Funding opportunity

Funding opportunity: ESRC-NSTC UK-Taiwan networking grant 2023

Opportunity status:
Closed
Funders:
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Co-funders:
National Science and Technology Council (NSTC)
Funding type:
Grant
Total fund:
£50,000
Maximum award:
£10,000
Publication date:
13 October 2022
Opening date:
Closing date:

This opportunity seeks to improve the connectivity between UK and Taiwan social science research communities, by providing funding to groups of researchers to foster the development of relationships.

Proposals should contain a UK component, to be funded by ESRC, and a Taiwan component, to be funded by NSTC.

NSTC will run the application process. The opportunity closes 7 February 2023. UK applicants should coordinate with their Taiwan principle investigator to follow the NSTC guidelines.

Proposals may be submitted in any area of the social sciences. The application must be within both ESRC’s and NSTC’s remit.

The UK component must be led by a UK research organisation eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding.

Who can apply

UK applicants must be a UK-based researcher and of postdoctoral level or higher.

Check if your UK organisation is eligible.

Consult the UK eligibility criteria, in the NSTC opportunity specification, for full details.

Taiwan applicants must consult NSTC for up to date details of their application eligibility according to the operation guidelines for NSTC research project grants.

What we're looking for

This opportunity seeks to improve the connectivity between UK and Taiwan social science research communities, by providing funding to groups of researchers to:

  • foster new connections
  • identify common interests
  • build networks
  • develop common research agendas, helping to lay the groundwork for future collaborative research activity

The intention is that the networking activities supported through these grants will:

  • enable new relationships between UK and Taiwan researchers to be formed
  • strengthen existing relationships
  • enhance the overall level of connection between the UK and Taiwan social science communities

The opportunity is thematically open, meaning proposals may be submitted in any area of the social sciences that are within the remit of both ESRC and NSTC.

The total budget for the UK component of this opportunity is £50,000 (with ESRC meeting 100% of full economic costs) and the Taiwanese researchers are supported by NSTC with equivalent subsidy amount.

The UK component of a proposal may be a maximum of £10,000 (100% full economic costs, ESRC will meet 100% of full economic costs) and the Taiwan component of the proposal has an equivalent limit of NT$370,000 (funded at 100%).

How to apply

This opportunity is co-funded between ESRC and NSTC.

NSTC run the commissioning process for this opportunity.

Applicants should provide one joint Taiwan-UK proposal, which reflects a jointly developed programme of work between the 2 partners.

All proposals should adhere to NSTC’s Chinese-language specification.

All proposals should be submitted to NSTC. They should not be additionally submitted to ESRC.

If successful, proposals will be awarded as 2 separate grants, 1 by NSTC and 1 by ESRC. Therefore your proposal should have 2 clearly separate budgets for:

  • the UK-based researcher(s), which will be funded by ESRC
  • the Taiwan-based researcher(s), which will be funded by NSTC

The UK component must follow ESRC budgetary rules, and the Taiwan component must follow NSTC budgetary rules.

Further details will be provided at the time regarding how to bring the UK component of a successful proposal onto ESRC systems, but please note that this is an administrative process required to issue funding to the UK team. Successful projects will not be subject to any further assessment.

UK applicants must complete a UK eligibility template alongside the full proposal to NSTC. This is a mandatory submission.

The UK eligibility template does not require additional submission to ESRC.

The information will be used for eligibility checks only. This template will not be considered in the assessments process.

The UK eligibility template must be completed in English.

How we will assess your application

The networking applications will be reviewed by the NSTC, and evaluated and awarded on merit after joint deliberation by NSTC and ESRC. The primary considerations or criteria are listed below:

  • performance of principal investigator and research team
  • project’s academic attributes
  • project’s international collaboration
  • appropriateness of grant amount

Contact details

If you have any questions on the application process please contact NSTC, who are running this opportunity: cmtom@nstc.gov.tw

If you have any questions on UK eligibility and UK funding template, please contact: uktaiwannetworking2022@esrc.ukri.org

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