Overall Description

BBSRC Brazil Pump-Priming Award (FAPPA) is a joint funding opportunity from the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP). It supports collaboration between BBSRC-funded UK researchers and FAPESP-funded researchers in São Paulo, Brazil.

The award is designed to pump-prime new or strengthened UK-Brazil research collaborations, adding value to existing BBSRC- and FAPESP-funded research. Funding primarily supports travel, researcher exchanges, workshops and other collaborative activities, with limited direct research costs permitted to generate preliminary data for future joint proposals.

The programme particularly aims to build sustainable research relationships, facilitate knowledge and skills exchange, provide opportunities for early-career researchers, and generate future collaborative research under the wider UKRI-FAPESP partnership.

Funding Amount

• Maximum BBSRC award: £35,000;
• Funding rate: 100% FEC;
• Maximum duration: 2 years;
• Brazilian funding: São Paulo partners apply separately to FAPESP for equivalent funding;
• Direct research costs: Maximum 50% of the BBSRC request;
• Eligible costs: Travel, subsistence, workshops, exchanges, consumables and access to specialist equipment;
• Not funded: Salaries, overheads and equipment costs.

Submission Deadlines

• Opening: 29 July 2026 at 09:00 UK time;
• Closing date: Open – no closing date;
• Application timing: Must be submitted at least 12 weeks before intended travel/project activity;
• Applications can only be submitted after the underlying BBSRC grant has started.

Submission Conditions

Applications must:

• Be submitted through the UKRI Funding Service;
• Be led by a researcher currently holding relevant BBSRC funding;
• Involve an eligible FAPESP-funded collaborator in São Paulo;
• Demonstrate benefits for both UK and Brazilian research;
• Primarily focus on collaboration rather than research;
• Limit direct research costs to 50% of the BBSRC funding request;
• Be submitted at least 12 weeks before travel;
• Have at least 6 months remaining on the underlying BBSRC project when the FAPPA award starts.

The UK project lead submits the joint application to BBSRC, including the UK and Brazilian budget requests. The São Paulo researchers must also submit the same proposal to FAPESP through the SAGe system.

Eligible Types Of Applicants

UK applicant:

• Current holder of a BBSRC research grant; or
• Researcher at a BBSRC strategically supported institute working on projects supported through Institute Core Grant Awards;
• Must meet standard BBSRC eligibility requirements.

Brazilian applicant:

• Must be based in São Paulo;
• Must currently hold a FAPESP research grant as project lead or project co-lead.

Not eligible:

• Students;

Other project partners may come from industry, academia, third sector or government organisations, in the UK or overseas.

Eligible Countries

The core collaboration is specifically between:

• United Kingdom – BBSRC-supported researchers;
• Brazil (State of São Paulo) – FAPESP-supported researchers.

Additional project partners may be based in the UK, EU or other countries, subject to UKRI rules, but the primary funded collaboration must be between eligible UK and São Paulo-based Brazilian researchers.