An overview of how UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) brings global knowledge to the UK and UK expertise to the world.
Why international collaboration is important
No one country can solve the complex, global challenges of our time. The UK is playing a leading role by ensuring its expertise and infrastructures can collaborate with the best researchers, innovators, and institutions around the world.
Research and innovation is inherently a global endeavour, and becoming more so: around 60% of UK publications now include an international co-author (see International comparison of the UK research base, 2022 (GOV.UK)).
Collaborating globally gives researchers and innovators access to infrastructure, data and expertise that is not available within any single country. It has been shown to increase the citation impact of UK publications and the quality of the research we produce. Collaboration also enhances the impacts of research and innovation, leading to local solutions for local problems.
Likewise, innovative small businesses benefit from working internationally in terms of productivity, growth and innovation by gaining understanding of, and access to, new markets (see Internationalisation of European SMEs: taking stock and moving ahead (KfW)).
Case study: collaboration with local actors in South Africa prompted a new response to COVID-19
A collaboration between the University of Oxford, the University of Cape Town and the South African Government, funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), provided evidence on the effectiveness of ‘unconditional cash transfers’. This research led the South African Government to design a radical new welfare response to the COVID-19 pandemic which ensured that 5.5 million fewer people faced poverty and hunger in 2020.
Read more about the case study: Pivoting to cash-based poverty relief during COVID-19.
UKRI's international priorities
UKRI has a vital role to play in shaping and enabling diverse, secure, equitable and creative global collaborations in research and innovation. Through these collaborations, we learn from each other and are empowered to devise solutions that will create a fairer society and safer, resilient and prosperous global communities.
UKRI’s approach to international collaboration is aligned with, and supports, UK government ambitions. The UK Science and Technology Framework and the International Technology Strategy highlight the role of international opportunities in delivering on the UK’s science and technology ambitions.
Likewise, UK foreign policy (as outlined in the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, the Integrated Review Refresh 2023 and the International Development white paper) recognises the importance of research and innovation collaboration in advancing the UK’s interests and tackling global challenges.
UKRI’s international priorities are guided by the six objectives of our International Strategic Framework, reflecting the objectives of the overall UKRI Strategy: Transforming tomorrow together. These highlight our long-term commitment to supporting international collaboration through:
- people and careers: enabling people and teams to collaborate, exchange and thrive through international collaboration
- places: strengthening our global relationships and working together on the infrastructures that often underpin collaboration
- ideas: advancing the frontiers of human knowledge and innovation by supporting the best ideas wherever they are found
- innovation: enabling innovation by connecting UK and international businesses, researchers, institutions and investors, in the UK and globally
- impacts: embedding international considerations in our work on strategic themes and transformative technologies
- world-class organisation: catalysing change through partnerships, championing diversity and increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of our activities
View an infographic of our key international budget allocations for 2022 to 2025.
People and careers: how we enable people to thrive through collaboration
The UK’s ongoing ability to attract and retain global research and innovation talent is key for the UK’s research and development ambitions (see Global Mobility of Research Personnel).
Our role in world-leading global infrastructure and the strong voice we have on a global stage are important factors in maintaining the UK’s reputation and ability to attract talented people and teams.
We work closely with the UK government to support global mobility, including through:
- the development and delivery of visas that enable talented innovators, researchers and their teams to come to the UK
- partnering on talent campaigns
- updating our grant terms and conditions to enable more individuals to claim visa costs for working in the UK
- doctoral funding for eligible international students
UKRI also supports UK research and innovation talent to be globally mobile. Through a range of travel, networking and partnership grants, we support our community to build connections and enhance capacity through exposure to new expertise, cultures and perspectives.
Read more about our support for talent and global mobility.
Case study: opening international archives to early career researchers
The Arts and Humanities Research Council’s International Placement Scheme (IPS) offers an opportunity for early career researchers to undertake fellowships at prestigious cultural institutions overseas.
One IPS Fellow was hosted at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History as part of her PhD on visual storytelling about freshwater mussels. She has built the foundations for long-term collaboration with Smithsonian zoologists, developing interactive museum tools to stimulate debate about conservation.
Places: how we strengthen our global relationships
UKRI’s global reach
Figure 1: since UKRI was formed in 2018, and up until the end of 2023, we have supported collaboration with over 6,000 organisations across 181 countries. Our top collaborators are the US, Germany, France and Canada.
Our overseas offices
The UKRI offices in China, India, Europe and North America deepen partnerships with leading and emerging research and innovation nations. They provide insights into their respective research and innovation landscapes and build close connections with local funders.
