SPRITE+ Global Voices
- spriteplus
- 6 days ago
- 3 min read
Updated: 5 days ago
Call for project funding
The Global Voices Initiative aims to amplify, share, and learn from diverse, under-represented perspectives on digital trust, identity, privacy and security (TIPS). Our funding will support the development of working relationships between UK researchers and international scholars working in regions with more limited resources.
Who can apply:
We invite UK-based SPRITE+ Members and Expert Fellows to submit proposals for short, pilot projects to build relationships and learn lessons, and generate pilot data. Our scope is broad, but proposals must focus on the ways in which digital TIPS challenges are managed and harm is mitigated. For instance:
A TIPS problem that is being addressed with an approach that has not been tried in the UK.
A regionally or culturally specific TIPS challenge that is managed in a creative way, from which we might learn lessons for similar UK problems.
Project funding:
We expect to fund a maximum of four (4) proposals, each of which up to twelve (12) months. Project funding will be up to £20,000 (at 100% full Economic Cost (fEC)), of which SPRITE+ will fund 80% fEC (in line with UKRI rules).
Additional funding will be available for both the UK and overseas partners to attend the SPRITE+ end of grant conference in 2027. The current expectation is that this will be in person, and SPRITE+ will cover reasonable travel and subsistence costs.
2025 Key dates:
Deadline for questions: 18th April 2025
Expression of Interest Closing Date: 9th May 2025
Interviews: w/c 27th May 2025
Decision communicated by: 6th June 2025
Final proposals and detailed budget due: 23rd June 2025
Contract Process: June – October 2025
Projects start from: 1st October 2025
For further details, please take a look at our Call Document.
Download our Expression of Interest form here:
FAQs
Q: As part of the eligibility criteria, applicants must obtain approval from their institution before submitting an application. How should I do this?
A: Please provide a letter support from your line manager or department confirming that you will have their support to take on this work if you are successful in your application.
Q: If the proposal does not involve sub-contracting and all funds are allocated to the lead UK institution, is a formal collaboration agreement still mandatory?
Q: "I currently work for a UK HEI 1, having moved there recently from UK HEI 2. At UK HEI 2 I was in collaboration with an overseas (EU) off-shoot of UK HEI 2 and I am planning to submit the proposal for SPRITE+ Global Voices with a colleague from the same overseas off-shoot of UK HEI 2. Could you clarify what sort of existing institutional relationship details are needed?”
There must be an institutional relationship with the partner institution. The reason we ask this is because of the complexities of setting up a subcontract with an overseas partner in a short space of time.
Subcontracting to an overseas partner will involve due diligence processes (e.g. to comply with export control restrictions) which can be complex and there is no time in a pilot study to set these up from scratch. If your current institution already has a relationship with an overseas organisation where there are established processes to subcontract research – regardless of whether the applicant has worked with this overseas organisation before – this will be sufficient to meet this criterion.
If you have any further questions, please send them to spriteplus@manchester.ac.uk.
