The Academy of Medical Sciences is backing international research collaboration with funding for 64 partnerships that will connect UK researchers with scientists across more than 30 countries.
The Academy’s Networking Grants and Network Strengthening Grants are designed to accelerate research networks across borders at a time when international cooperation is increasingly recognised as essential for tackling shared global challenges.
The newly funded collaborations will help address urgent health priorities – from antimicrobial resistance in India to expanding vaccine production capacity in Africa – critical areas where international cooperation remains vital to accelerate progress.
The programme includes 54 Networking Grants providing up to £25,000 over one year for seed funding to forge new international connections, plus 10 Networking Strengthening Grants to expand existing promising collaborations. Each partnership must be co-led by a UK researcher alongside a counterpart in either a developed nation or a country eligible for Official Development Assistance.
Delivered in partnership with the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society, and supported by the UK Government’s International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF), these grants are designed to spark bold, cross-border collaborations that take on some of today’s most pressing scientific and societal challenges.
The funded projects span disciplines from public health and clinical medicine to engineering, agricultural sciences and humanities. Together, they connect UK-based scientists with peers in universities, public health institutes and innovation hubs worldwide.
Professor Rajesh Kalaria FMedSci, Chair of the Networking Grants scheme, said:
“The Networking Grants scheme makes a profound difference to researchers across the globe. In my experience, recipients consistently go above and beyond, producing impressive outcomes that lead to real, tangible impact. These modest grants not only deliver meaningful results, but also act as a powerful springboard for larger, more ambitious research.”
Professor Athimalaipet Ramanan FMedSci, Chair of the Network Strengthening Grants, said:
“These grants play a critical role in connecting researchers across borders. Collectively, we can break down barriers to collaboration, leading to global partnerships that are essential in tackling complex health issues. This programme enables diverse teams to come together, share expertise, and ultimately drive forward research that can have a real and lasting impact on lives around the world.”
One of the newly funded projects will see Dr Sabina Wakasiaka, Senior Lecturer from the University of Nairobi collaborating with Dr Amie Wilson, Senior Lecturer in Midwifery and Global Health at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. Together, they will explore the development of a collaborative adolescent maternity care network in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Dr Wakasiaka and Dr Wilson said:
"It is an honour to have the importance of this work recognised. Adolescents are a known vulnerable group with poorer birth outcomes, both for themselves and their babies. This network will enable us to exchange expertise, share innovations and develop a rigorous scientific research programme focused on improving adolescent maternal and newborn outcomes, through a sustainable interdisciplinary collaboration, knowledge transfer and capacity strengthening.”
Another collaboration pairs Professor Kathryn Chu, Director and Professor of Global Surgery at Stellenbosch University with Professor Justine Davies, Professor of Global Health Research at the University of Birmingham. Their network will focus on developing community strategies to strengthen access to surgical care in rural Africa.
Professor Chu and Professor Davies said:
"One of the biggest challenges in rural Africa is identifying surgical conditions early and ensuring people who need operations can reach the right facility for care. Our study will bring together community leaders, traditional healers, and community health workers to explore, from the community’s perspective, how we can improve access to surgical care. These trusted local voices understand the cultural environment and may reveal barriers and solutions that surgeons alone cannot uncover."
The Academy positions these partnerships as enabling international teams to respond more effectively to complex challenges that no single country can solve alone, while reinforcing the UK’s position at the heart of global research efforts – ensuring its researchers are active participants in shaping science for a healthier future.
Professor Tom Solomon CBE FMedSci, Vice President (International), Academy of Medical Sciences, said:
“International collaboration isn’t just beneficial for science – it’s absolutely essential. The health challenges we face today, from antimicrobial resistance to pandemic preparedness, don’t recognise national borders, and neither can our response to them. The partnerships funded by the Academy’s networking grants represent our commitment to ensuring that UK researchers remain not just connected to global networks but actively shaping them.
