Attention McMaster Researchers and Professional Librarians engaged in international initiatives related to their role at McMaster:
The International Initiatives Micro-Fund (IIMF) offers small-scale seed funding to support global research collaborations and the development of international partnerships.
The Office of International Affairs (OIA) is pleased to announce that this year’s International Initiatives Micro Fund (IIMF) will be offered in collaboration with the Research Office for Administration, Development and Support (ROADS).
For 2025 – 2026, the IIMF will support seed funding for McMaster researchers to build partnerships and develop networks or consortia with researchers from European Union and Horizon Europe associated countries, with the goal of applying to Horizon Europe Pillar II calls for proposals.
Funding may be used for travel, networking, workshops, and other capacity-building activities that strengthen partnerships and improve preparedness for Horizon Europe Pillar II applications.
Applicants are encouraged to review the draft Horizon Europe 2026–2027 Work Programme to identify calls of interest and demonstrate how their proposed activities align with upcoming funding opportunities. This information should be reflected in the application form under “Alignment with Horizon Europe.”
Value: Funding requests through the IIMF Horizon Europe Seed Funding application stream are generally expected to be no more than C$10,000. However, in exceptional cases, requests exceeding this amount may be considered if sufficient justification is provided and funds are available.
Assessment Criteria:
• Clarity and feasibility of the proposed activities and timeline
• Alignment with relevant Horizon Europe 2026–2027 Work Programme Clusters/Themes
• Appropriate and well-justified budget
• Demonstrated potential to result in a future Horizon Europe Pillar II proposal
Application Requirements: · Completed Horizon Europe Seed funding Application Form
· Attachment addressing the assessment criteria above
· The applicant’s CV (SSHRC CV or NSERC Form 100 or equivalent)
Reporting: Award recipients must submit a one-page narrative report within one year of receiving the award. The report should detail the activities conducted, provide a breakdown of expenditures, and summarize the outcomes of the collaboration.
Application Form: The application form can be found here. Completed applications must be submitted by January 22, 2026.
After submission, the Horizon Europe Program Lead will request approval from the Department Chair (or their delegate) and the Faculty Dean (or their delegate) on behalf of the applicant.
Matching or supplementary funding contributions for IIMF Stream 2 applications are welcome.
For inquiries, please contact horizon.europe@mcmaster.ca
About Horizon Europe
Horizon Europe is the EU’s flagship research and innovation funding program, supporting international collaboration to address global challenges, drive scientific excellence, and accelerate innovation. With a budget of over €95 billion (2021–2027), Horizon Europe offers diverse funding opportunities across thematic pillars including health, climate, digital transformation, and inclusive societies. The program emphasizes global partnerships and interdisciplinary research to generate real-world impact.
Expandable List
| Faculty | Name | Project Title |
| Business | Berk Gorgulu |
Simultaneous Disease and Specimen Pooling in Infectious Disease Testing
|
| Business | Manish Kacker |
Distribution Channel Design and Management for Inclusive Access and Growth in Developing Economies
|
| Business | Milena Head | International Collaborations to Expand Aging Related Research Growth in Developing Economies |
| Business | Yao Yao |
Generative AI in HRM: A study on HRM Professionals’ Experiences and Perceptions
|
| Humanities | Dilyana Mincheva |
Archival Research and Academic Screenwriting: Investigating Interfaith Lifeworlds in the Cold War Balkans
|
| Humanities | Lucy El-Sherif |
Looking for Palestine: Edward Said and Arab Youth Subjectivity
|
| Humanities | Christina Baade |
Hearing Maternity: Developing an International Research Network on Music, Sound, and Maternity
|
| Social Sciences | Jarita Greyeyes |
Understanding Indigenization: Perspectives from Indigenous Academic Leaders
|
| Social Sciences | Tommy Wu |
A Comparative Analysis of Food Delivery Workers in Toronto and New York City
|
| Social Sciences | Netina Tan |
Digital Authoritarianism and Non-State Actors in Africa and Asia
|
| Social Sciences | Victor Satzewich |
‘At Wars End? Ukrainian Displaced Persons in Canada, Poland and Germany
|
| Social Sciences | Andrew Roddick |
A Photogrammetry Reappraisal of Formative Sculptural Tradition
|
| Science | Gillian Goward |
Building an International Network of Battery Researchers
|
| Science | Graham Scott |
Physiological mechanisms of adaptation in high-altitude mice
|
| Science | Ryan Cloutier |
Characterizing the Dominant Drivers of Planet Evolution around Young M Stars
|
| Science | Shui Feng |
Bayesian Nonparametric Inferences
|
| Science | Rodrigo Narro Pérez |
Glacial Landsystem Analysis in the Vilcabamba Mountain Range, Southern Perú
|
| Engineering | Kanwarpal Singh |
Demystifying acute and chronic intestinal inflammation with spectroscopic cellular optical coherence tomography (sc-OCT)
