frontiers aims to foster creative solutions that deliver meaningful impact and cultivate a lasting global community geared towards achieving a sustainable and inclusive society. Each symposium's challenge focus is selected in collaboration with co-chairs from the UK and partner countries, ensuring relevance to local contexts. The resulting research projects are designed as equitable partnerships that specifically tackle local challenges. These thematic international and interdisciplinary symposia for early career researchers cover topics such as biodiversity and the circular economy, followed by reports that contribute to the evidence base and seed funding to pilot newly formed collaborations. This program aligns with ODA's primary objective of promoting the economic development and welfare of developing countries, addressing ISPF objectives such as increasing the impact of research excellence, strengthening research capacity in developing countries, and tackling global challenges through impactful research outputs. By framing symposia around the most pressing global challenges and building international communities of change-makers, the program enhances the impact of the UK's best early career researchers and strengthens the research and innovation capacity in partner countries and Least Developed Countries (LDCs), thereby fulfilling ODA eligibility and supporting global development.
Royal Academy of Engineering: Higher Education Partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa -International Science Partnerships Fund 2025-2026
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The Higher Education Partnerships in Sub-Saharan Africa (HEP SSA) addresses the urgent engineering skills gap in sub-Saharan Africa by aligning higher education with industry requirements. Through grants to universities for projects, the program enhances academia-industry relationships, producing engineers with the skills and knowledge to meet local challenges and industry demands. Utilizing a hub and spoke model, HEP SSA maximizes impact through bilateral secondments with local industry partners and spreads knowledge to regional universities via workshops, reports, and other collaborative activities. Partnering with UK universities, HEP SSA not only strengthens engineering education but also highlights engineering's role in economic development. This initiative supports the International Science Partnerships Fund's (ISPF) mission to empower institutions in Low and Middle Income Countries (LMICs) to address global challenges with a well-trained workforce focused on locally relevant research and innovation. By building the capacity of universities in ODA-eligible countries to produce employable engineering graduates, the program ensures these graduates contribute to sustainable community and national development. This positions the UK as a preferred partner in achieving the primary goal of Official Development Assistance (ODA) purposes: fostering sustainable development and improving the quality of life in developing countries.
Core and Resilient Futures - UK ODA Fellowships
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Fellowships for non-UK scientists who are at an early stage of their research career and wish to conduct research in the UK. (From the Resilient Futures Collective Fund).
ISPF-020, Enabling ISIS Collaboration with Brazil 2023 - 2027
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The developing of Brazilian use of ISIS is a programme that will enhance the relationship between Brazil and the UK by increasing the number of proposals to ISIS from Brazilian researchers. Currently averaging 2 proposals per year from Brazil to ISIS, we hope to support around 20 completed experiments through the programme and at least 3 extended stays at ISIS by Brazilian researchers and to have 30 Brazilian researchers trained in neutron/muon techniques. The funding will be spent via activities such as: • Calls for proposals for Brazilian researchers to access ISIS • Experiments at ISIS by Brazilian researchers including beam fee costs, and travel and subsistence for Brazilian researchers to come to the facility for experiments • Sabbaticals / 'mini-sabbaticals' at ISIS by Brazilian researchers • In-person workshops and meetings in Brazil • Neutron/muon training school in Brazil • Engagement with Brazilian funding organisations • Support for Brazilian researchers to engage in dissemination activities related to their ISIS experiments once back in Brazil.
ISPF-034, Supporting a neutron and muon user community in Indonesia and Malaysia, 2023/2024 & 2024/2025
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
The initial cost of building and running large research facilities is often prohibitive to developing countries. This programme aims to build research capacity in ODA relevant research areas by allowing access to UK research infrastructures, specifically the ISIS Neutron & Muon Source, for Indonesian and Malaysian researchers. It will also develop a relationship with ASEAN funders to further spread the use of neutron and muon techniques.
Core and Resilient Futures - UK ODA Fellowships
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Fellowships for non-UK scientists who are at an early stage of their research career and wish to conduct research in the UK. (From the Resilient Futures Collective Fund).
