International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF) Institutional support grant funding FY 2025-26

2. DSIT has made available to SFC ISPF Institutional Support Grant funding of £2.04 million for FY 2025-26 for Official Development Assistance (ODA) activities.
3. Funding has been allocated to Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) in line with historic ODA funding received, including Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), and Newton Fund amounts, which means that only those HEIs with previous allocations will receive an allocation from these funds. GCRF hub funding has been included in these calculations and if you have previously received GCRF hub funding, you may wish to consider involving previous partners in the supported activity.
4. Allocations are shown in Annex A.
5. This funding provides flexible institutional grants that can be used strategically to support ODA eligible activity only. This may include underpinning ISPF activity funded through other delivery partners, or by directly supporting research that addresses the problems faced by developing countries that are not funded through the ISPF grants of other delivery partners.

6. The grant must only be used to fund activities that are official development assistance (ODA) compliant as defined by the OECD[1]. To be ODA compliant, all funded activity must have the promotion of the economic development and welfare of developing countries on the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list[2] as its main objective; and be concessional in character.
7. The ISPF Institutional Support Grant shall not be used to deliver activities within, in partnership with or that otherwise benefit China.[3]
8. ISPF Institutional Support Grant (ODA) funding received by institutions must be spent by the end of FY 2025-26, i.e. 31 March 2026. This funding may be used to support activity that takes place after 31 March 2026, providing that it is in line with each organisation’s own accounting rules and procedures that the spend will be recorded in FY 2025-26. Activities should be complete by end of the Academic Year, i.e. by 31 July 2026.
9. ISPF Institutional Support Grant (ODA) funding spend for this financial year can be backdated to when the beginning of Financial Year 2025-26 (1 April 2025).

[1] ODA eligibility and conditions | OECD

[2] ODA recipients: countries, territories, and international organisations | OECD

[3] Written statements – Written questions, answers and statements – UK Parliament

10. As part of necessary monitoring requirements on this funding, institutions in receipt of this grant are required to include this funding in their routine annual accounting reporting and audit.
11. Institutions in receipt of this funding may also be subject to monitoring spot checks by SFC, on behalf of DSIT, and should be prepared to provide programme level examples of how they have spent this funding in line with ODA compliance requirements in quarters 2, 3 and 4 of FY 2025-2026.

12. By accepting these grants institutions agree to spend the full allocation within each respective financial year and that this funding will be spent on ODA eligible activity only.
13. Universities unable to spend this additional funding in line with the intended purpose and by the end of the respective financial year will be able to ‘opt out’.
14. Institutions are required to accept or decline their allocation of funding and responses should be provided to SFC from the Principal or an authorised senior officer. Responses should be sent by email to Farhana Haque, Budgeting and Reporting Officer,
    email: grantacceptance@sfc.ac.uk no later than Friday 5 December 2025.
15. Funding allocations shown in Annex A are therefore provisional and may be increased to ensure the total budget is allocated.
16. Should institutions that opt in to receive this funding subsequently fail to spend it fully within the required period on ODA eligible activity, these funds may be recovered by SFC.

17. The finalised payments for FY 2025-26 will be paid to institutions in a single instalment in December 2025.

18. If you have any queries or require any further information please contact Dr Charlotte Matheson, Senior Policy and Analysis Officer, email: cmatheson@sfc.ac.uk.

Tiffany Ritchie
Acting Director of Finance