The British Academy has just announced the successful applicants to its new Cities & Infrastructure research funding programme, and we are pleased to announce that one of these projects is being led from the University of Glasgow with Professor Michael Osborne, Director of PASCAL, as the Principal Investigator, and Dr Muir Houston, Dr Lavinia Hirsu, Dr Kasia Borokowska and Dr Neil Burnside all as co-investigators.

The project Strengthening Urban Engagement of Universities in Asia and Africa (SUEUAA), is collaborative with partners in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Iran, Iraq, Philippines, including the PASCAL Centre at the University of Johannesburg led by Dr Marius Venter. Other lead contributors in each country are Professor Charles Nherera, Dr Mpoki Mwaikokesya, Professor Nematollah Azizi, Dr Kemal Ketuly and Professor Zenaida Reyes. it develops a model used in the PASCAL PURE programme.

The programme is part of the £1.5 billion Global Challenges Research Fund and is being delivered by the British Academy on behalf of all the national academies. More details of each project can be found at this link.

Altogether, the Academy will support thirteen interdisciplinary research projects, with awards of up to £300,000 each.

The overall aim of the programme is to ensure that the best UK research across the disciplinary spectrum takes a leading role in addressing the challenges of creating and maintaining sustainable and resilient cities in developing countries.

The research projects funded under the programme will generate evidence to inform future policies and interventions aimed at improving the lives and welfare of people in the developing world by making cities more inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.