Research at DFID

Information on the research activities and funding opportunities offered by the Department for International Development.

This information page was withdrawn on

The Department for International Development (DFID) was replaced by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) in September 2020. This DFID page is no longer current. Instead, see Research at FCDO.


What we do

The new Research for Development (R4D) is now live Research for Development Outputs

Research is at the heart of DFID’s thinking. High quality research which generates strong and applicable evidence helps us build good development programmes. Research can open up new possibilities and empower us to deal with difficult problems. Outputs from DFID funded research projects and programmes are available on Research for Development Outputs.

DFID has an open and enhanced access policy to help make the research we fund freely available and to increase the uptake and use of it. DFID’s Research uptake guidance and accompanying checklist provide information on DFID’s approach to research uptake and advice for designing a research uptake strategy.

DFID research has 3 strands of work:

  • to develop new technologies and products such as drought resistant crops, better drugs for malaria and neglected diseases
  • to help us understand what development approaches work most effectively in order to improve the impact and value for money of spending on development
  • to improve our understanding of key development questions so that we make the best policy choices. For example, predicting the onset of the West African rains, finding out why girls leave school early and understanding causes and effects of corruption and how to address them.

Funding opportunities

A selection of current DFID research calls and tenders.

The DFID supplier portal is the central source of information for all DFID contract opportunities and contracts.

Where to find our publications