ACU Expert Group Fellowships

Call opens: 28 April 2026
Call closes: 9 June 2026, 3PM UTC

The ACU’s Expert Groups seek to bridge academic policy gaps, harnessing ACU member expertise to advance key Commonwealth policy priorities and build strategic partnerships with policymakers, civil society, practitioner bodies, and ACU members to support their implementation.

Purposefully aligned with collective Commonwealth mandates, ACU Expert Groups bring together academic leaders from ACU member institutions working in key areas of sustainable development. To engage even more ACU members in this work, the ACU funds a dedicated fellowship scheme to commission policy-relevant research on topics thematically linked to each Expert Group.

What do the fellowships include?

The total amount to be awarded is up to GBP 13,000.

Funding and project delivery timeline:

Project delivery: June-October 2026 (indicative)
CHOGM engagement (for Blue / Ocean Finance call): Early November 2026

What are the eligibility requirements?

The project lead must be employed at an ACU member university.
Proposals may be delivered by a wider interdisciplinary team (including doctoral students), with applications encouraged to specify how collaboration between individuals and disciplines / departments will support delivery.

The current Expert Groups and topics that are eligible for ACU Expert Group funding for this current cycle are:

ACU Health Expert Group Fellowship

Health and care workforce: ethical recruitment and fair employment practices study

The ACU invites applications from member institutions to deliver a comparative study focused on ethical recruitment, fair employment practices, and retention of the health and care workforce across the Commonwealth. This call responds to urgent concerns raised by Commonwealth Member States - particularly Small Island Developing States (SIDS) - regarding the sustainability of health and care workforces in the context of national health system resilience.

The selected project will be developed with and reviewed by the Commonwealth Secretariat and ACU Health Expert Group; interim meetings will be arranged throughout the delivery period to identify and validate emerging themes, gaps and ensure outputs generate actionable evidence to support Commonwealth wide dialogue on health workforce policy.

The fellowship will fund one ACU member institution to deliver a comparative study identifying how different Commonwealth countries approach the following:

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Thematic domains:

Ethical recruitment practices, including alignment with international norms, bilateral agreements, or codes of practice, and relevant equitable mobility programmes or training pathways.
Fair employment/retention practices, including (but not limited to) issues such as pay and remuneration, working conditions, workplace protections, professional and career development, and any associated regulatory frameworks.

Clarifying scope and approach

Applicants are not expected to:

Exhaustively map the above across all Commonwealth contexts, health professions or health worker categories.
Undertake primary data collection or fieldwork.

Instead, proposals should:

Justify a strategic geographic focus and identify illustrative examples under the thematic domains listed.
Where relevant to the study design, synthesise secondary datasets (e.g. World Health Organisation, national workforce data) and academic and grey literature alongside any other methods.

Objectives

The study should identify:

Both good and bad examples of health and care workforce recruitment, and fair employment / retention practices across the Commonwealth, and any associated outcomes and impacts.
How these examples do or do not align with national, regional or global health workforce policy agendas.
Any key challenges and enabling conditions that shape how these initiatives operate across diverse institutional, regulatory and labour‑market contexts.
Key takeaways or recommendations for informing ethical recruitment and fair employment practices – and the factors that may shape their translation to support sustainable health workforce strategies in SIDS and other resource‑constrained health systems.

Methodological approach

As part of the application form, applicants will be asked to outline the following:

Geographic scope or sampling - and how this will inform lessons learnt and implications for Commonwealth SIDS and other resource-constrained health systems.
Any methods, data sources, tools and resources used.
Any limitations of the proposed study.

Expected outputs:

A report providing clear, policy relevant insights collated under each study objective, to be shared with the ACU Health Expert Group and health policy partners.
A summative policy brief highlighting key findings to be used to engage Commonwealth member states, health officials and external partners at key ministerial and high-level policy events.

ACU Oceans Expert Group Fellowship

CHOGM blue finance/ocean finance study

The ACU invites applications from member institutions to a competitive research call focused on innovative university approaches to blue and ocean finance. This call has a particular interest in Commonwealth Small Island Developing / Large Ocean States, where access to blue and ocean finance is critical to climate resilience, economic stability and sustainable development.

The selected project will be developed in close dialogue with the Commonwealth Secretariat and Centre of Excellence for Oceanography and the Blue Economy (COBE), ensuring university-led evidence directly contributes to policy discussions on blue finance held at the 2026 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Antigua and Barbuda.

The fellowship will fund one ACU member institution to deliver two linked outputs:

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1. Rapid Scoping Study: Blue & Ocean Finance in Commonwealth Universities

The funded project will deliver a short scoping study mapping how Higher Education contributes to the development of inclusive and innovative approaches to increase blue and ocean finance in the Commonwealth, with a focus on any / all of the following:

Thematic domains:

Research on marine, coastal and ocean-related financing approaches, including nature-based and ecosystem-based solutions.
Teaching related to blue economy, climate and ocean finance, conservation finance and sustainable investment.
Partnerships or programmes with governments, development banks, regulators, communities, NGOs or industry – e.g., through policy advice, technical assistance, training and capacity-building.
Innovative approaches to the design, de-risking or scaling of blue finance instruments, such as blue bonds, blended and public finance, insurance instruments, natural capital accounting, and coastal or mangrove resilience finance.

Note: this study is not expected to exhaustively map all Commonwealth countries, institutions and relevant university provision. Instead, applicants should identify illustrative examples under any / all of the thematic domains listed.

The following information will also be provided to support the study:

University case study material gathered by the ACU Oceans Expert Group on mangroves conservation and rehabilitation (to be provided following Fellowship selection).

