ACU 2022 Commonwealth Climate Resilience Challenge Grants for Developing Countries

Open to academic and professional staff, the grants support collaborative work focused on either of the two main strategic priorities of the Commonwealth Climate Resilience Network (CCRN):

• Enhancing the climate resilience of universities themselves, and/or
• Enhancing universities’ contribution to the resilience of communities, business and government

The grants can be used for a diverse range of projects, workshops and events in areas such as:

• Improving learning, teaching, and training for climate change adaptation – e.g. virtual exchange or collaboration, teaching or professional practice collaboration and sharing and co-development of learning materials
• Increasing the research capacity of CCRN members in climate change adaptation – e.g. virtual fellowships or collaboration, comparative analyses, research management and uptake capacity building, understanding and documenting indigenous knowledge and resilience practices
• Improving institutional resilience policies and practice adopted by Commonwealth universities – e.g. developing tools, training and approaches to support contingency and continuity of operations planning at higher education institutions

To date, the grants have funded a diverse range of climate action projects in universities across the Commonwealth – from sea-temperature monitoring in the coral reefs of Fiji, to integrating indigenous knowledge on climate change adaptation with academia in New Zealand.

• Table of Content
• About The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU)
• Commonwealth Climate Resilience Challenge Grants
• Aim and Benefits of Commonwealth Climate Resilience Challenge Grants
• Requirements for Commonwealth Climate Resilience Challenge Grants Qualification
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

About The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU)

In 1912, on the initiative of the University of London, representatives of 53 universities assembled in London, UK, to hold a Congress of Universities of the Empire. The office of the Universities Bureau of the British Empire was accordingly opened in London in 1913. In 1948, the Bureau’s name was changed to the Association of Universities of the British Commonwealth. In 1963 (our jubilee year), the Association received a Royal Charter under its new name: The Association of Commonwealth Universities. In 1986, Her Majesty The Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, became Patron of the ACU. Afte... continue reading

Commonwealth Climate Resilience Challenge Grants

Aim and Benefits of Commonwealth Climate Resilience Challenge Grants

Four grants of up to GBP 2,500 each are available for staff at ACU member universities to help meet the costs of organising projects that promote the aims and priorities of the CCRN.

This funding is only available for ACU members and we encourage applicants to collaborate with other ACU member institutions to promote further Commonwealth partnerships. We will also accept applications that are led by ACU members, but are in partnership with institutions outside of our network.

Grant applications that allow matching or additional funds from the applicant’s institution will be looked upon favourably.

Grantees are required to submit a short interim report halfway through their project and a comprehensive final report within one month after completing their project. Additionally, any outputs (e.g. toolkits, papers etc.) developed through the grants are to be made available to the CCRN and wider ACU network.

Requirements for Commonwealth Climate Resilience Challenge Grants Qualification

Open to academic and professional staff of ACU member universities.

Application Deadline

How to Apply

You will need to supply an outline of the project and an action plan, including details of what it involves and how it will address climate resilience at your university. The project action plan is requested for a minimum of 6 months and a maximum of 12 months.

If you don’t have a MyACU account: please register here and then follow the instructions in the registration email to set up an account. You will then be able to log in to the system here to access the application form. 

If you have a MyACU account: please log in to the system here to access the application form. 

For more details, visit ACU website.