Global Challenges Research Fund

Updated 30th November 2020

The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) was first announced in the UK Aid Strategy in November 2015. A few days later the Chancellor confirmed the funding in the Autumn Statement and also announced that this funding would be part of the UK’s Science Budget.  GCRF is a £1.5 billion fund announced by the UK Government to support cutting-edge research that addresses the challenges faced by developing countries, (5 calendar years and 4 financial years 16/17 to 19/20 inclusive) or £375M per financial year. By 2020 the GCRF will be equivalent in size to the ESRC.

All research funded by the GCRF will be used to help address the problems faced by developing countrie and will be counted as part of the UKs pledge to spend 0.7 per cent of gross national income on Official Development Assistance (ODA). The working definition for ODA’able research is:

“research directly and primarily relevant to the problems of developing countries may be counted as ODA. This includes research into tropical diseases and developing crops designed for developing country conditions. The costs may still be counted as ODA if the research is carried out in a developed country.”

Read more on the University's GCRF pages. These pages include background documents and slides.

Current research interests in the Law Faculty that might fit the GCRF remit might include: forced migration, border criminologies, armed conflict, public international law, transitional justice, human rights, international criminal law, environmental law, media law, criminology and policing.