This opens opportunities for joint working, with UKRI funding UK researchers and innovators while their overseas collaborators receive support in parallel from their own domestic funders.
Since the offices in China, India and North America were opened 15 years ago:
- UKRI has supported over 800 collaborative projects with China, with the majority (71%) of resulting academic publications being made available open access
- close to £400 million of joint funding has been committed with India, through partnerships with 16 funding agencies and government departments
- the volume of UKRI awards involving collaboration with the US and Canada has increased by 30% between 2015 and 2022, with the total value of awards increasing by 66%
International infrastructure and facilities
UKRI supports collaboration through our infrastructure investments. The world-leading research infrastructure we host in the UK attracts users from around the world. For example:
- over 30,000 researchers from more than 90 countries have registered to use UK Biobank
- in 2022 to 2023, 140 users from 30 countries accessed the ISIS Neutron and Muon Source
UKRI also invests in infrastructure hosted overseas to enable UK researchers and innovators to access the tools, resources and data they need for their work.
Between 2022 and 2025, the Science and Technology Facilities Council will invest £934 million in international infrastructure subscriptions across 10 countries. Due to the scale and costs of such facilities, many infrastructures can only be realised through international collaborations and long-term strategic planning.
This ensures that UK researchers and innovators have access to world-leading international facilities, such as the Square Kilometre Array Observatory. The observatory will have the world’s largest and most sensitive radio telescope on Earth, enabling exploration into the evolution of the Universe.
UKRI also hosts facilities overseas, in the Arctic, Antarctic, the Gambia and Uganda, which ensure that UK researchers can undertake research close to the source of the data.
UKRI’s overseas locations, facilities and infrastructure
Figure 2: this map pinpoints the location of the UKRI overseas offices in North America, India, China and Brussels. It also includes UKRI’s research facilities in Antarctica, Svalbard in the Arctic Circle, the Gambia and Uganda, our major international infrastructure investments around the world, our research ships and research plane.
Case study: shaping the UK response to climate change through our polar research facilities
The Natural Environment Research Council hosts the British Antarctic Survey (BAS). BAS operates research stations in the Arctic and Antarctic, alongside the RRS Sir David Attenborough and a fleet of specially adapted aircraft and specialised vehicles. These provide a research platform for scientists to conduct research on, for example, glaciers and oceans.
The world’s oceans store up to a third of CO2 created by humans. Understanding how these components will function in response to climate change is critical to reducing uncertainty in the ability of the oceans to absorb CO2 and sustain marine food stocks. This informs UK policy on the state of the global environment.
Read more about the British Antarctic Survey.
Ideas: how we support the best ideas wherever they are found
Through UKRI funding opportunities we offer support for UK researchers and innovative businesses to establish, build and maintain collaborative relationships with their peers globally. These include a range of open routes to allow researchers and innovators to choose the location, type and subject of their partnership.
As a result, around a third of research council grants include an overseas collaborator as a co-lead, project partner, visiting researcher, consultant or subcontractor.
We set up more directed routes where we have identified opportunities or gaps to establish or enhance partnerships in strategic areas. For example, through the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s International Science Partnerships Fund we will be investing £190 million between 2022 and 2025 to support close working with international partners to address global challenges, build knowledge and develop the technologies of tomorrow.
In addition, UKRI’s research councils run a number of funding opportunities designed to strengthen international partnerships in particular areas of mutual interest.
Flexible funding provided to higher education institutes (HEIs) from Research England, including through quality-related research funding, allows HEIs to establish and strengthen the many roles they play at local, national and international levels.
Find out more about getting funding for international research.
How UKRI funds international collaboration
Figure 3: an outline of the routes through which UKRI funds international collaboration, including ‘top-down’ and ‘bottom-up’ opportunities. These include directed funds such as the International Science Partnerships Fund, council and cross-UKRI opportunities for bi- and multi-lateral collaboration, Lead Agency opportunities, International co-lead policy, and adding collaborators as a project partner, visiting researcher, consultant or subcontractor. UKRI also provides support for networking and partnership building through Global Missions, Institutional linkages, travel funding, partnering awards and workshops.
Case study: securing overseas investment into UK higher education facilities
Institutions supported by Research England’s UK Research Partnerships Investment Fund (UKRPIF) have successfully secured significant co-investment from overseas partners.
For example, the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC) at the University of Manchester has secured a £30 million investment from UAE-based renewables company Masdar, alongside its £15 million UKRPIF award. The GEIC takes the university’s globally leading knowledge base in fundamental graphene science research from the lab into real-world applications.
Read more about the UK Research Partnership Investment Fund.
