SPRITE+ Global Partners Programme

Enabling new scholarly collaborations between UK researchers from the SPRITE+ network and researchers from low and middle-income economies.

Background

Much of the current research on digital Trust, Identity, Privacy, and Security (TIPS) takes place in the context of developed western economics. Yet globally, countries with rapidly developing digital economies face significant research challenges in these areas. As digital transformation accelerates, especially in regions across Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, there is a growing gap in understanding how local contexts respond to challenges related to TIPS in digital systems. There is a need for nuanced, context-specific studies that explore how historical, political, and socio-economic factors influence people’s attitudes and behaviours in digital economies.

To address this gap, SPRITE+ is inviting UK based SPRITE+ members to submit proposals for our “TIPS in Global Context: Identifying Untapped Research Opportunities” programme. The objective of the programme is to enable new scholarly collaborations between UK researchers from the SPRITE+ network and researchers from low and middle-income economies.

Programme objectives and outcomes

The objective of the programme is to enable researchers in low and middle-income economies and UK researchers from SPRITE+ to kickstart new research collaborations via sponsored visits for the purposes of identification of untapped research opportunities in digital TIPS.

We are inviting UK-based SPRITE+ Members to submit proposals for short, pilot projects and exploratory work that will build relationships and generate new research ideas. Our scope is broad, but proposals must focus on context-specific ways in which digital TIPS challenges are managed, and harm is mitigated. For instance:

• Historical, political, socio-economic, and cultural influences on perceptions, attitudes, and behaviour relevant to TIPS;

• Issues of data sovereignty, particularly for indigenous or marginalised communities;

• Approaches to cybersecurity challenges, such as access management, that might suggest novel approaches for the UK;

• How small and microbusinesses establish trust in and secure digital services;

• Approaches to mitigate online harassment and harm, financial cybercrime or similar online crimes;

• Approaches to harnessing advances in AI to mitigate TIPS challenges;

• TIPS issues that arise when advances in AI are integrated in work or leisure contexts, and what strategies are used by individuals / organisations to manage these;

• A regionally or culturally specific TIPS challenge that is managed in a creative way.

Funded grants are expected to lead to the below outcomes:

• In person meetings between partners (i.e., SPRITE+ Member[s] and overseas partner[s]) to advance the collaboration.

• Production of a white paper/ report outlining specific research opportunities identified by the partners that address the “TIPS in Global Contexts” theme of the program.

• Submission of an article to an appropriate media outlet (e.g. The Conversation or equivalent) in each partner country that highlights the main findings/insights from the collaboration, the partners and SPRITE+,

• And/or a research plan for submitting a grant proposal.

Outputs will be published on the SPRITE+ website alongside a short report outlining the promising areas of research you identified during your collaboration for the benefit of the community. Successful applicants will also be required to produce an end of grant report. SPRITE+ will provide letters of support for promising projects applying for further funding.

Funding purposes 

Applicants can request up to £20,000 (100% fEC, of which SPRITE+ will fund 80% [i.e., £16,000). Funding is primarily aimed at costs associated with outbound travel of UK-based academics to partnering institutions. Part of the funding may be used to secure buy-out time for the duration of the visits.

Additional funding from SPRITE+’s International Visitors Fund will be made available for the overseas partner to visit the UK and participate / run workshops associated with the research. These costs should not be included in the total amount applied for, but should be included in the application so that SPRITE+ is aware of additional travel resources you may require to enable the overseas partner to visit the UK.

Further 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.

Eligibility

The funding is available to SPRITE+ academics in UK-based organisations eligible to receive UKRI funding. Please see here for eligibility.

Funding will be available to proposals for collaborations with, and visits to, researchers based in countries currently classified by the World Bank as low- and middle-income economies, sometimes referred to collectively as the Global South. For more information on eligible countries please see here: World Bank Country and Lending Groups – World Bank Data Help Desk. 

Application Process and Selection

Watch the recording of our Global Partners Programme Webinar below, which provides a brief introduction to SPRITE+, as well as covering topics such as: selection criteria, applicant eligibility, UKRI funding, travel policy and export controls.

FAQs:

What are the expected outcomes of the project?

The minimum requirement is a final report summarising activities and outlining next steps. This funding supports exploratory visits rather than major research projects, so a publication is not expected.

 Is the funding primarily for travel and accommodation?

Yes, but it can also cover staff time buyouts, researcher employment and event or workshop costs (e.g. venue hire). For specific cost eligibility, please contact us at spriteplus@manchester.ac.uk. We will also go through how your funding is costed if your proposal is shortlisted.

How do UK academics identify overseas partners? Will there be assistance from your side? 

We would encourage you to reach out to contacts in UK universities, or vice versa. Please take a look at our list of Expert Fellows and see if there is anyone who fits your areas of research. Please also see our list of interested overseas partners below.

We would like to clarify for those who filled out our form, we will name your university and your listed topics of interest on our website. If our members contact us to say that they are interested in your research area and/or institution, we will provide your contact details to them with your explicit permission to facilitate introductions.  

Who submits the application, the UK university or the foreign institution?