Objectives:

The objective of the study is to identify and synthesise examples of university good practice from across the Commonwealth, to generate policy relevant insights that can support Small Island / Large Ocean States in strengthening approaches and access to blue and ocean finance.

Where relevant, the study should therefore identify:

Where / how selected examples align with national, regional and global policy agendas (e.g., oceans, climate resilience, economic development and development finance).
The types of outputs, outcomes and impacts typically generated by different forms of university provision (e.g. teaching, research, training, external partnerships) across varied country contexts.
Identify barriers and enablers affecting alignment between university provision and societal stakeholder (e.g., governments, development banks, regulators, communities, NGOs or industry) needs.

Methodological approach

As part of the application form, applicants will be asked to outline the following:

The selection of any / all thematic domains (e.g., research, teaching, partnerships, innovations) and the rationale for this
Geographic scope or sampling - and how this will inform lessons learnt and implications for Small Island / Large Oceans States.
Any methods, data sources, tools and resources used.
Any limitations of the proposed study.

Expected output: a summative report providing clear, policy relevant insights collated under each objective to inform discussions at CHOGM and wider policy engagements with Commonwealth stakeholders.

2. Policy translation for CHOGM

To ensure this study moves beyond academic mapping and influence policy, the selected applicant will be expected to:

Produce a CHOGM-ready briefing based on the study
Present the findings (in person) as part of ACU’s engagement at CHOGM 2026 in Antigua in early November 2026; additional support beyond the research funding will be provided.

As part of the application form, applicants will be therefore asked to demonstrate prior experience in translating research for policy audiences.

Expected outputs:

Policy brief (1-2 pages)
~800 word ACU blog post capturing key insights, stakeholder perspectives and recommendations for the Expert Group.

Commonwealth mangroves spatial data stocktake study

This call invites ACU members to deliver a stocktake study of publicly available spatial data on mangroves across the Commonwealth. The study responds to challenges identified by Commonwealth Member States convened through the Commonwealth Blue Charter Marine Ecosystems and Livelihoods Action Group (MELAG), concerning difficulties in accessing and applying spatial mangrove data for policy and decision‑making.

The selected project will be developed and reviewed in collaboration with the Commonwealth Secretariat, MELAG member states, and the ACU Oceans Expert Group, to validate emerging findings and ensure outputs generate actionable evidence to inform policy dialogue on mangrove conservation and resilience.

The fellowship will fund one ACU member institution to deliver two linked outputs:

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1. Spatial data stocktake study

While a range of mangrove spatial datasets exists, their availability, geographic coverage, ownership, validation and practical usability vary significantly across countries. The funded project will therefore deliver a stocktake study examining the practical utility of publicly available data across several key domains, which may include (but should not necessarily be limited to) the following:

Key domains:

Availability: identifying publicly available spatial datasets and openly documented methodologies used to generate or process mangrove-related spatial data (including national, regional and global sources).
Coverage: assessing which Commonwealth countries are included in existing datasets, and where geographic, thematic or temporal gaps exist.
Ownership: mapping responsibility for data collection, analysis and tools / service provision (e.g. ministries, agencies, universities, partner organisations).
Responsibility: examining arrangements for data submission, updating and coordination across institutions.
Validation: how spatial data is collated, verified and quality‑assured, and implications for policy confidence.
Accessibility: factors affecting policy use (e.g., available formats, extractable/derivable data types, resolution of remote sensing data, licensing or access constraints).

Clarifying scope and approach

The study should ideally be cross-Commonwealth, with analysis and key findings disaggregated by region. However, applicants may scope a justified sub-set of countries , provided the rationale, transferability and limitations of this approach are clearly articulated.

Objectives

The study should identify:

What publicly available mangrove spatial data exists across the Commonwealth, and where significant gaps remain.
The feasibility of capturing the total mangrove extent (hectares or square kilometres) across Commonwealth member states.
How responsibilities for data collection, validation and dissemination are distributed across institutions and sectors – and where this information is publicly available or not.
Key institutional, technical and governance factors evident in publicly available resources that shape whether and how spatial data may be used in policy contexts.
Where dataset documentation, metadata or associated materials allow, common challenges affecting accessibility and usability for policymakers.
Cross cutting takeaways that can support clearer dialogue and coordination between governments, academic institutions and partner organisations.

Methodological approach

As part of the application form, applicants will be asked to outline the following:

The selection of key domains - and how these will address the study objectives.
Geographic scope or sampling - and how this will inform lessons learnt and implications for Commonwealth member states.
Proposed methods, data sources, tools and resources used (e.g., government and non-government).
Any limitations of the proposed study.

Expected outputs:

The project is expected to deliver:

A report providing clear, policy relevant insights organised under each study objective, to be shared with the ACU Oceans Expert Group, MELAG and Commonwealth Secretariat policy teams.
A visual or tabular summary (e.g. matrices or mapping tables) of identified sources disaggregated by key domains.

How to apply

Review the application guidance.
Submit an application through the online application form.
- If you have a MyACU account, you can access the application form here.
- If you do not have a MyACU account, please ensure that you first register for an account here and then follow the instructions in the registration email to log in to the system before accessing the application form.

Apply here

Application guidance

How to complete your application

Read the guidance

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What do the fellowships include?

Funding and project delivery timeline:

What are the eligibility requirements?

ACU Health Expert Group Fellowship

Health and care workforce: ethical recruitment and fair employment practices study

ACU Oceans Expert Group Fellowship

CHOGM blue finance/ocean finance study

1. Rapid Scoping Study: Blue & Ocean Finance in Commonwealth Universities

2. Policy translation for CHOGM

Commonwealth mangroves spatial data stocktake study

1. Spatial data stocktake study

How to apply