Themes

In 2024, the Ireland–Scotland Bilateral Network Grants invites applications which address the theme of ‘Business and Economic Relationships’.
The Ireland-Scotland joint Bilateral Review notes the scope for shared learning and activity to increase our economic cooperation in a number of areas, including renewable energy and with this in mind we especially welcome applications that adopt an environmental focus when addressing the theme.

• To strengthen co-operation and learning between Scotland and Ireland through bilateral funding for joint projects;
• To foster partnerships/networks within and beyond academia;
• To encourage the initiation of new partnerships and/or the development of existing partnerships;
• To contribute to policy discussion in Ireland and Scotland in the specified thematic area.

In 2024, the Ireland–Scotland Bilateral Network Grants invites applications which address the theme of ‘Business and Economic Relationships’.
The Ireland-Scotland joint Bilateral Review notes the scope for shared learning and activity to increase our economic cooperation in a number of areas, including renewable energy and with this in mind we especially welcome applications that adopt an environmental focus when addressing the theme.

The grant is open to academic researchers working in higher education institutions (HEI) or research institutes (RI) in Scotland or Ireland. In each application the lead applicant must be a full or part-time academic in any of the listed disciplines, and a tenured and/or salaried staff member of an HEI or RI in Scotland or Ireland (not including Northern Ireland).
Lead applicants must be on open-ended, continuing or fixed term contracts which extend beyond the end-date of the envisaged grant period. The grant cannot be used to extend an applicant’s contract.

Each application must include a partner in the other country, i.e. those with a lead applicant in Ireland must have a co-investigator in Scotland and vice versa.
Lead applicants and co-investigators may come from any discipline across the Sciences, Humanities, and Social Sciences. In addition to the two main partners industry participation is welcomed as part of the project consortia.
Each application may have a number of partners/coinvestigators, across both countries if appropriate to the project.

‘Business and Economic relationships’

The project can build on existing international collaboration between the two countries or may demonstrate plans for the development of new collaborative networks.
Projects are welcome from all disciplines across the Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences.

Applications that push disciplinary boundaries by bringing various disciplines together are particularly welcome, especially where wider inclusion and diversity elements are evident.
While awards will be open to all career stages and all HEIs in Ireland and Scotland, we encourage applications that are either led by early career researchers (ECRs) or include ECRs as active participants within the proposed project.

Eligible costs: The maximum sum available for any one grant is £12,500 per project (GBP Sterling) for a period of 3–6 months.

Eligible costs (evidenced by receipts/invoices showing evidence of payments):
• Research time: appropriate and recognised salary costs at a daily or hourly rate, excluding on-costs
• Administrative assistance: on a daily or hourly basis, at appropriate and recognised salary costs at an hourly rate, excluding on-costs.
• Research consumables: examples include licenses for archival material or for software that are required for research to be carried out; printed brochures for dissemination events; tea, coffee, lunch for meetings etc.; postage, stationery and photocopying.
• Library fees, illustration permissions, copyright fees, photographic services.
• Assistance with publication costs (in the form of guarantee against loss or for illustrative material).
• Translation services and transcription of interviews.
• Research-related travel: reasonable expenses, using standard class fares (excluding first and business class travel), accommodation, subsistence, visa.
• Costs associated with disseminating results arising from the project – through publication or presentation at specialist conferences. Dissemination costs are normally up to a maximum of 10% of the requested budget.

Ineligible costs:

  • Salary on-costs, that is, Health/National Insurance, Pension contributions
  • Equipment costs and any costs associated with any other permanent resources
  • Event costs, that is, the costs of putting on the event; costs for attendance at events are eligible.