UK Research and Innovation’s (UKRI) international strategic framework sets out our approach to collaboration and how it will help achieve our strategy.
International collaboration is integral to UKRI’s strategy.
We enable a diverse range of international partnerships, from collaborations between individual researchers and businesses up to major global infrastructure programmes.
We have offices in China, Europe, India and North America.
This new international framework highlights the many ways in which international collaboration will contribute to UKRI’s 6 strategic objectives.
Supporting and delivering international activity
The framework sets out how UKRI will deliver world class:
- people and careers
- places
- ideas
- innovation
- impacts
- organisation
With increased core research and innovation budgets announced in the spending review, we expect to increase the number or scale of our international collaborations.
We will continue to explore ways in which our funding can enable greater collaboration through mechanisms like:
- international co-investigator policies
- joint calls and lead agency arrangements
- longer-term strategic international partnerships
We are also working with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy to phase in a new form of strategic international funding. The design will be informed by what we have learned from the current funds.
Building a better and sustainable future
UKRI International Champion and Executive Chair, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Professor Christopher Smith said:
This framework sets out how UKRI’s approach to international collaboration will contribute to our strategic objectives and use science to build a better and more sustainable future for everyone.
We will continue to develop equitable international partnerships to generate new ideas, tackle shared global challenges, and enrich and improve lives here in the UK and around the world.
Delivering UKRI’s mission
The international strategic framework sits alongside UKRI’s corporate plan and the strategic delivery plans of the councils that make up UKRI:
- AHRC
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
- Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
- Innovate UK
- Medical Research Council (MRC)
- Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
- Research England
- Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
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