SASUF - NRF Seed Grants for academia, Industry, Society Collaboration

Building on earlier work, the third funded phase of SASUF, SASUF+, launches the SASUF–NRF Seed Grants with a clear focus on academia–industry collaboration. Implemented in partnership with South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF), the grants support interdisciplinary research across four thematic areas: Sustainable Health; Green Transition; Migration and Urbanisation; and Democracy, Social Justice, and Indigenous Knowledge Systems.

The objectives of the SASUF-NRF Seed Grants are to:

• Contribute to scientific advancement in both countries by funding researchers’ mobility in the frame of joint research projects in specified research fields;

• Provide an opportunity for next generation and emerging researchers to cooperate in an international setting and to develop their scientific careers - support the advancement of basic and applied research; and - contribute meaningfully to research capacity development.

All projects will be supported for a maximum duration of 2 years starting from 1 August 2026. See Table 1 below for a full schedule of this call.

Duration of the projects

Launch of the call: Monday, 16 March 2026

Call deadline for all applicants: Wednesday, 10 June 2026

Call deadline for DAs (relevant only for South African applicants): Friday, 18 June 2026

Screening and reviews of eligible applications: June-July 2026

Decision making, awards and signing of contracts with successful candidates: August 2026

Start of funded projects/activities: 1 September 2026

End of funded projects/activities: 1 July 2028

Submission of progress report by researchers: 31 July 2028

Although the funders endeavour to abide by the above-mentioned dates, it should be noted that the nature and complexity of the bilateral programme require synchronisation of all processes and alignment of different academic and financial years. Funders, therefore, reserve the right to change and/or amend the above-mentioned dates without prior notification to applicants.

Eligibility criteria

All applicants must be based at one of the partner universities of SASUF. See the following link for a full list of SASUF members: https://www.sasuf.org/partneruniversities

A proposal must include participants from at least two (2) South African universities + two (2) Swedish universities and one (1) South African Organisation/ Industry Partner/NGO, OR one (1) Swedish Organisation or Industry partner to be eligible. Therefore, a proposal must be submitted by a minimum of five (5) consortia members. Each proposal must nominate one main applicant based in South Africa and one main applicant based in Sweden; they are the Principal Investigators (PI) on the South African and Swedish sides, respectively. The PIs will bear the main responsibility for the project, including its technical and administrative coordination as well as the timely delivery of scientific and financial reports. 

Additional research partners based in South Africa and/or Sweden can also participate in the joint projects and form part of the consortia, provided there is a strong motivation for value add.

PIs must have a PhD to be eligible; this does not apply to Co-PIs.  

Researchers from SMEs, municipalities, and NGOs/NPOs, private companies/industries cannot serve as PIs but are welcome to form part of the joint projects (with clear indications of their roles). However, they will be expected to meet their own costs of participation in the joint projects. The NRF grants cannot be used to support these researchers, however, the Swedish side of the grant is allowed to be used for that

Each consortium is allowed to submit only one proposal. Further to this, a researcher cannot serve as a PI on more than one proposal.

Former SASUF beneficiaries are welcome to participate in the call; however, the project should not be a continuation of the past project. 

Projects should promote gender equality, capacity development and inclusive participation by involving early-career and mid-career researchers. In line with the goals of SASUF+, projects are expected to strengthen long-term collaborative partnerships, support joint innovation, and address societal challenges by linking global perspectives with local contexts.

The involvement of Historically Disadvantaged Institutions (HDIs) in South Africa is highly encouraged. Please note that only the following eight universities are recognised as HDIs stated by the Department of Higher Education and Training: University of Limpopo (UL), University of Fort Hare (UFH), University of Venda (Univen), Walter Sisulu University (WSU), University of the Western Cape (UWC), University of Zululand (UniZulu), Mangosuthu University of Technology (MUT), and Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU).

These are the four key thematic areas:

• Sustainable Health

• Green Transition

• Migration and Urbanisation

• Democracy, Social Justice, and Indigenous Knowledge Systems

Therefore, the funding within this programme will support research capacity development activities such as:

• Postgraduate student exchange programmes

• General research-related mobility 

• Joint workshops, seminars, conferences, symposia

• Lecture presentations

• Meetings, local/regional dissemination of research results aimed at involving stakeholders, and/or end-users from outside the consortium. 

The following will not be funded from the fund allocation:  

• Consultant’s fees 

• Project management fees 

• Educational expenses (scholarships and/or bursaries, etc.)  

• Large equipment 

• Salaries and temporary staff fees.

Funding regulations

Researchers should ensure that all expenses are calculated and covered in line with the rules and regulations in force in each country. Funds requested should not exceed 100 000 SEK (SASUF portion) plus 160 000 ZAR (NRF portion) per consortium project. 

Funding will be made available for a maximum of 2 years and exclusively for activities commencing in September 2026. A maximum of 20 consortia projects will be supported with this call. 

The NRF portion of the grant shall be disbursed to the South African PI on signature of the Conditions of

Grant (CoG) Contract and the SASUF portion shall be allocated to the Swedish PI. Apart from the SASUF-NRF financial support, universities in both countries are encouraged to solicit other funding resources. Leveraged funds should be clearly indicated in the application. Industry partners are welcome to offer financial or in-kind support.

Application procedure

The South African PI must submit their consortia proposals through an online application process to the NRF on the NRF Connect system at https://nrfconnect.nrf.ac.za. Rejected applications during the screening phase will be given a maximum of 3 working days from the date of email receipt to query the outcomes thereof. Please make use of the ‘General Application Guide 2026’ for assistance on the steps to follow when applying for international research grants. The link to the guide will be published on this web page: https://www.nrf.ac.za/funding/nrf-call-for-proposals-for-funding-in-2025-and-2026/ . 

