The Association of Commonwealth Universities, ACU, is a global network of universities with a shared commitment to building a better world through international collaboration in higher education. As the world’s first and older international university network, it has been bringing universities together from across the Commonwealth for more than 100 years.
The ACU has over 400 member universities in more than 40 countries across the Commonwealth with 70% of members being from low- and middle-income countries and are represented in more than 50% of Commonwealth large ocean states. Learn more about ACU members here: ACU member universities.
The ACU’s strategic priorities are to champion the power of higher education to improve lives, support the long-term vitality of universities, engage and connect universities across borders, and promote collaboration among them, deliver educational opportunities that make a positive and uphold the ACU’s reputation for excellence and demonstrate its impact.
McMaster University is one of the ACU’s funding members since 1913. As ACU’s member, McMaster promotes initiatives around educational innovation, student experience, and international research collaboration. In the past few years, McMaster received 4 ACU Grants and Awards and hosted 1 ACU Fellow:
ACU has a number of available resources available to McMaster Community, please click in each box to learn more.
A collection of practical resources to assist analysis and action for addressing equity in research partnerships.
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A benchmarking service that provides you with a comparison on policies, practices, and resource allocation that will help support your decision making in key areas – read the executive summary of the most recent ‘supporting research’ survey or request full access to the dashboards.
This roster encourages academics to register their interest to be included in the Roster of Experts to highlight skills and expertise. Values of becoming an ACU expert are outlined below. Interested McMaster faculty members who would like to be included in the Roster should reach out to the OIA (oia@mcmaster.ca).
The ACU has a funding opportunities calendar along with closing dates and links to application pages with further information on specific grants, fellowships and scholarships available to faculty and staff. The ACU funds the following types of activities through grants and fellowships: research and knowledge exchange: teaching, learning and pedagogy; institutional tools and resources; capacity strengthening; university exchange or collaboration. Some opportunities are open to all, while others are only available to ACU members. A full list of opportunities can be found below. Details of each upcoming opportunity is also available on the OIA’s webpage.
ACU Fellowships facilitate collaboration at a distance and the creation of valuable new partnerships between ACU member universities across the Commonwealth. These partnerships are developed through research visits for a period of 1 to 6 months to an ACU member university in a different country under the following Fellowships:
The King’s Commonwealth Fellowship Programme PhD Fellowships, inspired by His Majesty King Charles III, offer a unique opportunity for fellows from Small Island Developing States to undertake a PhD in their home country alongside work.
Fellows will enroll in a PhD programme in their home country and receive joint supervision from a dedicated partner university elsewhere across the Commonwealth (mainly Australia, Canada, New Zealand, or United Kingdom), where they will attend periods of study and/or research methods training. The program will support PhD studies in the following subject areas:
ACU Gender Grants are awarded annually to member universities to support initiatives that will boost gender equity and equality on campus. The grants can be used for a diverse range of projects, workshops, and events in areas such as:
The ACU is working in partnership with the Martha Farrell Foundation to provide up to three of the five Gender Grants focused on creating effective anti-sexual harassment policies and strategies, drawing on the Foundation’s expertise in anti-sexual harassment initiatives.
Early Career Conference Grants help to ensure that emerging researchers – and the universities that employ them – can benefit from the valuable opportunity of attending and taking part in in-person conferences in Commonwealth countries outside of their country of work. These events are a chance to share research, learn about the latest developments in an area of work, and build valuable professional networks.
The grants fund training that equips researchers with essential skills to enable them to succeed in their careers, whether they remain in academia, or utilise their skills in other professional fields. Universities can use their internal criteria of what defines an early career researcher (ECR), but this must include Doctoral candidates, and the training must be made available to ECRs from multiple disciplines.
Skills which are in scope of the training include:
The Blue Charter Knowledge Exchange Training Programme aims to help enhance the impact of research dissemination activities undertaken by early-career researchers (ECRs) working in the field of marine science. By enhancing knowledge exchange and communication skills, the programme will support researchers to better promote best practices, effective interventions and innovative solutions emerging from their area of research. Researchers may be nominated to enrol in the training, and the focus of their research must be marine plastic pollution, or a related area.
The grants are available to help meet the costs of organising projects that promote the essential work of HR and the aims of the HR in HE Community in a diverse range of virtual or in-person projects, workshops, or events, such as:
This tailor-made training course will provide you with the skills to pitch and write for the media. Facilitated by Universal Impact / The Conversation, the course will be held online, over two, two-hour sessions and will cover:
Twenty places are available for this training course. For the top scoring candidates, only one place will be offered per ACU member university.
The Edward Boyle Medical Elective grants offer medical students at a UK ACU member institution funding towards a medical elective within a low or middle-income Commonwealth country. 6 grants of up to GBP 1000 are awarded.
The ACU has a funding opportunities calendar along with closing dates and links to application pages with further information on specific grants, fellowships and scholarships available to students. The ACU funds the following types of activities through grants and fellowships: research and knowledge exchange: teaching, learning and pedagogy; institutional tools and resources; capacity strengthening; university exchange or collaboration. Some opportunities are open to all, while others are only available to ACU members. A full list of opportunities can be found below. Details of each upcoming opportunity is also available on the OIA’s webpage.
The Queen Elizabeth Commonwealth Scholarships (QECS) offer a unique opportunity to study a two-year master’s degree in a low or middle-income Commonwealth country.
Each year there are two opportunities to apply for QECS – cycle 1 opens in November/December and cycle 2 opens in March/April. You only need to submit one application, but you are welcome to apply more than once if there is another country you are interested in studying in.
The Commonwealth Scholarship Commission in the UK (CSC) provides the leading scholarship programme focused on sustainable development for the government of the United Kingdom (UK). Funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO), it supports the co-creation of research, innovation, and solutions to advance sustainable development priorities across the Commonwealth and beyond.
Upon completion of their studies and research, Commonwealth Alumni return to their home countries and work to address these local and national sustainable development priorities.
Ocean Country Partnership Programme (OCPP) Scholarships offer a unique opportunity to undertake a fully funded Master’s or PhD in marine science.
Aimed at early to mid-career researchers who wish to develop a career in marine science, the OCPP scholarships support world-class research and innovation in the areas of:
The King’s Commonwealth Fellowship Programme (KCFP), inspired by His Majesty King Charles III and his life’s work to create opportunity and to tackle contemporary challenges including climate change and inequality, has been developed in response to these urgent economic, social and environmental development challenges affecting Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
KCFP offers fellowships for mid-career public service professionals, undergraduate scholarships, and PhDs. Activities included in the programme will take place in-country, with an emphasis on local impact and retaining skills and talent in SIDS regions. The programme aims to strengthen climate resilience, build capacity in education, health and engineering, and develop resilient public services and the skills of those who support them.
The Routledge/Round Table Commonwealth PhD Studentships provide support for research projects on Commonwealth-related themes in the humanities and social sciences.
Proposed research must meet at least one of the following criteria:
ACU Global Grants support undergraduate students from UK member universities to attend summer schools overseas. The grants, which are funded by the kind legacy of Major Harold William Paxton, are aimed particularly at students from low-income families, care leavers, and students who are the first in their family to attend university.