Newton Fund builds research and innovation partnerships with 18 partner countries to support economic development and social welfare, and to develop research and innovation capacity for long-term sustainable growth.

The Fund is managed by the UK Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and delivered through 15 UK delivery partners, which include the Research Councils, the UK Academies, the British Council, Innovate UK and the Met Office.

 

About Newton Bhabha Fund

The partnership with India is called the Newton-Bhabha Fund, one of the key bilateral initiatives in science, research, and innovation sector in the country. It has been instrumental in bringing together UK and Indian researchers to find joint solutions to global challenges and spiralling research and innovation capacity for long term sustainable growth and social welfare. Research and innovation subjects are chosen and developed by partners and funders from both countries, to ensure mutual benefit from the academic collaborations. 

Priority Areas

We are one of eight delivery partners for Newton Bhabha in India. The key priority areas for the Newton-Bhabha partnership are:

  • Sustainable cities and urbanisation
  • Public health and wellbeing
  • Energy-water-food nexus 
  • Understanding oceans 

with two underpinning capabilities:

  • High value manufacturing, and
  • Big data

Our partners in India

The Newton-Bhabha Fund has supported significant upscaling of capacity building activities. Our partners in India are:

  • Department of Science and Technology (DST)
  • Department of Biotechnology (DBT)
  • Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR)
  • Indian Council for Social Science Research (ICSSR)
  • Science and Engineering Board (SERB)
  • Indian Institute for Science Education and Research, (IISER) Pune
  • Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), India office

Programmes

Newton Bhabha Fund emphasises professional development by supporting mobility of PhD scholars, advanced training of early career researchers, conducting workshops for established researchers, training faculty in STEM education and empowering women scientists through professional development. 

British Council India leads on a number of these capacity building activities to enhance scientific research in India. These include:

  1. Newton Bhabha Researcher Links Workshops (RLW) - This initiative, in partnership with the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), provides opportunities for early career researchers from the UK and India to interact, learn from each other, and build long-lasting working relationships through workshops in areas that directly benefit economic and social prosperity. Click here to know more.

  2. PhD Placement Programme - With the aim to enhance the professional development of early career researchers, the PHD placement programme offers a unique opportunity for scholars to spend 2- 4 months of their research at any UK or Indian university. Click here to read more about the programme.

  3. Women in Science workshops - The transition of women in the field of science has been phenomenal. At the fourth ministerial meeting of UK-India Science and Innovation Council, both India and the UK agreed to explore opportunities to develop future work through the Newton-Bhabha Fund in the area of Diversity in Science, particularly the representation of women in leadership roles. British Council through the Newton-Bhabha Fund in partnership with IISER Pune delivers workshops for women scientists on ‘Opportunities for Widening Participation of Women in Science. Click here to know more.

 

More Info

The Fund covers three broad categories of activity:

  1. People: building skills and capacity through training and people exchanges,
  2. Research: research collaboration on development topics,
  3. Translation: taking innovation from universities to industry.

British Council delivers the People strand of Newton Fund, to support the research environment and enable optimal impact from research, shaped by the demands and development priorities of the partner countries - UK and India.

Please visit the following websites for more information and funding opportunities.

 

Contact: Megha Sharma (Manager Newton Fund) at megha.sharma3@britishcouncil.org
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