Horizons Platform Funding Information

The Horizons Institute Platform Programme is designed to promote challenge-led interdisciplinary research solutions and foster collaboration between the University of Leeds and the University of Witwatersrand (Wits).

There are two types of funds available:

• Horizons Platform Exploratory Funding – flexible funding up to £10,000 per award to support the development of ideas through mobility exchange across the two institutions, the collection of preliminary data or literature reviews, method development or training.
• Horizons Platform Project Funding – up to £250,000 per award to lead a collaborative and ambitious interdisciplinary research project.

General funding restrictions

Please note that the Horizons Institute will only fund directly incurred costs (the costs which arise directly from the conduct of a project and are charged as the actual cash value spent and are supported by an audit record).

The Horizons Institute will not cover overheads such as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator costs, estate costs, or non-specific costs charged across all projects that are based on estimates such as HR, financial services, and library costs.

The Horizons Institute cannot fund premium, business, or first-class travel, personal equipment such as laptops and computers, or costs associated with writing and co-authoring papers or books. 

The Horizons Institute will not fund activities that are already costed as part of an existing grant award or activities that are an extension of an existing grant award. We are looking for novel and bold interdisciplinary research ideas that focus on the broad areas of global inequalities, climate, and sustainability.

Horizons Platform Exploratory Funding

Funds up to £10,000 per award, covering costs including:

• economy-class travel, accommodation, and subsistence
• bench fees for visiting academics
• cost of hiring a venue and catering
• staff time, such as Research Assistants, PhD students, Post-doctoral researchers, and data analysts, where they are being asked to conduct work that they would not be expected to undertake through their institutions under their current contract and where costs are justified
• materials and consumables, such as laboratory materials, associated charges for shipping and delivery, and fieldwork expenses such as data collection, participant engagement and statistical analysis
• the hire of equipment and purchase of relevant software not provided by the University of Leeds or Wits University
• training costs, such as fees to participate in specialist training or to promote a healthy research culture
• costs associated with equitable participation, such as childcare costs to support those with caring responsibilities to engage in a network activity
• other consumables.

Please note that the due to the small nature of the grant, and in line with values of the Horizons Institute, the recruitment of staff (such as post-doctoral researchers) on fixed short-term contracts is not permitted under this fund. 

Horizons Platform Project Funding

Funds up to £250,000 per award, covering costs including:

• economy-class travel, accommodation, and subsistence
• bench fees for visiting academics
• cost of hiring a venue and catering
• staff time, such as Research Assistants, PhD students, Post-doctoral Researchers, and data analysts, where they are being asked to conduct work that they would not be expected to undertake through their institutions under their current contract and where costs are justified
• materials and consumables, such as laboratory materials, associated charges for shipping and delivery, and fieldwork expenses such as data collection, participant engagement and statistical analysis
• the hire of equipment and purchase of relevant software not provided by the University of Leeds or Wits University
• training costs, such as fees to participate in specialist training or to promote a healthy research culture
• individual conference attendance costs (fees, travel, and subsistence) for PhD Students, Research Assistants and Post-doctoral Researchers
• costs associated with equitable participation, such as childcare costs to support those with caring responsibilities to engage in a network activity
• costs associated with dissemination and public engagement activities
• other consumables.

Please note that the recruitment of staff is only permitted where the role is essential to the delivery of the research project and where costs are justified. The Horizons Institute advises against the recruitment of staff on fixed short-term contracts. Where staff are recruited, we would expect to see costs ringfenced for career development opportunities and a plan in place to support junior colleagues in their career development.

If you have any questions about the criteria listed on this page, please email the Horizons Institute team at horizons@leeds.ac.uk