Implementation Grants strengthen existing faculty-to-faculty relationships leading to clearly defined outputs. Priority will be given to activities that have the potential to:

• Progress joint research priorities;
• Connect world-leading researchers;
• Enhance our institutional research profiles through collaborative publications;
• Build productive, impactful relationships with leading academic, scientific, cultural and policy communities in the region;
• Evolve into jointly submitted proposals to external funding agencies for sustained support of collaborative research activities.

Initiation Grants encourage wider faculty involvement and expand institutional engagement. Priority will be given to:

• Applicants who can clearly demonstrate that they have established a potential area of collaboration with UoB/UIUC counterparts;
• Activities with the potential to extend beyond individual links to wider (i.e. research group to research group) collaborations;
• Projects with the potential for sustained and enlarged collaborative activity.

Important note: Proposals that have identified funding for sustaining the collaboration beyond BRIDGE Funding for example via the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), NSF, EPSRC or other external funding bodies are particularly encouraged. Proposals in Social Sciences and Humanities are also encouraged.

Teaching and Learning Grants support new educational relationships between the two institutions in order to enhance student learning. Priority will be given to:

• Applicants who can clearly demonstrate that they have established a potential area of collaboration with UoB/UIUC counterparts;
• Projects which will provide distinctive educational opportunities for our students;
• Projects with the potential for sustained and enlarged collaborative activity.

There are no restrictions on the forms of activity undertaken with BRIDGE funding, providing they meet the criteria outlined above. Funding may support planning visits, workshops, and exchanges with the partner institution for the purpose of developing the strategic partnership. Funding may also support meetings in third party locations where there is potential to develop and/or showcase collaboration. Activities may include, but are not limited to:

• Academic projects to extend UoB-UIUC academic networks and research outputs, joint conferences, workshops, symposia, collaborative experiments and co-authored publications;
• Curriculum innovation and development of joint teaching and learning initiatives;
• Partnership development to provide transatlantic mobility and internship opportunities to ensure the distinctiveness of our high-quality student experience;
• Civic and cultural relationship-building to enhance our status as ‘engaged’ universities;
• Trilateral activities that link research projects into wider UoB-UIUC strategic regions–including, for example, countries in Africa, Latin America, China, India, and Europe.
• Professional staff exchanges or visits that will further enhance the academic collaboration between the two institutions.

Applicants are encouraged to:

• Apply for reciprocal visit funding to broaden networks and cement engagement.
• Demonstrate potential for relationships to become sustainable beyond the proposed project and initial seed funding term are strongly encouraged, whether through faculty and department commitment or the likelihood of externally leveraged grants and awards.

• BRIDGE seed funding will be allocated locally, with UoB paying the travel and accommodation costs of UoB staff travelling to UIUC, and the costs of projects occurring at UoB; and UIUC paying the travel and accommodation costs of UIUC staff travelling to UoB, and the costs of projects occurring at UIUC.
• BRIDGE seed funding will be subject to the travel reimbursement and other relevant financial policies of the institution providing the funding to its faculty or units.
• Requests to support for non-standard costs such as research equipment costs or research assistant staffing will need particularly clear justification.
• Typically, the maximum amount of funding available to support Implementation grants will be £10,000 from UoB and $10,000 from UIUC, and for Initiation grants £6,500 from UoB and $6,500 from UIUC.