Ireland-Scotland Bilateral Network Grants

The Royal Irish Academy (RIA) and the Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE), with the support of the Scottish Government Office in Ireland and the Department of Foreign Affairs, are pleased to invite applications for the Ireland-Scotland Bilateral Network Grants.

The ambition of the Ireland-Scotland Bilateral Network Grants is to strengthen cooperation and learning between excellent researchers, academics and practitioners in Scotland and Ireland within the five thematic areas identified within the 2021 Irish-Scottish Bilateral Review.

To strengthen cooperation 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 2023, the Ireland–Scotland Bilateral Network Grants invites applications which address the theme of ‘Rural, Coastal, and/or Island Communities’. The shared significance of Rural, Coastal and/or Island Communities is highlighted within the 2021 Irish-Scottish Bilateral Review, noting that this strand presents some of the most exciting opportunities for future collaboration. With that in mind, applications from organisations wishing to collaborate on projects focused on this theme and from relevant subjects areas across the Humanities and Social Sciences are welcome, with applications from areas such as History, Archaeology Literature and Gàidhlig/Gaeilge and postcolonialism particularly invited.

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.
In each application, the lead applicant must be a full or part-time academic in any discipline and a tenured and/or salaried staff of a higher education institution (HEI) or research institute (RI) in Scotland or 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.
Application partners may come from any discipline across the Humanities, Social Sciences or Sciences.
Each application may have a number of partners/co-investigators across both countries if appropriate to the project.

‘Rural, Coastal, and/or Island Communities’

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 areas within the Humanities and Social Sciences, with those from History, Archaeology Literature and Gàidhlig/Gaeilge and postcolonialism particularly invited.

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 particularly encourage applications that are either led by early career researchers (ECRs) or include ECRs as active participants within the proposed project.

Applications are welcomed from noon 7 September 2023 – noon 26 October 2023.

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Ireland-Scotland Bilateral Network Grants terms and conditions

RSE referee form

What makes a good RSE application?

For more information regarding the award, please contact the Research Awards team at [email protected]