Seed Fund for Research Excellence – Call for Applications

The Cormack Consultancy Group (CCG) invites applications for the Seed Fund for Research Excellence, supporting small-scale, high-impact research projects led by Ukrainian universities in partnership with international institutions.

The Fund aims to strengthen international research collaboration, build institutional capacity for managing joint projects, support early-career researchers, and prepare teams for larger grants such as Horizon Europe.

Amount of funding: Proposals may request up to £30,000, but applicants should carefully consider their capacity to deliver the proposed activities and spend all awarded funds within the timeframe. The total budget available for this call is £540,000.

Who can apply

• Ukrainian higher education institutions and their international partners

• Existing UK–Ukraine Twinning partnerships and other established collaborations (including non-UK partners)

• Partnerships may include additional universities and relevant non-academic partners (e.g. professional bodies, NGOs), where justified.

Key details

• Maximum grant amount: up to £30,000 per project

• Eligible activities: collaborative research, workshops, mobility, training, publication development and similar

• Call opens: 21 November 2025

• Application deadline: 20:00 (GMT), 16 January 2026

• Project end date: no later than 28 February 2027

An online Drop-in Information Session will be held on 2 December 2025 at 14:00 (GMT) / 16:00 (Kyiv time). Registration is required: https://forms.gle/guHZBKbL39aQ6Bs17

How to apply

Applicants should submit:

• Seed Funding Application Form

• Budget Proposal Spreadsheet (Annex A)

• any additional supporting documents (where applicable)

Completed applications must be sent by email to twinning-grants@consultcormack.com with the subject line: “Seed Fund – [institution’s name]” no later than 20:00 (GMT), 16 January 2026.

For Call Guidelines, templates and Selection Criteria, or for any questions about the application process, please contact: twinning-grants@consultcormack.com.

Please use any of the forms below to download the documents of interest.

Call Guidelines