A number of small funding calls are overseen by the University and managed by the Global Engagement Office.

These help start or strengthen international links, such as support for workshops, short visits, or early stage collaboration with key partners. The schemes vary from year to year and are often focused on a particular region or institutional partner. Get in touch if you are interested in applying and speak with your department or School to make sure any proposals are aligned with their priorities or requirements.

Open calls

Ongoing programmes and partnerships

Previous calls

List of all calls, programmes and partnerships

Entente Cordiale Day Challenge – "The Davos of Students"

Team registration deadline: November 2025

Launched under the High Patronage of the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, and with the support of His Majesty King Charles III, the Entente Cordiale Day Challenge is a prestigious Franco-British academic initiative that brings together students from leading UK and French institutions to develop innovative solutions to global challenges. Each year, over 500 students and 120 teams compete for the Entente Cordiale Prizes, awarded during the annual Summit. The competition is open to all nationalities, disciplines, and levels of study.

The 2025-2026 edition, centred on the theme Conflicts, Technologies, and World Security, invites groups of three students to submit a 5,000-word policy report offering original, solution-oriented perspectives on this topic. The top ten teams from each country will be invited to present their work before an International Grand Jury at the 2026 Entente Cordiale Day Summit, which will be held on April 7-8, 2026, in Paris, with travel and accommodation fully sponsored. In the 2024-2025 edition, held earlier this year, the winning British teams were received at Buckingham Palace, where they presented their findings to the Private Secretary of King Charles III – a testament to the prestige and growing diplomatic impact of the Challenge.

For detailed information about the Challenge, eligibility, guidelines, and submission process, please visit the Entente Cordiale Day website or join the WhatsApp group.

IARU Global Internship Program

The Global Internship Program (GIP) provides international work experience and research opportunities to IARU students, which are valuable for broadening academic horizons and building community and cross-cultural understanding.

Each internship is valued at $3000, and there is a budget for 7 internships. Since Cambridge University is a part of the IARU network, academics at the University can offer internships to IARU members. If you would like to participate in this scheme, please contact the Global Engagement Office.

University of Cambridge - UTokyo Partnership

The University of Cambridge and the University of Tokyo enjoy a long-standing and continuing partnership with cross-disciplinary links and collaborations. Annual joint symposia have been held to encourage and facilitate the identification and development of high-quality collaboration opportunities.

More information on the partnership and previous events can be found at the Cambridge - Tokyo partnership homepage.

UZH Global Funding Scheme 2025

This call is currently closed (Last call deadline: Aug 2025)

The University of Zurich (UZH) invites applications for its UZH Global Funding Scheme (GFS), supporting initiatives that strengthen UZH's global network in alignment with the UZH Global Strategy 2030. The scheme is open to UZH's Network and other Priority Partners that includes the University of Cambridge. The GFS offers grants through three funding lines: 1) Global Outreach Fund (up to CHF 5,000); 2) Global Seed Fund (up to CHF 5,000); and Global Champion Fund (between CHF 20,000 to 60,000). These grants support collaborative projects aimed at enhancing UZH's global partnerships and international impact.

For detailed information about all three funding lines, eligibility, guidelines, and submission process, visit the UZH Global Affairs website.

Université libre de Bruxelles - University of Cambridge: Wiener-Anspach Grants for Research Projects

This call is currently closed (Last call deadline: June 2025)

The Fondation Wiener-Anspach supports collaborative research projects in all fields between the University of Cambridge and the Université libre de Bruxelles.

The grant – a maximum € 30,000 for two years – is awarded to cover operating costs.

For more information go to fwa.ulb.be or email fwa@ulb.be

The foundation also offers doctoral grants for Cambridge PhD students and postdoctoral grants for Cambridge researchers.

Call for proposals and application form

PSL Global Seed Fund

This call is currently closed (Last call deadline: June 2025)

In 2023, Université PSL created a funding instrument dedicated to the initiation of international projects: the PSL Global Seed Fund. Twice a year, in spring and autumn, PSL faculty and researchers can submit applications for funding to initiate new collaborations or to prepare, with an already identified partner, the response to a more structuring call for tenders. The spring 2025 campaign will finance projects between 1 October 2025 and 30 September 2026.

PSL communicates the Global Seed Fund call to its privileged partners and shares the projects that concern them in order to maximize funding opportunities. This is notably the case with the RICE University, the University of Chicago and the University of Montreal, where this mechanism is part of the contractual provisions of bilateral framework agreements. In addition, other mechanisms have been set up with long-standing partners such as Cambridge University, University College London, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin New-York University, University of Austin, Australian National University, NTU Singapore, NUS - National University of Singapore to enable projects involving them to benefit from co-financing under ad-hoc arrangements.

More information regarding funding, type of eligible activities and evaluation criteria is available on the PSL website.

Cambridge-LMU Strategic Partnership: Call for Proposals in Research and Teaching

This call is currently closed (Last call deadline: October 2024)

The University of Cambridge and the LMU Munich are delighted to announce the first call of the second funding period 2025-2029. The overall aim of the partnership is to explore and support an array of activities that will continue to cement a meaningful and productive partnership between two of Europe’s leading universities. The partnership, and this call, covers all disciplines.

All permanent members of staff are eligible. Funding can cover costs of Cambridge and LMU employees and students only - collaborators from other institutions besides the University of Cambridge and LMU Munich are not eligible for any financial support from either partner institution.

Applications can be either submitted by LMU applicants via the LMU online submission form or by Cambridge applicants via the online submission form for Cambridge applicants. Please note that only one application either from the LMU or from the Cambridge PI is necessary.

Further enquiries about can be made to Ingrid Hobbis (University of Cambridge) or Juliane Gierach (LMU). Information can also be found on the Cambridge LMU Strategic Partnership webpage.

Tsinghua University - University of Cambridge Joint Research Initiative

This call is currently closed (Last call deadline: November 2024)

In 2019 Tsinghua University and the University of Cambridge established the Tsinghua-Cambridge Joint Research Initiative Fund, a five-year initiative to strengthen research collaborations between academics at the two institutions.

The initiative reflects the commitment of both universities to work together on addressing global challenges, such as climate change, food security or infectious diseases. Six calls have been issued to date.

The 2024 call was broadly focused on tackling global challenges. Projects addressed any aspect of global challenges. Examples of potential key themes included: food security; climate change, energy transition, biodiversity, clean water, healthcare in developing countries, ageing societies, infectious diseases, sustainable and inclusive growth, national/international conflict resolution, and so on.

Each research proposal must be jointly prepared by PIs from both institutions. Project costs should not exceed £12.5k for the Cambridge partners and RMB125k for the Tsinghua partners for a project duration of not more than 12 months.

CamPo Partnership: University of Cambridge and Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po)

This call is currently closed (Last call deadline: November 2025)

The CamPo scheme is a partnership between the Universities of Cambridge and Sciences Po, a flagship initiative for strengthening international collaboration in the humanities and the social sciences, and for development of lasting partnership and collaboration between the two Universities with the aim to become a leading research hub for the social sciences.

CamPo offers funding for:

  1. collaborative research projects
  2. faculty exchange visits
  3. PhD exchange visits

The schemes are not mutually exclusive. If your collaborative research project proposal includes a faculty exchange, you will need to apply for each separately.

Find out how to apply for the CamPo programme