Autumn 2026 RSE Research Awards programme opens today

The RSE’s autumn 2026 Research Awards programme opens today, providing funding opportunities for all academic disciplines across all career stages.

Ten different research funding opportunities are on offer, designed to enable Scotland’s academics to realise their potential, stimulate research in Scotland, and promote international collaboration.

The RSE’s Research Awards programme has two calls per year in spring and autumn.

Deadlines:

• The main deadline for this call is 12:00 noon on Wednesday, 21 October 2026
• The RSE-Fulbright Scholar Award has a deadline of 17:00 on Monday, 2 November 2026
• The ‘Healthy Planet, Healthy People’: Catalyst Awards and Change Awards have a deadline of 12:00 noon on Tuesday, 1 December 2026

We are pleased to highlight the following developments for this round:

• International Bilateral Visits are open with the Hungarian Academy of Sciences; National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan; Polish Academy of Sciences; Slovak Academy of Sciences; and the Slovenia Academy of Sciences and Arts
• International Joint Projects are offered through two streams:
  Stream one is for applicants applying with a partner institute of their choice. Through this Stream, the RSE normally expects secured match-funding from the partner institute, though exceptions can be made in accordance with Scottish Government priorities and in support of Scotland-Africa relations. In particular, applications are welcomed from the following six countries: Malawi, Zambia, Rwanda, Kenya, Ghana, and Uganda. Prior permission must be sought in advance. Applications without prior permission will be marked as ineligible.
  Stream two applies to applicants applying with a Sister Academy with which the RSE holds a Memorandum of Understanding. This round includes the Italian National Academy (CNR); German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD); and the National Science and Technology Council, Taiwan (NSTC). Please note that a corresponding application must be submitted to the relevant Sister Academy by the international collaborator for the RSE to make joint award decisions with the Sister Academies. The CNR and NSTC accepts applications from 2 September to 21 October 2026, and the DAAD accepts applications from 15 June to 15 September 2026.
• Ireland-Scotland Bilateral Network Awards, offered jointly by the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) and the RSE, are available to support collaborative research projects between Ireland and Scotland under the theme of Culture, Language and Sport.
• ‘Healthy Planet, Healthy People’: Catalyst Awards supported by the Williamson Trust are open for a fourth round and have a later deadline of noon on Tuesday, 1 December 2026. For previous recipients of Catalyst Awards, the Healthy Planet, Healthy People: Change Award, offering up to £75,000 to expand a Catalyst Awarded project, is open, also with a deadline of noon on Tuesday, 1 December 2026.
• Personal Research Fellowships, a new development for autumn 2026 is a jointly funded Personal Research Fellowship with the Environmental Standards Scotland (ESS). Applications for ESS-RSE Personal Research Fellowships are welcomed under the theme Scotland’s Biodiversity Pathways. Research may be undertaken in any discipline but should contribute to understanding how progress towards Scotland’s biodiversity targets can be assessed, the causal pathways through which policy and governance interventions may influence biodiversity outcomes, and the extent to which such interventions are likely to deliver their intended effects.
• The RSE-Fulbright Scholar Award, in partnership with the US-UK Fulbright Commission, is open, enabling an academic from anywhere in the UK to go to a top university in the US for a maximum of three months to carry out lecturing and/or research. This award has a deadline of 17:00 on 2 November 2026.
• The Scotland-Asia Partnerships Higher Education Research (SAPHIRE) Fund, supported by the Scottish Government, returns for the autumn call. Applications are welcomed from Scotland-based researchers wishing to collaborate with partners in Australia, India, Indonesia, Japan, Pakistan, New Zealand, Singapore, or South Korea on the theme of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Renewable Energy.