This fund supports international collaborations. It enhances the UK’s ability to build new, and strengthen existing, partnerships with global research and innovation leaders.
There are 20 partner countries involved in our bilateral and multilateral programmes.
The Fund for International Collaboration (FIC) is a £160 million fund supporting international collaborations. It enhances the UK’s ability to build new, and strengthen existing, partnerships with global research and innovation leaders.
We worked with the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) to identify key partner countries for collaboration, including:
There are 20 partner countries involved in our bilateral and multilateral programmes to date.
In February 2022 it was announced that the Fund for International Collaboration, alongside the Global Challenges Research Fund and the Newton Fund, will not continue in their current format, but legal commitments will be met until their natural conclusion.
UKRI has confirmed that it will support projects still running as part of these funds for the remainder of their grant period. See our update statement on GCRF and Newton following the spending review 2021.
To find out more about how we are enhancing the UK’s excellence in research and innovation through global engagement, read our publication on the Fund for International Collaboration.
FIC is currently undergoing a fund-level evaluation in three phases due to conclude in 2024. For more information, read the findings in:
The fund has already supported more than 30 international collaborative programmes of research, innovation and infrastructure across UKRI’s remit. Examples include:
To find out more about how we are enhancing the UK’s excellence in research and innovation through global engagement, read our publication on the Fund for International Collaboration.
The signing of the UK-Switzerland government to government ‘memorandum of understanding’ attracted attention from the media and resulted in a BBC News article, UK-Swiss science deal as both barred from EU scheme.
The outcomes of the UKRI and Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) funding opportunity were announced by UKRI and SNSF (Launch of thirty projects thanks to Switzerland-UK collaboration).
Resulting from AHRC’s ‘Digital Transformation in Humanities Research: UK-Ireland Collaboration in the Digital Humanities’ programme, the Make Film History project has been nominated for the Learning on Screen Awards in the ‘Online Educational Resource’ category.
Films made by Shamica Ruddock and Benjamin Rupprecht and supported through the scheme have also been nominated in the ‘Creative Reuse’ and ‘Postgraduate’ categories.
Email us for more information about the Fund for International Collaboration.
Email: fic@ukri.org
For information about a specific funding opportunity under the Fund for International Collaboration please contact the relevant council directly.
Last updated: 10 June 2025
