SVRI Grant - GBV in Higher Education Institutions with a Focus on STEM

The Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) is pleased to announce an additional funding envelope as part of the 2025–26 grant cycle, focusing specifically on gender-based violence (GBV) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), with a particular emphasis on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) disciplines.

Types of Streams

• Open Grant: Supporting innovative research that contributes to the prevention and response to violence against women (VAW), violence against children (VAC), and other forms of gender-based violence in LMICs.
  • Supports research on all forms of VAW and VAC which addresses a priority evidence gap, drawing on the following research agendas, including:
  • Global and regional shared research agendas, Global, LAC, Africa, East Asia Pacific
  • Topic specific research agendas, on Child Sexual Violence; Technology-Facilitated GBV; GBV in Higher Education Institutions; Intersections between VAW and VAC.

Priority Areas

• Involve multidisciplinary, cross-sectoral consortia.
• Demonstrate strong local partnerships and institutional buy-in.
• Adopt feminist, intersectional, and rights-based approaches, with safe, ethical, and inclusive engagement of affected communities where appropriate.
• Provide a clear breakdown of responsibilities for consortium proposals, ensuring equitable partnerships and including an expert in VAW/VAC research.

Funding Information

• Open Grant:
  • Grant Value: $40,000 – $100,000
  • Duration: 12–18 months

Eligibility Criteria

• Be led by low- and middle-income countries (LMIC)-based organisations, universities, or research institutions.
• Build on existing evidence, outlining a clear gap in the field, outlining how the research will strengthen policy, practice, or methodology in the field.
• Clearly show how the research addresses a priority evidence gap, drawing on SVRI’s research agendas, including:
  • Global and regional shared research agendas, Global, LAC, Africa, East Asia Pacific
  • Topic specific research agendas, on Child Sexual Violence; Technology-Facilitated GBV; GBV in Higher Education Institutions; Intersections between VAW and VAC.
• Demonstrate ethical rigour, including strategies to minimise harm and ensure informed consent.
• Include clear, actionable research uptake and dissemination plans.
• Where applicable, include a data management plan detailing data security, access, and storage.
• Outline a realistic budget and timeline, with strong justification.
• They welcome proposals that:
  • Strengthen research capacity in LMICs through mentoring, training, and leadership development, with meaningful participation of early-career researchers.
  • Test, adapt or scale innovative approaches to addressing VAW and VAC.
  • Build or support networks between researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.
• Research Design:
  • In terms of research design, they invite a diversity of designs including:
    • Primary data collection,
    • Secondary data analysis,
    • Mixed methods,
    • Implementation science,
    • Innovative methodological approaches, where appropriate to the research question.