Mastercard Foundation and University of Cambridge Climate Resilience and Sustainability Research Fund
Historical reference for the closed 2025 climate-resilience research call. Cambridge-Africa lists awards made in 2026, but has not published a new application deadline or call guidance.
Mastercard Foundation and University of Cambridge Climate Resilience and Sustainability Research Fund
This is a historical reference to the 2025 application round of the Mastercard Foundation and University of Cambridge Climate Resilience and Sustainability Research Fund, also called CReSus RF in its applicant guidance. Cambridge-Africa’s official programme page continues to describe the fund under that name and says it is intended to run from 2025 to 2030, with annual awards through 2029. Its website lists awards made in 2025 and 2026, but the official material checked for this update does not publish an application notice, closing date, award limits, or application instructions for a following round. No new round should be treated as open on the basis of this page.
The 2025 round closed on 15 January 2026. That real date is retained in the metadata for archive purposes, and historicalReference = true marks this page as a record of a closed call. Applicants should check the official programme page for a later notice before preparing an application:
https://www.cambridge-africa.cam.ac.uk/initiatives/mastercard-foundation-and-university-of-cambridge-climate-resilience-and-sustainability-research-fund/
At a glance
| Item | Verified information |
|---|---|
| Programme | Mastercard Foundation and University of Cambridge Climate Resilience and Sustainability Research Fund (CReSus RF) |
| Page status | Historical reference; the 2025 call is closed |
| Archived deadline | 15 January 2026 |
| Later call | No application notice or deadline for a following round is published on the official programme page checked for this update |
| Completed-call awards | Research Catalyst Grant up to £20,000; Workshop Grant up to £50,000 |
| Eligible partnership | One Cambridge researcher working jointly with one researcher at an African university or research institution |
| Applicant level | Both principal investigators normally at post-doctoral level or above, with equivalent experience considered |
| Research focus | Broadly interpreted climate resilience and sustainability work across disciplines |
| Official administrator | Cambridge-Africa, University of Cambridge |
What the fund was designed to support
The fund was created to build and strengthen collaborations between researchers in Cambridge and Africa. Its subject scope is deliberately broad. A proposal can come from the sciences, social sciences, humanities, or arts when it makes a clear case for how the work addresses climate resilience or sustainability. Interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary proposals are welcomed, as are research-related training activities.
The official programme page describes the fund as part of the Africa Climate Collaborative, a partnership between the Mastercard Foundation, the University of Ghana, Makerere University, the University of Cape Town, and the University of Cambridge. The partners say the collaboration is intended to empower young Africans to lead climate-resilient and sustainable futures. Cambridge-Africa says the fund is supported by a £7.7 million investment, will run from 2025 to 2030, and is expected to make awards annually through 2029, with the final awards supporting activity in 2029–30. This longer programme horizon is not the same as an open application window: the site currently provides no next-round application date or terms.
The 2025 guidance also placed special emphasis on young people in Africa. Research proposals involving people under 36, or producing clear benefits for young people, were to be prioritised. Workshop proposals were expected to develop the skills of young people in Africa. A strong future proposal should therefore explain not only the academic question but also who will gain skills, how partners will share responsibility, and what will remain in the African partner institution after the award.
Award types in the completed 2025 call
The closed call offered two types of support. A Research Catalyst Grant provided up to £20,000 for new or strengthened collaborative research. This was seed funding: suitable uses could include early research activity, fieldwork, reagents, small equipment, pilot data, or a research training component. The guidance said that equipment bought with the fund had to be for use in Africa and remain with the collaborating African partner institution after the project ended. The grant was intended to add value beyond what either group could do alone and to create a foundation for longer-term collaboration.
A Workshop Grant provided up to £50,000 for a workshop delivered in Africa by Cambridge and African university or research-institute partners. The workshop was expected to develop skills and knowledge relevant to climate resilience and sustainability, with particular attention to early-career researchers. The guidance highlighted access to resources, mentorship, and networking as part of the participant benefit. A credible workshop plan therefore needs more than a venue and a list of speakers: it should identify participants, learning outcomes, practical materials, follow-up, and how the African partner will shape delivery.
The 2025 call did not cover either principal investigator’s salary, overheads, or grant-administration costs. Most awards were expected to last 12 months or less, although a longer period could be considered with justification. Because the next call’s financial rules have not been published, do not copy these limits into a new application without checking the updated guidance.
