In an effort to improve research quality and broaden its international network, Universitas Negeri Semarang (UNNES), through the Institute for Research and Community Service (LPPM), organized the Workshop Series – Strategy for Winning International Research Grant 2025, Series 1: United Kingdom on Monday, July 28, 2025, held at Borobudur Room, 3rd Floor, LPPM Building, UNNES. This event is part of a series of international training sessions, with the first series focusing on research funding opportunities from the United Kingdom and strategies to succeed in competitive grant applications.
The workshop was actively attended by 200 UNNES researchers and featured Assoc. Prof. Francesca Salvi from the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Nottingham, UK, as the keynote speaker. The event was conducted in an interactive format, involving brainstorming sessions, presentations, and Q&A segments, reflecting a high level of enthusiasm among participants.
The initiative was motivated by the limited access and experience of UNNES researchers in securing international research grants, particularly from foreign institutions such as those in the UK. To address this issue, UNNES invited international partners to provide strategic insights on preparing competitive proposals and building cross-border research collaborations.
Assoc. Prof. Francesca Salvi expressed her appreciation for the warm welcome from UNNES and the active participation of attendees. She also conveyed her openness to exploring further collaborative opportunities between the University of Nottingham and UNNES in the fields of research and education.
This activity is part of UNNES’s efforts to accelerate the achievement of Key Performance Indicators (IKU) 5 and 6, namely: encouraging research outcomes that are utilized by society, and enhancing collaboration with world-class partners. Additionally, it contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) 17: Partnerships for the Goals, by opening global research-based partnership networks.
The expected impact of this activity includes increased capacity of UNNES researchers to access international research funding, the generation of innovations with direct benefits to society, and the strengthening of UNNES’s standing in both national and international rankings.
As a sustainability measure, the workshop will be followed by Series II (Australia CONNECT) and Series III (Horizon Euraxess – European Union), along with intensive mentoring programs for lecturers in the preparation of international grant proposals.