|
| Engineering | Heather Sheardown |
Development of Novel Combination Therapy for the Treatment of Myopia
|
| Engineering | Saiedeh Razavi |
Cooperative Planning in Lean Constriction through Ethical, Safe, and Responsible use of AI
|
| Engineering | Telex M. N. Ngatched |
Optical Wireless Communication for Space-Air-Ground Integrated Network in 6G
|
| Engineering | Onaizah Onaizah |
Magnetic Tracking for Localization of Magnetic Continuum Robots for ENT Surgery
|
| Health Sciences | Mohit Bhandari |
Measuring the Creative Potential of Surgeons: A Mixed-Methods Cohort Study
|
| Health Sciences | Waliul Khan |
Impact of common food dyes on human gut health in Bangladesh: a pilot study
|
| Health Sciences | Margaret Fahnestock |
BDNF isoforms and pro BDNF biology and regulation
|
| Health Sciences | Deborah Sloboda |
Characterizing the impacts of maternal BMI on placental structure, perfusion, & inflammation
|
| Humanities | Ivona Kučerová |
Closing the Digital Divide: Accessibility, Employability, and Safety
|
| Faculty | Name | Title |
| Humanities | Ronald Cummings | Austin Clarke at 90 |
| Humanities | Melike Yilmaz | The Voices of Refugees and Displaced Persons |
| Humanities | Carmela Laganse | The Sari-Sari Xchange: Building Asian Diasporic Community Through Emergent Media |
| Humanities | Lucy El-Sherif | Looking for Palestine: Edward Said and Arab Youth Subjectivity |
| Science | Patrick Clancy | Building an International Network of University Neutron Beam Research Facilities |
| Science | Baraa Al-Khazraji | Understanding human brain microvascular control |
| Science | Antonio Paez | Active sustainable transportation: barriers to cycling among university students |
| Science | Bartosz Protas | Pushing Boundaries in Theoretical Fluid Mechanics |
| Science | Juliet Daniel | Cancer Disparities in Caribbean People of African Ancestry |
| Health Sciences | Susan Jack | Establishing a Global Nurse-Family Partnership Community of Practice |
| Health Sciences | Cynthia Lokker | Automation in Biomedical Information Extraction and Retrieval Augmented Generation with LLMs |
| Health Sciences | Ally Prebtani | Uganda Hypertension Education Assessment and Treatment (UHEAT) Program |
| Social Sciences | Basit Kareem Iqbal | Recursivity in Syrian Prison Narratives: A Berlin Archive |
| Social Sciences | Nathan Andrews | Decolonizing African Higher Education: A Partnership for Transformation |
| Social Sciences | Andrew Roddick | The Stones in the Center: 3D Imaging ancient stone heads at a UNESCO World Heritage Site |
| Social Sciences | Adrianne Lickers Xavier | Conversations with the Sami |
| Social Sciences | Cal Biruk | Staging anticolonial portraits at a colonial mission station: Telling the story of Malawi’s first African photographer |
| Engineering | Tohid Didar & Kristen Dellinger | Lubricant-inflused Surfaces for Enhanced Detection Using Raman Spectroscopy and Surface Plasmon Resonance Imaging |
| Engineering | Raja Ghosh | Design and synthesis of reinforced graphene oxide – acrylamide based hydrogel membrane for efficient removal of organic dyes from waster water |
| Engineering | Drew Higgins | Development of Next Generation MSC Catalysts for CO2 Reduction |
| Engineering | Saiedeh Razavi | Green and Resilient Maritime Corridors through Synchromodality and Disruption Management |
| Engineering | Hatem Zurob | Unraveling the Work-Hardening Mechanism in FE-Al Alloys |
| Business | Catherine Connelly | Work engagement and envy as mediators of the relation between abusive supervision and knowledge hiding |
| Business | Addisu Lashitew | Organizing for Grand Challenges: Creating Social Impact on African Value Chains |
| Business | Justin Yipiang Jin | Low-Carbon City Pilot Policy and firm’s cost of debt finance |
| Business | Yair Berson | The Effects of Hostile Sexism on Women Team Performance |
| Faculty | Name | Project Title |
| Humanities | Dr. Victor Kuperman | The Language of Trauma in Testimonies of the Russia-Ukraine War |
| Humanities | Dr. Selina Mudavanhu | Contributions by African Communication and Media Studies Scholars to the South African Academy |
| Humanities | Dr. Michael Schutz | The Power of Percussive Sounds? |
| Science | Dr. Jose Moran-Mirabal | Evaluation of Cancer Targeting Treatments on Lung Biomimetric Constructs |
| Science | Dr. Kathy Murphy | Sex Differences in the Developing Brain |
| Science | Dr. An-Chang Shi | Theory of Soft Quasicrystals |
| Science | Dr. Greg Slater | Biosignatures of the Microbialites in Lake Sevan Armenia |
| Science | Dr. Jeremy Walsh | The Impact of Acute Oral Ketone Monoester Supplementation on Resting-State Connectivity in Adults with Memory Complaints |
| Health Sciences | Dr. Arnav Agarwal | Avoiding Risks of Thrombosis and Bleeding in Surgery (ARTS) Trial |
| Health Sciences | Dr. Rahul Chanchlani | Deriving 24-hour Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring Reference Values for South Asian Children (ASHA) |
| Health Sciences | Dr. Alex Drossos | Artctic/Circumpolar Health |
| Health Sciences | Dr. Fiona Kouyoumdjian | International Collaboration on Linked Health Administrative Data to Advance Population Health for People Who Experience Incarceration |