Bilateral and multilateral funding partnerships
UKRI’s international funding opportunities are often delivered in collaboration with like-minded funding partners around the world. We work bilaterally with individual countries on joint areas of interest. Through joint funding opportunities, we reduce bureaucracy for researchers, enable equitable partnerships and secure additional resources.
For example, we have set up ‘Lead Agency’ opportunities with the US National Science Foundation through which we jointly fund collaborations between UK and US researchers. The single application process reduces burden for researchers, while the open nature of this opportunity allows researchers to determine the topic of collaboration.
We also work multilaterally. Through our membership of global multilateral research fora we address global challenges with partners from around the world, increase access and opportunities for UK researchers and leverage funding.
Case study: Human Frontier Science Programme
BBSRC and MRC are members of the Human Frontier Science Programme (HFSP) which funds an international program of frontier research on the complex mechanisms of living organisms. HFSP awards are prestigious, promote science without borders, and support early career researchers.
Between 1990 and 2023, the UK had the second highest number of HFSP grant awardees per country, after the US. Among the 29 HFSP awardees that went on to win a Nobel Prize, six are UK-based scientists.
A UK-US collaboration funded by HFSP led to the invention of Geckskin®, a flexible adhesive which mimics the gecko’s ability to strongly attach yet easily detach their feet to walk on walls and ceilings.
Enabling UK engagement in Horizon Europe
The UK Research Office (UKRO) in Brussels plays a key role in maximising the UK’s engagement in EU research and innovation programmes, notably Horizon Europe. It does this through acting as a trusted source of advice, promoting the UK’s research and innovation strengths and liaising with EU institutions.
The UK signed an agreement to finalise the UK’s association to Horizon Europe on 4 September 2023, ensuring UK access to the €95.5 billion research and innovation programme running until 2027. UKRO and the National Contact Point network will continue to support UK applicants to Horizon Europe by providing impartial advice on applying for, and managing, EU funding.
UKRI is also managing the Horizon Europe guarantee scheme. This provides funding for UK researchers and innovators who are part of successful Horizon Europe bids up to the end of work programme 2023.
As of 31 March 2024, UKRI had offered over 3,300 grant letters worth more than £1.7 billion under the Horizon Europe guarantee (see Horizon Europe guarantee: statistics). This has been an important interim measure, ensuring that the strong ties between UK and European research and innovation communities have been maintained while the association deal was finalised.
Case study: biodiversity research safeguarded by Horizon Europe guarantee funding
Horizon Europe guarantee funding ensured that NatureMetrics Ltd, a company based in Guildford, could continue to collaborate with European colleagues. NatureMetrics uses innovative technology to generate biodiversity data at scale. This data is being fed into two Horizon Europe projects which are seeking to understand better the value of biodiversity for human health and agriculture.
Read more about the case study: Backing biodiversity with evidence.
Innovation: how we enable innovation through international connections
Innovate UK will invest £100 million between 2022 and 2025 to help innovative UK businesses grow and scale globally by unlocking market opportunities and reducing engagement barriers in partner countries and geographies.
We build international partnerships that create new opportunities for businesses in key territories, cutting edge technologies and themes, and deliver a series of programmes that help businesses to access those opportunities. In this way, we help drive the growth of the UK economy and increase our global leadership in innovation and technology.
Find out more about the support available to grow and scale UK businesses globally.
Case study: building connections with the Canadian automotive industry
Innovate UK’s Global Business Innovation Programme (GBIP) helps innovative small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to succeed globally by taking business delegations to new international markets and territories to develop market insights, find new collaborations and create new opportunities.
The 2023 ‘Automotive Vehicles’ GBIP took a cohort of UK SMEs to Canada for one week to visit key industry sites and partners in the country. As a result of this visit, UK SMEs have identified new international partners and begun innovative research and development projects. Others reported the visit allowed them to attract inward investment, build new commercial relationships and establish new offices in Canada.
Impacts: how we embed international collaboration to enable transformative impacts
Through international collaboration, UK researchers and innovators are addressing global challenges.
Research and innovation for development
UKRI is a long-standing funder of research and innovation for development, and a trusted delivery partner for the UK’s official development assistance (ODA) funding. Through ODA initiatives, we work in collaboration with developing countries to leverage UK research and innovation expertise to address the challenges these countries face.
Between 2022 and 2025, we will be investing over £566 million in ODA research, including to support ongoing research through the legacy Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and Newton Fund, as well as through launching new opportunities through the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF).
This includes ISPF Institutional Support Grant (ODA) funding of £47 million which provides institutional grant funding that can be used strategically to support ODA-eligible activity.
