Announcement – Canada-UK Artificial Intelligence Initiative

The three Canadian federal research funding agencies and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) are pleased to announce the launch of the Canada-UK Artificial Intelligence Initiative.

The Canadian agencies include the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. The four UK research councils involved in this UKRI initiative are the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the Medical Research Council.

The call for proposals was launched on June 21, 2019.

Please find the Canadian Request for Applications on ResearchNet.

Description

The rapid development and ever-growing global investment in artificial intelligence (AI) illustrates the undeniable impact that these technologies are having, and will have, on our economies, health and societies. Given the expertise of researchers in Canada and the United Kingdom, the Canadian agencies and UKRI are jointly supporting the development of collaboration in AI among stakeholders in Canada and the UK. The aim is to build competitive and resilient economies and maximize the social and health benefits.

This is a unique collaboration, which will require each project to include a principal investigator (PI), based in Canada, and a PI based in the UK. The PIs will share equally the leadership and project management responsibilities. The Canadian and UK applicants will develop a common research plan and jointly prepare the full proposal. Proposals will be required to demonstrate a significant degree of, or novel approach to, interdisciplinarity, with research that cuts across at least two of the following research domains: social sciences and humanities; health and biomedical sciences; and natural sciences and engineering (including computational and/or mathematical sciences).

In addition to promoting interdisciplinary AI, this call will support the development of responsible AI while establishing new partnerships and enhancing infrastructure and training between researchers in Canada and the UK. The outputs and outcomes of the research should allow for uptake by relevant stakeholders, where possible.

Funds available

The total amount available for this funding opportunity is about C$14 million (£8.2 million), enough to fund up to approximately 10 projects.

• Canadian funding agencies: The maximum amount available for Canadian researchers is C$173,333 (£102,000) per year for up to three years, for a total of C$520,000 (£305,000) per project.
• UKRI: The maximum amount available for UK researchers is a total of £625,000 (C$1.1 million) per project at 100% full economic cost.

Note: Canadian applicants are only eligible to receive funding from the Canadian agencies and UK applicants are only eligible to receive funding from UKRI.

Application process

The applicants must submit a compulsory short Intention to Submit (ItS) by 23:00 British Summer Time (BST) and 18:00 Eastern Standard Time (EST) on 19 August 2019 using the electronic form. Please see our intention to submit form.

Failure to submit a valid ItS will invalidate any submitted Full Application. ItS must be submitted by the PI based in the UK on behalf of both the UK and Canadian applicants.

Webinar for potential applicants

An English webinar, hosted by ESRC, will be held on 17 July from 16:00 to 17:00 UK time (11:00 to 12:00 EST), and a French webinar will be held from 17:00 to 18:00 UK time (12:00 to 13:00 EST). Spaces will be limited, so we encourage you to register your interest (deadline 12 July) by emailing aiukcanada@esrc.ukri.org. 

Call documents

• Call specification [ PDF (225 KB) - external link ]
• Je-S guidance [ PDF (676 KB) - external link ]
• Project Participant Form [ Word (264 KB) - external link ]
• Canadian Tri-Agency National Financial Form [ Word (80 KB) - external link ]
• Canadian National Addendum 
• UK National Addendum [ PDF (148 KB) - external link ]
• Ethics Addendum  [ PDF ( 181 KB) - external link ]

Important dates

Note: These dates are estimates and subject to change.

Date modified:

2019-08-07