Institutional Support Grants - International Science Partnership Fund (ISPF) - Scottish Funding Council (SFC)
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Institutional Support Grants to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) to cover Official Development Assistance (ODA) activities under the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF). This funding provides flexible institutional grants that can be used strategically to support ODA eligible activity. This may include underpinning ISPF activity funded through other delivery partners, or by directly supporting research that addresses the problems faced by developing countries that are not funded through the ISPF grants of other delivery partners. ISPF Institutional Support Grants have been awarded to the University of St Andrews, University of Glasgow, University of Edinburgh, Robert Gordon University, University of Stirling, University of Dundee, Scotland's Rural College, Edinburgh Napier University, University of Aberdeen, Abertay University, University of Strathclyde, Heriot-Watt University and Glasgow Caledonian University.
International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) - Institutional Support Grant for Official Development Assistance (ODA) eligible activities Aston University
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
This International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) Institutional Support Grant has been awarded to the Aston University. This funding provides flexible institutional grants that can be used strategically to support activities that are Official Development Assistance (ODA) compliant as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This may include underpinning ISPF activity funded through other delivery partners, or by directly supporting research that addresses the problems faced by developing countries that are not funded through the ISPF grants of other delivery partners.
International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) - Institutional Support Grant for Official Development Assistance (ODA) eligible activities University of Bath
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
This International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) Institutional Support Grant has been awarded to the University of Bath. This funding provides flexible institutional grants that can be used strategically to support activities that are Official Development Assistance (ODA) compliant as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This may include underpinning ISPF activity funded through other delivery partners, or by directly supporting research that addresses the problems faced by developing countries that are not funded through the ISPF grants of other delivery partners.
International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) - Institutional Support Grant for Official Development Assistance (ODA) eligible activities Bath Spa University
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
This International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) Institutional Support Grant has been awarded to the Bath Spa University. This funding provides flexible institutional grants that can be used strategically to support activities that are Official Development Assistance (ODA) compliant as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This may include underpinning ISPF activity funded through other delivery partners, or by directly supporting research that addresses the problems faced by developing countries that are not funded through the ISPF grants of other delivery partners.
International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) - Institutional Support Grant for Official Development Assistance (ODA) eligible activities University of Bedfordshire
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
This International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) Institutional Support Grant has been awarded to the University of Bedfordshire. This funding provides flexible institutional grants that can be used strategically to support activities that are Official Development Assistance (ODA) compliant as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This may include underpinning ISPF activity funded through other delivery partners, or by directly supporting research that addresses the problems faced by developing countries that are not funded through the ISPF grants of other delivery partners.
International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) - Institutional Support Grant for Official Development Assistance (ODA) eligible activities Birkbeck, University of London
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
This International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) Institutional Support Grant has been awarded to the Birkbeck, University of London. This funding provides flexible institutional grants that can be used strategically to support activities that are Official Development Assistance (ODA) compliant as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This may include underpinning ISPF activity funded through other delivery partners, or by directly supporting research that addresses the problems faced by developing countries that are not funded through the ISPF grants of other delivery partners.
International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) - Institutional Support Grant for Official Development Assistance (ODA) eligible activities University of Birmingham
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
This International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) Institutional Support Grant has been awarded to the University of Birmingham. This funding provides flexible institutional grants that can be used strategically to support activities that are Official Development Assistance (ODA) compliant as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This may include underpinning ISPF activity funded through other delivery partners, or by directly supporting research that addresses the problems faced by developing countries that are not funded through the ISPF grants of other delivery partners.
International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) - Institutional Support Grant for Official Development Assistance (ODA) eligible activities Birmingham City University
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
This International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) Institutional Support Grant has been awarded to the Birmingham City University. This funding provides flexible institutional grants that can be used strategically to support activities that are Official Development Assistance (ODA) compliant as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This may include underpinning ISPF activity funded through other delivery partners, or by directly supporting research that addresses the problems faced by developing countries that are not funded through the ISPF grants of other delivery partners.
International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) - Institutional Support Grant for Official Development Assistance (ODA) eligible activities Bournemouth University
DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION AND TECHNOLOGY
This International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) Institutional Support Grant has been awarded to the Bournemouth University. This funding provides flexible institutional grants that can be used strategically to support activities that are Official Development Assistance (ODA) compliant as defined by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). This may include underpinning ISPF activity funded through other delivery partners, or by directly supporting research that addresses the problems faced by developing countries that are not funded through the ISPF grants of other delivery partners.
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