"By investing in these relationships now, we’re building the research infrastructure that will be vital for addressing tomorrow’s health crises. The UK has always been strongest when it leads through collaboration, and these grants help ensure UK researchers remain influential and connected on the international stage.”
Full list of Networking Grants awardees:
- Professor Mostafa Mabrouk (National Research Centre) and Dr Diganta Das (Loughborough University)
- Professor Amaro Pereira (Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro) and Dr Muhammad Shafique (Brunel University of London)
- Dr Niladri Chakraborty (University of the Free State) and Dr Tahir Mahmood (University of the West of Scotland)
- Professor Lisa Micklesfield (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) and Dr Andrew Atkin (University of East Anglia)
- Dr Sabina Wakasiaka (University of Nairobi) and Dr Amie Wilson (Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine)
- Professor Claudine Storbeck (University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg) and Professor Alys Young (University of Manchester)
- Professor Sina Ercan (Yeditepe University) and Professor George Ghinea (Brunel University of London)
- Dr Prama Putra (Bandung Institute of Technology) and Dr Robin Thompson (University of Oxford
- Professor Poppy Winanti (Universitas Gadjah Mada) and Dr Alexandra Hennessy (University of Essex)
- Dr Alicia Matijasevich (Universidade de Sao Paulo) and Dr Faith Martin (University of Bath)
- Dr Yusuf Ahmed Ali (University of Burao) and Dr Opeolu Ojo (University of Wolverhampton)
- Dr Ririn Wulandari (Aisyah University) and Dr Debbie Smith (University of Manchester)
- Dr Hoo Keat Wong (University of Nottingham Malaysia) and Dr Alessio Bellato (University of Southampton)
- Dr Jariya Buniam (Chulabhorn Royal Academy) and Dr Francoise Koumanov (University of Bath)
- Professor Sian Hemmings (Stellenbosch University) and Professor Lindsay Hall (University of Birmingham)
- Dr Muhammad Ihfaz Ismail (Universiti Sains Malaysia) and Mr William Bolton (University of Leeds)
- Dr Innocent Mboya (Africa Academy for Public Health) and Professor Bernard Rachet (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine)
- Dr Mai Zafer (Ahram Canadian University) and Dr Bruno Silvester Lopes (Teesside University)
- Dr Tawanda Zininga (Stellenbosch University) and Dr Yvonne Nyathi (University of Leeds)
- Professor Che Khairil Izam Che Ibrahim (Universiti Teknologi MARA) and Dr Akilu Yunusa-Kaltungo (University of Manchester)
- Dr Ivet Suriapranata (Universitas Pelita Harapan) and Dr Odile Harrison (University of Oxford)
- Dr Dwinanti Rika Marthanty (University of Indonesia) and Dr Marianna Ercolino (Brunel University of London)
- Professor Poramate Manoonpong (Vidyasirimedhi Institute of Science and Technology) and Dr Richard Suphapol Diteesawat (University of Bristol)
- Dr Sewanou Hermann Honfo (University of Kinshasa) and Dr Simon Babayan (University of Glasgow)
- Professor Haydee Fiszbein Wertzner (Universidade de Sao Paulo) and Professor Yvonne Wren (Cardiff Metropolitan University)
- Professor Quynh Phuong Pham (Vietnam National University, Hanoi) and Professor Graeme Were (SOAS)
- Professor Tanjil Sowgat (Khulna University) and Dr Justine Howard (Swansea University)
- Dr Vina PS Tan (Universiti Sains Malaysia) and Professor Judith Sixsmith (University of Dundee)
- Professor Esayas Alemayehu (Jimma University) and Dr Abiy S Kebede (Brunel University of London)
- Dr Genesis Chorwe-Sungani (Kamuzu University of Health Sciences) and Dr Rebecca Webb (City St George's, University of London)
- Dr Tsepo Tsekoa (Council for Scientific and Industrial Research) and Professor Faith Osier (Imperial College London)