The UK academic home institution will need to submit the application.

Is there a list of eligible UK universities?

Any UK higher education institution eligible for UKRI funding qualifies; a list is available on the UKRI and SPRITE+ websites. You can email us if unsure about a specific institution at spriteplus@manchester.ac.uk

What is the expected project duration?

As long as the project is completed, with all outputs submitted by June 2027, the duration of the project depends entirely on the applicant’s budget (travel, accommodation, subsistence, buy-out time, and activities) and justification. 

Are there limits on the length of overseas visits?

It's entirely dependent on the applicant's budget and the activities that they intend to carry out. It's difficult to give strict guidelines because costs can vary. For example, accommodation, subsistence, travel and then the volume of activities that will be conducted. Therefore, if the overseas visit is fully costed in the application and all work is finalised by June 2027, we are open-minded about the length of the visit.

For any further questions, please contact us at spriteplus@manchester.ac.uk.

Interested overseas partners:

University/organisation	Department	Areas of interest
Africa Cyber Defense Forum	Centre for Security	Cybersecurity and AI Quantum Computing Threat Intelligence IOT Security
University of Cape Town	Cybersecurity Capacity Centre for Southern Africa	Cybersecurity Cybersecurity policy Digital identity Digital transformation
University of Campinas, Brazil	Institute of Computing	Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning for Trust, Identity, Privacy and Security. Digital Forensics Deepfake detection Forgery detection Fake news detection and fact-checking Fake news debunking
University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (Morocco)	College of Computing	Machine Learning Signal Processing Cybersecurity Wireless communication
University of Brasília	International Affairs Office	Software Engineering Requirements engineering Database Cloud computing Software systems Usability Empirical methods
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology	Computer Science and Engineering	Backdoor attack Model inference attach Poisoning attack Byzantine attack on Federated Learning networks Security of Cyber physical systems
Universitas Indonesia	Department of Accounting	Digital transformation IT capabilities Cybersecurity in Association with Sustainability Accounting Financial and Management Accounting Corporate Governance Public Governance Corporate/Public Finance Accounting Disclosures
Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia	Center for Cyber Security, Faculty of Information Science and Technology	Cyber security Security and reliability Privacy Maturity model Forensic
University of Indonesia	Graduate School of Sustainable Development	Online Safety, Digital Literacy, and Child Privacy in Gamified Learning Platforms Fintech Adoption, Digital Trust, and Financial Inclusion for Women-Led Microbusinesses Perceived Fairness, Transparency, and Accountability in Digital Public Service Platforms
North South University (Bangladesh)	Electrical and Computer Engineering	Usable Security Network Security Establish Trust by Preserving Secure Identity Secure Information Sharing Trust Verification Trust in Zero-Knowledge Proofs
Escuela Superior Politecnica del Litoral (Ecuador)	Social and humanistic sciences faculty FCSH	The Economics of Trust Behavioral Economics in Public Administration Privacy-Preserving Technologies and Administrative Efficiency Trust in Algorithmic Decision-Making for Resource Allocation Security, Identity, and Financial Inclusion

Please contact us at spriteplus@manchester.ac.uk if you would like to be put in contact with any of the above organisations

Submit your Expression of Interest

We are currently accepting expressions of interest until 31st January 2026. Download the Expression of Interest form below:

SPRITE+_Global Partners EOI_Form.docx

Download DOCX • 73KB

Selection process:

A. Expression of interest.

Applicants from UK SPRITE+ members and overseas partners should discuss common interest/areas of joint activity. A joint EOI is submitted by the UK SPRITE+ member (the recipient of the funds) outlining:

• the nature of collaboration

• topic of common interests

• expected outcomes

• proposed timeline

• indicative budget

• CVs of applicants (no more than 2 pages per CV)

B. Shortlisting.

An expert panel will shortlist expressions of interest based upon fit to call, feasible timeline and justified resources. All applicants will receive feedback on their proposal.

C. Informal interview.

Shortlisted applicants will be invited to meet with members of the panel to discuss the intended project and scope of the activities. This may lead to suggestions about development of the idea.

D. Decision on the proposal.

If an applicant is successful at interview, an informal statement of intent to fund including any conditions of the funding and an outline of expectations (on both sides) will be issued. This will be an in-principle decision, and confirmation of funding will be dependent on a satisfactory full proposal and full breakdown of costs.

E. Final proposal and project start.

Those progressing from stage (D) will be required to submit an updated proposal and full breakdown of costs before funding is confirmed.

Selection criteria

Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

• Has high potential for identifying important new research avenues for research on TIPS in global contexts.

• Provides an opportunity to establish a new working relationship.

• Quality of realistic expected outputs (e.g., possible development of joint grant proposals, joint publications, further events etc).

• Potential for supporting SPRITE+ key objectives.

  
  

Outputs

Outputs will be published on SPRITE+ website alongside a short report outlining the promising areas of research they identified during their collaboration for the benefit of the community. Successful applicants will also be required to produce an end of grant report. SPRITE+ will provide letters of support for promising projects applying for further funding.