Case study: solar lamp supporting sustainable design in Africa’s off-grid markets
Researchers at the University of Edinburgh, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, have worked with communities in Kenya, Burkina Faso and India to design a sustainable solution to the need for cheap off-grid lights.
‘Solar What?!’ is a small portable lamp which can be built from recycled plastics and ethically sourced electronic components. Not only does it reduce waste by being easy to take apart, it is also easily repairable and can be powered by a mobile phone battery that is widely available across Africa. The design is available open source on the Solar What?! website.
Read more about the case study: Solar lamp promotes sustainable design in Africa’s off-grid markets.
Case study: UK-Ukraine University Twinning Initiative
Research England has provided support for Universities UK International to deliver the UK-Ukraine University Twinning Initiative, through a £5 million investment. The project is intended to help UK and Ukrainian universities share resources and assistance in a collective gesture of solidarity and reciprocity to benefit Ukrainian institutions, staff and students.
Read more about how the UK higher education sector responded to the invasion of Ukraine.
Embedding international collaboration into UKRI’s strategic themes
UKRI’s strategy has identified five strategic themes to encourage cross-disciplinary working to tackle large-scale, complex challenges. Given the global scope of these challenges, we need to build strategic international partnerships to address these issues, such as the examples below.
Building a green future
UKRI, with partners in the US, Canada and Australia, has invested £61 million in Global Centers on clean energy and climate change. The Global Centers will conduct innovative research to tackle hard-to-decarbonise sectors across the economy, accelerating transformative socioeconomic and technological innovation and driving the global energy transition.
Tackling infections
UKRI is supporting the participation of UK researchers in transnational consortia as part of the Joint Programming Initiative on Antimicrobial Resistance (JPIAMR) interventions.
These aim to tackle the growing threat of antimicrobial resistance by designing new interventions against fungal infections, and improving and comparing the effectiveness and uptake of existing interventions against bacterial or fungal infections.
World-class organisation: how we catalyse change through partnerships
UKRI is committed to safe and equitable research collaboration. In setting our policy, we seek advice, guidance and critical challenge from stakeholders, especially through the diverse membership of our International Strategic Advisory Group.
Equitable partnerships
Contextual, social and cultural differences need to be taken into account when collaborating with international partners. This is especially important in resource-poor settings, where inherent power imbalances might impact the conduct of research.
UKRI believes that it is essential that our partnerships are equitable and conducted in a responsible manner, and we have set out the key principles to which we expect our researchers and innovators to adhere, alongside guidance and good practice.
Trusted research and innovation
To protect the UK’s intellectual property, sensitive research, people and infrastructure, UKRI has established our trusted research and innovation (TR&I) work programme. This ensures that UKRI complies with the UK National Security and Investment Act (2021), develops and provides guidance for researchers and businesses, and aligns our work with others in the sector for a coordinated approach.
Through Research England, we provide support and funding to enable universities to respond to these issues, for example funding Cranfield University to develop export controls training for the sector.
Influencing global research and innovation policy
UKRI has an active voice in shaping global research and innovation policy, including through membership of global networks such as the Global Research Council (GRC), Science Europe and OECD Global Science Forum.
These enable us to develop, share, and learn best practice on important topics such as equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI), Responsible Research Assessment and learning lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.
We enable UK universities to have a prominent voice in shaping the global research and innovation landscape. Research England provides grant funding to support Universities UK International to maintain and grow critical international research and knowledge exchange partnerships globally.
We also support UK universities to share global best practice, for example via TenU, a collaboration between 10 leading Technology Transfer Offices in the UK, US and Belgium.
Case study: supporting global research on research
Research England is one of many international partners who are providing funding and in-kind support for the Research on Research Institute (RoRI). RoRI was founded in 2019 by a group of researchers, funders and data providers with a mission to accelerate transformative research on research systems, cultures and decision-making.
Research England are taking a lead role on the project titled A Global Observatory on Responsible Research Assessment (AGORRA), and will fund up to £950,000 over five years to support this project and the wider work of RoRI.
Evolving our international offer
Both research and innovation themselves and the international context within which we operate are rapidly changing, so we continually seek to learn and improve our international offer. As an evidence-driven organisation, a central element of this work is monitoring and evaluating our existing mechanisms, projects and programmes.
Examples include ongoing evaluations of the Fund for International Collaboration and Global Challenges Research Fund, as well as evaluations of our investments in the ESRF and European XFEL facilities. Amongst other things, the GCRF evaluation has shown that the fund was an early leader in fostering equitable partnerships. We are embedding learning from this as we further develop our equitable partnerships approach, and deliver new joint funding calls under ISPF.