The South African PIs must attach the required compulsory documents in PDF format in the following order: 

1. CVs of all consortia partners.

2. Institutional support letter (Dean/HOD/Director).

3. Institutional Support letter of Swedish Principal Investigator.

4. Industry partner letter of participation and support with clear indications of roles and responsibilities.

5. NGO, NPGO, civil society partners' letter of participation with clear indications of roles and responsibilities.

6. Detailed Project Plan/ Schedule of project activities.

7. Detailed budget of the South African Principal Investigator.

8. Detailed Budgets of the Swedish Principal Investigator.

Failure to submit compulsory documents will result in the disqualification of the application and will make the entire project consortium ineligible.

The Swedish PI must submit their consortia proposal via mail to sasuf@uu.se. A call guideline with instructions for the consortia proposal will be made availabe once the call is open.

Review process

Following the closing date, applications will be submitted to recognised national experts in the various fields of research represented by the proposals received. These experts will evaluate each proposal based on the following broad criteria: 

• Scientific quality of the intended joint research project

• Feasibility and/or plans for future cooperation: the potential of the project to initiate or further develop collaboration between Sweden and South Africa in research and/or education

• Human Capacity Development: the potential of the project to strengthen the international prospects of emerging researchers and students.

Please note that other national criteria may be applicable in line with the national policies and regulations of the partnering countries. Following national evaluation, a shortlist of projects to be funded will be constituted through consultations between SASUF and NRF based on the results of the expert evaluations done in both countries. 

The final decision on funding will be taken by a joint award committee with members of the SASUF Steering Committee and the NRF. The minutes of this meeting (indicating approved joint projects for funding) shall be signed by the Chairperson indicating a joint consensus on projects to fund. The results of this meeting will preferably be announced in July 2026.

Although all Parties undertake to execute the evaluation and selection process to notify applicants of the results as soon as possible, the nature of the bilateral process requires the alignment of the commencement of each phase of the process with the partnering countries, whose schedules may differ significantly. 

Projects follow-up and reporting

• Principal Investigators are expected to submit progress reports to SASUF and the NRF. Scientific and financial reporting on the project is an OBLIGATORY condition of funding.

• A final scientific and financial report should be submitted by both the South African and the Swedish project Principal Investigators no more than 3-months after the end of the project.

• South African PIs should submit their reports through the NRF Connect system in line with the reporting schedule for all NRF grants. Swedish PIs should submit their reports, using the official template available which will be made available on the SASUF website, to sasuf@uu.se.

• The report should mention the outputs of the project compared with the objectives and aims of the proposal.

• The joint publications by the researchers should mention the support from all the funders (i.e. SASUF and the NRF).

• The funders reserve the right to make the final reports available to researchers within and outside this programme in similar disciplines.

Science engagement

Science engagement refers to scientific and initiative activities, events, interventions, or interactions characterised by mutual learning and dialogue among people of varied backgrounds, scientific expertise, and life experiences, who articulate and discuss their perspectives, ideas, knowledge, and values. It is an overarching term for all aspects of public engagement through suitable communication channels with science, science awareness, science education, science communication, and science outreach, aiming to develop and benefit individuals and society. Science engagement is critical for all SASUF-related activities. 

The NRF supports science engagement by coordinating and implementing the Department of Science and Innovation's Engagement Strategy. The strategy embraces a broad understanding of science, encompassing systematic knowledge spanning (natural and physical sciences, engineering sciences, medical sciences, agricultural sciences, mathematics, social sciences and humanities, technology) all aspects of the innovation chain and indigenous knowledge. Therefore, researchers funded through the NRF programmes must contribute to science engagement and report the related outputs in their project's progress report.

Intellectual property

The researchers of each country, particularly the PIs, must take adequate steps to ensure the protection and sharing of the intellectual property that could result from the joint projects.

Ethical considerations

It is the responsibility of the grant holder, in conjunction with the institution, to ensure that all research activities carried out in or outside South Africa comply with the laws and regulations of South Africa and/or the foreign country in which the research activities are conducted. These include all human and animal subjects, copyright and intellectual property protection, and other regulations or laws, as appropriate.  A research ethics committee must review and approve the ethical and academic rigor of all research in accordance with institutional ethical policies and procedures.  The ethical clearance approval should be held by the institution and the grant holder and accessible on request. 

Please also refer to the “Statement on Ethical Research and Scholarly Publishing Practices” on the NRF website https://www.nrf.ac.za/statement-on-ethical-research-and-scholarly-publishing-practices/.

Protection of personal information

The National Research Foundation ensures compliance with the Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA), Act 4 of 2013, committing to ensure the privacy of those submitting applications and proposals to the NRF on the NRF Online Submission System (https://nrfconnect.nrf.ac.za/). The National Research Foundation will protect the personal information provided by applicants or the third party against misuse, loss, unauthorised access, modification, or disclosure. The Privacy Policy of the NRF outlines the practices relating to the protection of personal information and can be accessed on the NRF website at https://www.nrf.ac.za/privacy-policy.

Submission deadline 

The deadline for submission 10 June 2026. The deadline for DA submission to the NRF is 18 June 2026 (only applicable to South African researchers).

Applications received after the closing date will not be considered for funding. Please note that neither SASUF nor the NRF will be held responsible for applications not received. Researchers are also advised to ensure that their research partners' applications are submitted and received in the partner country.

We look forward to receiving your application!