What you need to know from the Newton Fund conference

The first year of the Newton Fund was characterised by short deadlines and limited guidance. But the dust has begun to settle, and Carolyn Barker, sciences research funding officer at the University of Kent, says she came away from the recent Newton Fund conference with a clearer idea of the opportunities ahead.

The Newton Fund was launched in haste in December 2013. It was initially badged as an emerging powers fund, then given its official moniker the following year. The fund was intended to offer substantial additional funding for UK academics to form collaborations with colleagues in particular overseas countries but many of the specific aims, objectives and processes of the fund were pretty unclear.

In an effort to remedy this, the UK Higher Education International Unit organised a conference at the end of October to bring together more than 150 interested parties, including representatives from government departments, the British Council, Innovate UK (formerly the Technology Strategy Board), the research councils and learned societies such as the British Academy, the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering.