Academic Networking Grant

Lloyd’s Register Foundation recently launched its 2024–2029 strategy , reaffirming our commitment to addressing the most pressing global safety challenges through collective action and innovation. As part of this vision, we are introducing two new Networking Grants to help address critical global engineering and scientific issues that align with our mission to engineer a safer world. 

These grants are intended to convene interdisciplinary experts and should be led by at least one from a High-Income Country (HIC) and one from a Lower-Middle-Income Country (LMIC), fostering collaboration across diverse sectors such as engineering, science, economics, business, and policy. The focus will be on key priority areas defined in our strategy: decarbonisation, digital transformation in maritime, and sustainability. Each Networking Grant will fund the creation of expert networks, a series of targeted workshops, and a large-scale dissemination conference to identify research gaps, promote partnerships, and deliver actionable roadmaps for impactful solutions. 

This initiative is rooted in our ambition to enhance global safety and engineering excellence. Developed collaboratively with Lloyd’s Register Foundation and Lloyd’s Register Group, the Networking Grants align with shared priorities supporting the safe decarbonisation of maritime industries and a safe digital maritime transformation. 

The grants directly contribute to our strategic objectives of creating safer systems, amplifying our global influence, and delivering scalable, sustainable solutions to pressing challenges. They also build upon ongoing work in areas such as sustainability and digital maritime transformation, reinforcing our role as a trusted leader in engineering safety and innovation. 

In line with our Grant Eligibility and Grant Funding Guidelines, this call is open exclusively to academic institutions, including universities and research centres within universities. Eligible institutions must be actively engaged in education, research, or public engagement activities that align with Lloyd’s Register Foundation’s mission to engineer a safer world.

Collaborations with industry, policy, and non-academic partners are encouraged; however, the lead applicant must be an academic institution. 

In line with government guidelines, Lloyd’s Register Foundation adheres to the following principles when granting funds to non-charitable organisations: 

• Lloyd’s Register Foundation grants must only fund activities, services, or outcomes aligned with its charitable mission.

• Funding for support costs is restricted to specified activities, services, or outcomes.

• Grant terms require recipients to adhere to purpose-related restrictions.

• Grants must not provide personal benefit to individuals involved.

• Lloyd’s Register Foundation and its Trustees must justify each funding decision as serving the Foundation’s best interests.

• Recipients must use funds for the stated purpose, ensuring public or organisational benefit, not profit.

• These principles ensure that all grants to non-charitable organisations remain aligned with Lloyd’s Register Foundation s mission and are compliant with relevant regulatory standards. 

Your Proposal

We are seeking ambitious and innovative proposals that aim to:

1. Convene a diverse and interdisciplinary network of experts: Proposals should demonstrate a clear plan for engaging stakeholders across various sectors and disciplines, including engineering, science, economics, policy, business, and activism, with balanced representation from High-Income Countries (HICs) and Lower-Middle-Income Countries (LMICs).

2. Host workshops to address critical challenges: Design workshops that encourage collaborative problem-solving to identify key research gaps, barriers, and open challenges within the specified scope. Workshops should incorporate methodologies such as scenario planning, design thinking, or solution-oriented discussions to ensure impactful outputs.

3. Develop actionable research roadmaps: Proposals must outline how research questions and identified gaps will be translated into tangible roadmaps, providing clear pathways for future research, collaboration, or implementation.

4. Disseminate findings through high-impact conferences: Proposals should include plans for organising a large-scale, high-profile dissemination conference. The conference must effectively communicate findings to a broad audience, including industry leaders, policymakers, researchers, and funders fostering opportunities for scaling solutions and partnerships.

5. Ensure Open Access and Broad Accessibility: As this is a grant-funded initiative, all project outputs—including reports, research findings, and conference materials—are expected to be openly accessible. Proposals should include a strategy for ensuring widespread dissemination and availability of outputs to maximise global impact.

6. Be a Joint Proposal Between High-Income Country (HIC) and Lower-Middle-Income Country (LMIC)Partners: Each application must be a joint proposal involving at least one partner from the HIC and one from the LMIC. One organisation must act as the lead applicant, but this role is not restricted to a specific region. 

If you are an academic organisation who is interested in this call, but haven't yet identified a partner to submit a joint proposal, join our LinkedIn 'matchmaker' group.

Themes and Topics

Proposals should address one or more of the following strategic challenges:

• Safe Decarbonisation of Maritime Industries: Ensuring that as maritime transitions towards zero-emissions in the coming years, that the infrastructures enabling this shift are safe for people, physical assets and the environment. This includes developing and adopting future fuels and sustainable practices within the maritime sector. 

• A Safe Digital Maritime Transformation: Explore how the maritime sector can adopt and integrate digital technologies while addressing safety, efficiency, and sustainability challenges.

Proposals should demonstrate how their scope aligns with our mission to engineer a safer world and the potential for generating long-term impact through interdisciplinary collaboration. 

Out of Scope

Proposals will not be considered if they:

• Do not contribute to improving safety outcomes in engineered systems, particularly in maritime and ocean-related assets.

• Focus narrowly on single-discipline initiatives without demonstrating broader impact or interdisciplinary collaboration.

• Are solely academic with no plans to engage the wider ecosystem of stakeholders (such as commercial organisations, regulators etc.)

• Prioritise commercial product development without a strong connection to research and safety outcomes. 

Funding Support

• We are launching two Networking Grants as part of this call, with each grant offering funding of up to £250,000.

• Please note: The £250,000 grant does not cover the costs of the final conference. Applicants should focus their budget on activities such as convening workshops, facilitating stakeholder engagement, and developing research roadmaps.

• To support dissemination, Lloyd’s Register Foundation offers co-hosting support for the final conference (see next sub-section), including the potential use of our London offices.

• The duration of each grant is up to 2 years, allowing sufficient time to build networks, host workshops, and deliver impactful outcomes.

• We will not fund significant overhead costs and UK Academic Institutions should use UK charity costing to reflect this. 

Opportunities for Co-hosting Events

• The Foundation’s offices in London may be available to co-host workshops and conferences funded under these grants. We also offer flexibility to support co-hosting arrangements where needed, providing additional resources to ensure successful delivery. 

Access to Networks and Expertise

• Successful applicants will gain access to our global network of industry leaders, academic institutions, and policy experts, fostering valuable connections to enhance the project’s reach and outcomes. 

Support for Dissemination and Publicity

• We are committed to amplifying the impact of funded projects. We will actively work with grant recipients to disseminate findings through high-profile channels, including industry platforms, conferences, and publications.

• We will provide support in promoting the outputs and outcomes to key stakeholders and decision-makers, ensuring that your work reaches the right audiences to drive change. 

Collaboration with Lloyd’s Register Foundation

• Successful applicants will have opportunities to collaborate closely with us and our partners, benefiting from shared insights and strategic alignment with our broader mission to engineer a safer world.