Who could apply in 2025
Applications were built around a genuine pair of principal investigators. The Cambridge-based PI had to work at the University of Cambridge. The other PI had to be based at a university or research institution of comparable standing on the African continent. Both applicants normally needed to be at post-doctoral level or above, although the guidance allowed equivalent experience to be considered and advised applicants to contact the fund team if one partner did not hold a PhD.
The partnership had to be substantive and co-created. The guidance specifically warned against using the funding to provide a service carried out at one institution on behalf of the other. Both applicants were expected to have support from a head of department or equivalent, a formal link to a research group, department, or faculty, and employment continuing beyond the award end date. Postgraduate students were not the intended principal applicants, although limited student support, such as an internship within a research project, was encouraged.
The strongest fit is a project where the partners bring different but necessary knowledge and capabilities. Examples might include a Cambridge climate modeller working with an African urban-planning researcher on heat-risk data and community planning; a Cambridge agricultural scientist and African crop researchers testing drought-resilient methods; or a social-science team co-designing a training workshop with early-career researchers and public-sector users. These examples are illustrative, not new eligibility rules. The next call may refine the requirements.
How the 2025 application worked
The Cambridge-based PI acted as the lead applicant for administrative purposes. They registered on the Cambridge-Africa online system, completed a savable form, and invited the Africa-based PI to view and edit the submission. The form was intended to let both applicants develop the proposal together rather than treating the African partner as an afterthought. The old registration link is not the right page to use for a new submission now that the round has closed.
The final 2025 submission required:
- a case for support explaining the collaboration and how it would operate;
- an itemised budget using the supplied template;
- a lay summary;
- a letter of support from the Cambridge PI’s department or faculty, or an acceptable institutional email;
- a letter of support from the Africa-based PI’s department or institution, or an acceptable institutional email;
- a CV of no more than two pages for each PI; and
- details of two suggested referees without conflicts of interest, such as being from the applicants’ own department.
The Cambridge department or faculty also needed to be ready to administer the award. The guidance said that a grant-administration contact had to be named and that prior discussion with that person had to take place before submission. Successful applicants would later need signed award and collaboration documents before funds could be transferred. These administrative details must be checked against the guidance for any later call before submission.
If Cambridge-Africa announces another call
The official page describes an annual award programme, but does not currently publish the next application notice. The steps below are preparation ideas drawn from the closed 2025 process, not current submission instructions. Do not send an application through an old form or assume that the next round will use unchanged terms. First, identify the Cambridge and African PIs and agree on a problem that matters to the African partner’s institution and communities. Write down the contribution each partner makes, the decisions they will share, and the outputs that will be useful locally.
Second, decide whether the eventual proposal is more likely to fit a research catalyst activity or a workshop. For a catalyst project, define a small body of work that can produce useful evidence within a limited period and budget. For a workshop, specify the target early-career audience, selection process, curriculum, facilitators, practical exercises, and follow-up. In either case, make the climate-resilience or sustainability connection explicit rather than assuming reviewers will infer it from the topic.
Third, start a realistic budget and check institutional restrictions early. The completed call excluded PI salaries, overheads, and grant administration. Equipment, travel, participant support, data collection, and training costs need a direct connection to the work plan. If equipment is requested, explain its location, ownership, maintenance, and benefit to the African partner after the project.
Finally, prepare a short lay summary and ask both institutions to review the case for support. Check ethics, permissions, sensitive data, material transfer, transport of scientific materials, and any national or institutional requirements before promising a start date. The 2025 guidance recommended choosing a project start date no earlier than 1 June 2026 to allow activation time; that was a completed-call instruction, not a date for the upcoming round.
What to verify if another call is announced
Use the official Cambridge-Africa programme page as the starting point if a new notice is published. Confirm the formal fund name, opening and closing dates, award categories and maximum amounts, participating Cambridge institutions, applicant experience requirements, permitted costs, required documents, and registration process from the new notice itself. The 2025 guidance is useful for understanding the earlier scheme, but it cannot establish that any of those details will carry over.
At the time of this check, the official page provides general programme information, 2025 applicant guidance, and lists of awards made in 2025 and 2026. It does not announce an open call. The 2025 opportunity is closed, its published deadline remains in the metadata as an archive date, and no later deadline is supplied here.
Contact
For programme questions, Cambridge-Africa directs enquiries to [email protected]. The official programme page is also the place to look for any later application notice and its current guidance.