Who can apply?


All projects must include a Principal Investigator, and may include one or more Co-Investigators and/or Project Partners.

  • The Principal Investigator (PI) has overall responsibility for the project and leads the research. The PI must be employed by an organisation with capacity to support the project. This will be the Lead Organisation on the project. The PI can be based in an academic or non-academic institution (as long as proposals are research-focused and include contributions from research-focused partners). Non-academic organisations should provide evidence of their capacity to lead and deliver research projects and attention should be given to issues such as support for the career development of researchers involved in the project and access to appropriate support facilities (e.g. for data management) and advice (e.g. on research ethics, safety etc.).
  • Co-Investigators (Co-Is) make a significant contribution to the research or to the project activities, and assist the PI in the management and leadership of the project. Co-Is can be based at the same organisation as the PI or at another organisation, and this can be either a research organisation or a non-academic organisation (such as a non-governmental organisations or a media or cultural organisations). Please note that international but non-DAC list researchers are not eligible to act as PI on applications, but can be named as Co-Is on the projects.
  • Project Partners are organisations that play an integral role in the proposed research or in furthering the research’s dissemination and knowledge exchange, but are usually less involved in the project than Co-Investigators. Project Partners are normally non-academic organisations, such as non-governmental organisations (NGOs), media or cultural organisations, businesses, or government agencies.

The Lead Organisation must be based in either Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, or the UK. If the Lead Organisation is based in the UK, the project must involve Co-Investigators and/or Project Partners from DAC list countries.

Co-Investigators or Project Partners can also be from other countries. UK Principal and Co-Investigators are normally expected to belong to a UK Higher Education Institution eligible for UKRI funding.

The Lead Organisation for a project is often an academic organisation, such as a university or a research institute. Other organisations, such as NGOs, are also encouraged to apply for grants, but special care must be taken to ensure projects are research-focused. Lead Organisations without significant previous research experience are only eligible to apply for the Small Grant, and must include research-focused Co-Investigators or Advisors in the project. All Lead Organisations will have to provide evidence of their capacity to lead and deliver research projects and to carry out projects in accordance with our funder’s terms and conditions (e.g. in respect to finances and good governance).

Please be aware that any project without UK involvement will receive an Advisory Board Member from the MADAR team.

Applications can be led by/include members of the Network Plus MADAR, providing all other eligibility criteria are met and they are not members of the UK based Network team.