Research Collaboration Fund Awards 2026

Successful Projects awarded in the UGPN Research Collaboration Fund 2026 call

Six interdisciplinary research teams have been awarded in the University Global Partnership Network (UGPN) Research Collaboration Fund 2026-27

The UGPN is a research consortium comprising four partners globally: The University of Surrey, UK; North Carolina State University, USA; the University of São Paulo, Brazil; and most recently, the Consortium has welcomed the University of Wollongong, Australia.  The Research Collaboration Fund (RCF) provides seed-funding to foster innovative, high-quality and transdisciplinary research among member institutions, with a focus on addressing the Sustainable Development Goals.  The RCF aims to catalyze multi-partner research projects for academic and societal impact, engaging with industry, policy and community stakeholders.

This year, the call was for projects aligned with the theme of Innovative and Sustainable Energy Solutions.  With a field of academics from all four institutions applying for funding, this year’s selection process was challenging for the reviewers.  There were 28 eligible applications, of which, five trilateral and one quadrilateral projects were selected for an award:

• UGPN-SmartGridAI: An Agentic Digital Twin for Cyber-Resilient Smart Grids and Clean Energy Systems: Trilateral, NC State, Surrey and Wollongong
• Resilient Energy Foundations: Linking Structural Performance of Microgrid Assets with System-Level Reliability: Trilateral, NC State, Surrey and Universidade de São Paulo
  
• Towards Resilient Offshore Wind Energy Infrastructure: A Multi-Scale Framework Integrating Fracture Mechanics, Probabilistic Risk Analysis, AI-Driven Prognostics, and Whole-Life Asset Management: Quadrilateral, NC State, Surrey, Universidade de São Paulo, Wollongong
• Participatory Energy Planning for Just and Inclusive Energy Access: Trilateral, NC State, Surrey, Universidade de São Paulo
• A new AI-driven framework for dynamic optimization of multi-vector biorenewable energy from anaerobic digestion of mixed, real-world wastes: Trilateral, NC State, Surrey, Universidade de São Paulo
• AI- and Robotics-Enabled Integrated Carbon-Energy Systems for Cost Effective Production of Sustainable Fuels: Trilateral, NC State, Surrey, Wollongong

Professor Amelia Hadfield, UGPN Chair and Associate Vice-President, External Engagement at Surrey commented “As this was a non-conference year, we are delighted to see so many collaborations from across the Network that have arisen from online webinars, and other forms of introduction and engagement.  We are especially pleased that the University of Wollongong, having only rejoined the Network early in the Spring, was able to participate, adding their expertise in this area to the range of collaborations.  There was a truly tremendous collection of applications. It is wonderful that the RCF provides a springboard for such collaborations and that the consortium continues to foster research relevant to local and global communities”