CDT Collaboration Fund

Budget to support national or international collaborations that enrich your PhD project.

We have allocated a budget to support collaborations that augment your PhD project, help you build networks and increase the dissemination of your work. The Collaboration Fund (CF) is not a substitute or an extension of your RTSG budget, which focuses mostly on training and conference attendance. The Collaboration Fund has been purposely created to help you build, maintain, and grow scientific collaborations during the PhD, as this is a gap not covered by the remit of the RTSG.

The fund is available to all PhD students funded by the CDT and has a fixed annual budget; when it is exhausted applications will be closed until the start of the following academic year. We welcome applications on an ongoing basis throughout the academic year, with a maximum of £4,000 available for any one project though the expectation is that typical awards would be of £1,000-2,000. Typical costs that would fall under the CF remit are travel and subsistence expenses to visit a collaborator or to bring a collaborator to Edinburgh, access to facilities/resources essential for the collaboration that are not part of the RTSG remit, and others. We are mindful that collaborations take many forms and thus the CF is intended to be flexible and accommodate the needs of diverse projects.

Application & Assessment Process

Application to the CDT-BAI CF is to be made by CDT students with support from their supervisory team by completing the online CF application form. Applications will be assessed by the CDT Director and members of the CDT management group. In case of conflict of interest, substitutions will be made as and when needed. The processed is intended to be light-touch process with a decision within 2 weeks of application receipt except in cases where additional information is requested from the applicant by the panel.

Normally we will not consider multiple applications from a CDT student within the same academic year. Previous awards from the CF to a CDT student will be taken into account when considering awards in subsequent years to maximise the equitable distribution of funds. Previous awards from the Research Fund (RF) or the Outreach Fund (OF) to a CDT student are independent and will not be considered in our decision.

Conditions of Funding

• The CF is specifically to support costs associated with research collaborations.
• Current collaborations between members of your supervisory team are not eligible for the CF.
• Computing and hardware costs, staffing/personnel costs, and conference/workshop attendance are not eligible.
• Suitable costs include, but are not limited to, travel, subsistence and hospitality for collaboration visits, or to host collaborators in Edinburgh.
• Awarded funds must be spent by the deadline indicated on the award letter. Deadline extensions will be possible if there are extenuating circumstances that prevent use of the funds by the deadline on application to the CDT Director.
• Unspent funds will be recovered back to the CF funding pool for future use.
• Funds must be spent in accordance with the UKRI Terms and Conditions and relevant University policies and procedures.

Awarded funds must only be used for the purposes detailed in the application.