Worldwide Universities Network

UTS has joined the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), a leading global higher education network connecting 24 research-intensive universities in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Europe and Oceania. WUN offers special programs for career development including networking opportunities for researchers.

Applications for the 2025 WUN Research Development Fund are now open. The deadline for submission of Letters of Intent (LOI) for collaborative projects where UTS is the lead is 2 September 2025.

WUN Research Development Fund

The Worldwide Universities Network Research Development Fund (WUN RDF) is an annual competitive fund that aims to bring together researchers from WUN member universities to undertake innovative, high quality, sustainable research that addresses global challenges.

WUN RDF Funding

The WUN RDF offers grants of up to £10,000 (A$21,000) to foster innovative, international collaborative research projects. UTS will contribute up to A$5,000 towards each successful UTS application, where necessary and justifiable. 

For information on what expenditure categories WUN RDF funds support, please refer to ‘Annex: Permitted Uses of RDF Funds’ in the 2025 WUN RDF Guidelines. 

Eligibility

The RDF is open to academic staff (faculty members) at WUN member universities.

UTS academics may participate in these projects as Principal Investigators or Co-Investigators. Each WUN member university may submit a maximum of two applications with its researchers as Principal Investigators.  

There is no limit to the number of applications that can be submitted by other WUN member universities, which include UTS researchers as Co-Investigators.

Each project must engage at least three WUN member universities, including UTS, in at least two regions. WUN regions are defined as Latin America, North America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Oceania. The collaboration can include non-WUN universities and other external partners, but must have an active core of WUN member universities. Projects led by early career researchers are especially encouraged.

The WUN Research Development Fund definition of Early Career Researcher is: A researcher who is in the final year of their terminal degree program (e.g., PhD) or has completed fewer than seven years of their first appointment as a member of faculty/ academic staff. The age of the researcher has no bearing on this timeframe, and career breaks within this period do not count against the total.

If you're interested in leading a collaborative research project through the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), you’re invited to submit a Letter of Intent (LOI) as a principal investigator. This role involves guiding the project’s vision and coordinating with your counterparts at other WUN member universities. To get started, please submit the internal UTS LOI form here.

You can also get involved in a WUN project as a co-investigator, by contributing your expertise to a proposal led by another researcher. If this suits you better, we recommend creating a WUN Hub researcher profile via the WUN Hub page.  This profile enables WUN colleagues with related interests to identify and connect with each other. The lead investigator will then submit the proposal as per the process at their home university.
 

Evaluation Criteria

How applications are assessed
Applications are reviewed and ranked by a committee of at least six members of the WUN Academic Advisory Group (AAG).
Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

• ACADEMIC QUALITY
  Is the project academically rigorous, and does it address a new research problem or take an existing WUN research program in a significantly new direction?
• RELEVANCE TO CALL
  Within the context of sustainable development, does the project address a problem of consequence in one or more of the focus areas?

• WUN ADVANTAGE
  Is the project one that WUN can pursue with advantage?

  WUN is likely to have a special advantage when the research problem:

  • Requires distinctive constellations of talent that are best assembled (or can only be
    assembled) by drawing on multiple partners.
  • Presents opportunities for comparative analysis, stemming from member universities’
    locations in different geographical and cultural contexts.
  • Requires access to unique environments/resources possessed by one or more partners.
• RESEARCH TEAM
  Does the project involve a well-qualified team of researchers drawn from relevant disciplines and
  regions?
• OUTCOME AND IMPACT
  Does the application clearly specify what will have been achieved by the end of the funding period of
  one year, and is there a realistic plan to secure impact? Impact might be achieved through one or more
  of the following: authoritative research publication(s) or policy paper(s); the project having laid the
  groundwork for major research funding.

2025 Focus Areas

In line with the WUN Strategic Plan 2023-2026, the WUN RDF encourages proposals that address problems in one or more of the following areas within the context of sustainable development:

1. Social justice and human rights; inequality
2. Sustainable world: cities and urbanisation; energy transitions; water and food security
3. Mental health; child and maternal health; ageing
4. Responsible and ethical applications of Artificial Intelligence

Important Information for this round 

Proposals are welcome from researchers at all career stages. However, projects that involve early career researchers are especially encouraged. Additional points will be awarded during the review process to proposals led by early career researchers (as Principal Investigators). This should be indicated in the Letter of Intent (LOI).

Please note that applications must not be continuations of, or minor variations on, previously funded RDF projects. As stated in the 2025 WUN RDF Guidelines under the ‘Academic Quality’ assessment criteria: Is the project academically rigorous, and does it address a new research problem or take an existing WUN research program in a significantly new direction?

To learn about the assessment criteria, categories of expenditure and reporting, please read the the 2025 WUN RDF Guidelines carefully.

UTS Call for Letters of Intent

The Letter of Intent (LOI) is a Qualtrics form that provides an overview of your proposed research idea. It is an internal process at UTS prior to submitting two applications via the WUN platform. Two LOIs will be selected at UTS to be developed into full proposals.

The LOI should address: 

• Project details
• Evaluation criteria
• List of co-investigators and their corresponding universities
• Funding requested
• Categories of expenditure you are planning to use funding for
• Outcome and Impact

Please note that you should only submit an LOI if your intention is that UTS will be the lead institution on your project.

How to submit an LOI

1. Identify collaborators from the WUN member universities list, who are interested in submitting a joint proposal.
2. Download the LOI form PDF to view a preview of the questions. Discuss and prepare the proposal with your collaborators.
3. Submit the Internal UTS LOI here. 

Application process timeline

Contact us

Innes Ireland 
Acting Pro-Vice Chancellor (Global Engagement) 
UTS WUN Coordinator 
Email: innes.ireland@uts.edu.au

Ana Paula Ruiz 
Manager, Global Partnerships  
Email: ana.ruiz@uts.edu.au

Kumar Jain
Engagement Manager, Global Partnerships
Email: kumar.jain@uts.edu.au

Devika Gadgil
Global Partnerships Officer, Global Partnerships
Email: devika.gadgil@uts.edu.au