Government announces £80 million UK–India research fund

While visiting a tech summit in New Delhi, India, UK science minister Jo Johnson has announced a joint UK–India £80 million funding initiative that will be ploughed into research in areas such as energy and health over the next five years.

The money is part of the Newton Fund, a programme set up in 2014 to support overseas development, initially to the tune of £75 million per year. In 2015 it was announced as part of the government’s spending review that this would double to £150 million per year by 2021, adding up to a total UK investment of £735 million by 2021, to be matched by partner countries. The newly allocated £80 million will take the total spent on the UK–India Newton Fund partnership by both governments to £200 million by 2021.

Included within it will be an £8.4 million programme to improve water quality and a £13 million programme to tackle antimicrobial resistance, along with an annual £1 million Newton Prize from 2017 for science and innovation that supports public health.