Introduction

The Driving Urban Transition (DUT) partnership 2024 funding opportunity is open for applications. This opportunity aims to address key urban challenges facing cities in the transition to a more sustainable economy.

Projects must include a UK applicant based at a UK research organization eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding and collaborate with at least two eligible international partners from countries involved in this funding opportunity.

UK funding is only available for topics under the ‘15-minute city’ (15mC) thematic area. This funding opportunity has been co-created with the DUT partnership, which is co-funded with Horizon Europe. Funding is available for three years.

Scope of Work

The DUT partnership focuses on three critical urban sectors (and their interrelationships) which are laid out in its roadmap as Transition Pathways.

The Transition Pathways are used as the framework for this funding opportunity. There are several topics defined under each pathway. Since urban transition issues are intrinsically interconnected, proposals that address topics from more than one Transition Pathway are encouraged.

However, each proposal needs to choose one topic in a Transition Pathway that is closest to their subject as a guide. The proposal will be evaluated against the scope of its main Transition Pathway. Crosscutting characteristics will be considered in the assessment.

UK funding will only be available for UK applicants involved in proposals within the ‘15mC’ Transition Pathway topic areas.

Eligibility

The UK element of the transnational project must include an applicant who is based at a UK research organization eligible for UKRI funding.

UK applicants can be based at any organization eligible for ESRC funding throughout the grant. UK applicants can be at any academic career stage, but the project team must have a level of skills, knowledge, and experience that is appropriate to the proposed project.

UK components may be submitted jointly by more than one UK applicant. In such cases, one person must be regarded as the UK National Contact Point (UK project lead) and take the lead responsibility for the conduct of the UK project component and the observance of ESRC and UKRI’s terms and conditions. Business, third sector, or government body co-applicants based in the UK can also be included in proposals as project co-leads.

Budget and Duration

We aim to support five to seven projects. Up to £2.1 million is available from UKRI for UK applicants within this funding opportunity. The full economic cost of the UK part of the project can be up to £400,000. ESRC, AHRC, and EPSRC will typically fund 80% of the full economic cost.

Please note this budget is to support the UK applicants involved in a project only. Project partners from other countries involved in your project will receive funding from their respective national funding organizations to cover their costs. Funding is available for three years.

Additional Information

The UK research part of the project must be social science-led (at least 50% within ESRC’s remit). However, we strongly encourage the inclusion of arts and humanities, and engineering and physical science researchers in projects.

UK components must be predominantly research-based, meaning the UK applicants should be conducting research that meets the wider project objectives which could take a research or innovation approach.

Key Dates

• Opening date: 2 September 2024 9:00 am UK time

• Closing date (pre-proposal): 14 November 2024 12:00 pm UK time

• Closing date (full proposal): 24 April 2025 12:00 pm UK time

Application Process

You can find the full information on the submission process on the DUT website. We recommend you start your application early and that you check any eligibility queries with the UK contact points. Your host organization will also be able to provide advice and guidance. UK applicants do not need to submit to the UKRI funding system at the pre-proposal or full proposal stage. The UK component of successful proposals will be invited to submit to UKRI’s Funding Service so that ESRC can administer the UK research costs on behalf of AHRC, EPSRC, and ESRC.

Selection Process

For this funding opportunity, a two-stage procedure will be adopted. In the first stage, consortia are invited to submit pre-proposals. A pre-proposal includes a description of the partners, a concise project description of no more than 13 pages, and budget indications with limited details fulfilling national or regional requirements. The pre-proposals declared to be eligible according to the transnational and national or regional criteria will be assessed by an expert panel. The panel will consist of recognized international experts in relevant fields, academics as well as practitioners and innovators, who can assess the scientific as well as the innovative and practical value of the pre-proposals.

Contact Information

• General enquiries: dutpartnership@esrc.ukri.org

• Research or innovation queries within the remit of a single UK funder: heuh@ahrc.ukri.org, ajinkya.rao@epsrc.ukri.org, dutpartnership@esrc.ukri.org

• General call inquiries for DUT: call@dutpartnership.eu

Reporting Requirements

The UK component of successful proposals will be invited to submit to UKRI’s Funding Service so that ESRC can administer the UK research costs on behalf of AHRC, EPSRC, ESRC. Further cost checking will be conducted, as per the standard ESRC process, and to confirm that the costs are in line with the original costings.

For More funding Opportunities, Visit Global Funding Opportunities.