| Health Sciences | Dr. Sharon Kaasalainen | Building International Partnerships to Grow Green Care Farms in Canada |
| Health Sciences | Dr. Denise Bryant-Lukosius | Building the Evidence for a Nursing Health Human Resource Agenda in Chile |
| Social Sciences | Dr. Tristan Carter | Reconstructing Long-Term Social Dynamics in Anatolian Prehistory: Establishing an International Collaborative & Experiential Education Project at the McMaster Archaeological XRF Lab [MAX Lab] |
| Social Sciences | Dr. Phillipa Chong | When the Creative Class Lives Next Door: Place and Belonging Among Citizens in Two ‘Creative’ Cities |
| Social Sciences | Dr. Celia Rothenberg | The World Holocaust Remembrance Center |
| Social Sciences | Dr. Netina Tan | Digital Authoritarianism in Comparative Perspectives |
| Social Sciences | Dr. Dana Hollander | Experimenting with Tradition |
| Social Sciences | Dr. Alok Johri | Build Research Links with Macroeconomics Researchers at the University of Birmingham, U.K. |
| Engineering | Dr. Kathryn Grandfield | Supporting International Initiatives and Conference for the Characterization of Organic-Inorganic Interfaces |
| Engineering | Dr. Joey Kish | Batteries |
| Engineering | Dr. Shakirudeen Salaudeen | Integration of Pressurized Torrefaction and Biomass Gasification |
| Engineering | Dr. Seshasai (Sesha) Srinivasan | Novel Cathodes for All Solid-State Batteries |
| Engineering | Dr. Keena Trowell | Moving Earth’s Energy: Aluminum as a Carrier of Icelandic Geothermal Energy |
| Engineering | Dr. Robin Zhao | Net-Zero Emissions Roadmap |
| Business | Dr. Brian Detlor | Promoting Research Skills and Knowledge Exchange for Library Practitioners and Academics |
| Business | Dr. Manish Kacker | Sales Channel Design for an Experience Good in a Developing Economy |
| Business | Dr. Addisu Lashitew | The Human Side of Corporate Sustainability: Is Job Satisfaction Higher Among Sustainable Companies? |
| Business | Dr. Khalid Nainar | Climate Change, Entrepreneurship and Emerging Markets |
| Business | Dr. Catherine Connelly | Does Being Drawn to Work Make Us Quiet? The Influence of Workload and Workaholism on Ethical Silence in Organizations |
Expandable List
A partial list of examples of previously funded projects can be found here.
Expandable List
McMaster researchers receive funding to pursue international partnerships via Brighter World.
Expandable List
Note:
A supporting letter from the Dean’s office isn’t required as all proposals will flow through the Associate Dean (Research).
A letter from a potential international (or domestic) collaborator isn’t required, however, we do require endorsement by the appropriate Dean by way of signing the application form.
Post-docs are excluded from applying.
Where do I send my submission?
It is preferred all applications are sent to your Faculty for collection and submission to OIA via MACdrive link. Alternatively, you may send your completed application form to iimf@mcmaster.ca.
What do I include with my application and what are the requirements?
- A one-page description of the project and intended use of funds
- The applicant’s CV (NSERC Form 100 or equivalent)
- Faculty approval which is indicated in the application form
Are there criteria for selected proposals?
- Criteria are based on alignment with the IIMF call
- Justification of the project and budget
- Clarity and cohesiveness of the project
- Applicant’s record of international research collaboration (as evident in CV)
Which research activities can be funded?
Any discipline or project with an international component.
Can research activities be funded that join individual researchers, or are institution-level partnerships a requirement?
Projects may be individual, joint, or institutional.
Is there a restriction as to in which countries partners can be located?
There are no country restrictions.
What could the $5,000 go towards?
This is dependent upon the nature of the project. Previous awardees have used the funds to hire RAs, undertake international research travels for project meetings/collaboration/build partnerships, lab equipment, etc.
Will I be notified if my proposal isn’t successful?
An email from the VPI will be sent to all unsuccessful applicants.
How will I be notified if I win?
An email from the VPI will be received by all winners with further instructions on obtaining the funds.
What if I have won in the past?
All researchers are welcome to apply, although preference may be given to those who haven’t won in previous years.
Can I apply with the same proposal as before?
Provided the proposal wasn’t successful, you may use it again.
Can multiple researchers submit a joint proposal?
Yes, you can apply to work on a project with someone in another institution or within McMaster.
How long do I have to use the funds?
You have one year from the date the funds are in your account.
What if I have funding left over?
If you do not use all allocated funds, they can be returned to OIA.
Can I get an extension to the deadline?
Extensions are not preferred but could be permitted on a case-by-case basis and with Faculty approval.
Does the award support both industry and academic partners?
Yes, it does.
Do I need to do anything once I receive my funds?
We will ask for a brief one-page (or shorter) summary of what the money was used for.