- Professor Padet Siriyasatien (Chulalongkorn University) and Professor Tossapon Boongoen (Aberystwyth University)
- Professor Nedson Pophiwa (University of Johannesburg) and Dr Fiona Campbell (Newcastle University)
- Dr Suraj Bhattarai (Global Health Research and Medical Interventions for Development, Nepal) and Professor Paul Heath (City St George's, University of London)
- Professor Reeta Mani (National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences) and Dr Tehmina Bharucha (Francis Crick Institute)
- Professor Suzette Bremault-Phillips (University of Alberta) and Professor Matt Fossey (Anglia Ruskin University)
- Dr M Reza Hosseini (University of Melbourne) and Dr Ruoyu Jin (Brunel University of London)
- Professor Yen-Yu Lin (National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology) and Dr Rabee Shamass (Brunel University of London)
- Professor Melissa Melby (University of Delaware) and Professor Susan Pickard (University of Liverpool)
- Dr Samantha Bunzli (Griffith University) and Professor Clare Jinks (Keele University)
- Dr Ruchira Sen (O.P. Jindal Global University) and Professor Rachel Murphy (University of Oxford)
- Professor Narender Kumar (Jawaharlal Nehru University) and Dr Ivica Petrikova (Royal Holloway, University of London)
- Professor Jayaseelan Murugaiyan (SRM University, Andhra Pradesh) and Dr Suparna Mitra (University of Leeds)
- Professor Ming Shan Ng (Kyoto Institute of Technology) and Dr Clara Cheung (University of Manchester)
- Dr Andrew Budson (Boston University) and Dr Jonathan Huntley (University of Exeter)
- Dr Feng-Chi Liu (Feng Chia University) and Dr Yurui Fan (Brunel University of London)
- Professor David Chong (University of Melbourne) and Professor Yvonne Wren (University of Bristol)
- Professor Rahee Walambe (Symbiosis International University) and Professor Jenny Yiend (King's College London)
- Professor Ketan Kotecha (Symbiosis International University) and Professor Vasile Palade (Coventry University)
- Dr Niall Duncan (Taipei Medical University) and Dr Nils Muhlert (University of Manchester)
- Professor Alexandra Silva (Cornell University) and Dr Fredrik Dahlqvist (Queen Mary University of London)
- Professor John Little (Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) and Dr Lee Bryant (University of Bath)
- Professor Corinna Grasemann (Catholic Hospital Bochum, Ruhr-University Bochum) and Dr Angela Lucas-Herald (University of Glasgow)
- Professor David Coman (Queensland Children's Hospital) and Professor Robert Dineen (University of Nottingham)
Full list of Network Strengthening Grants awardees:
- Professor Ky Son Chu (Hanoi University of Science and Technology) and Dr Parag Acharya (University of Greenwich)
- Professor Helen Scanlon (University of Cape Town) and Dr Khanyisela Moyo (Ulster University)
- Dr Erik Karlsson (Institut Pasteur du Cambodge) and Dr David Wareham (Queen Mary University London)
- Professor Victorien Dougnon (Université d'Abomey-Calavi) and Dr Timothy Easun (The University of Birmingham)
- Professor Lena Lavinas (Federal University of Rio de Janeiro) and Professor Jasmine Gideon (Birkbeck, University of London)
- Dr Paul Kazyoba (National Institute for Medical Research, Tanzania) and Prof Francisca Mutapi (University of Edinburgh)
- Professor Kathryn Chu (Stellenbosch University ) and Professor Justine Davies (University of Birmingham)
- Dr Amelia Henry (International Rice Research Institute) and Dr Ranjan Swarup (University of Nottingham)
- Professor Mahamadou Koita (Institut International d'Ingénierie de l'Eau et de l'Environnement ) and Dr Ulrich Ofterdinger (Queen's University Belfast)
- Professor Kiari Fougou Hadiza (Université de Diffa) and Dr Margaret Ebubedike (The Open University, UK)