The Safe and Sound Cities (S²Cities) Programme, led by the Global Infrastructure Basel Foundation (GIB), is inviting proposals from universities, research institutes, centres, and think tanks based in the Global South to serve as Global Research Partner for Phase II of the programme.
The selected partner will generate rigorous and policy-relevant research on how young people contribute to safer, more inclusive secondary cities, drawing from and/complementing the programme’s experience and findings. Research proposals may focus on one or more of the following thematic tracks:
- System-level change and urban governance:
Tracing how youth participation drives structural, relational, or transformative policy and institutional changes. - Youth safety, wellbeing, and urban conditions:
Investigating how urban environments shape issues such as mental health, gender-based violence, mobility, stigma, and inclusion. - Scaling, transferability, and global learning:
Analysing how youth-led innovations, tools and methodologies are adapted, scaled, replicated across diverse contexts, and how local efforts to promote youth-led innovation and urban safety link to global agendas like the SDGs or the New Urban Agenda. - Youth agency, institutional strengthening, and placemaking:
Exploring how placemaking methodologies strengthen youth leadership, civic engagement, intergenerational trust, and institutional responsiveness.
Partners will be expected to use innovative, participatory methodologies and produce outputs relevant to both academic and policy audiences.
Deliverables may include journal articles, working papers, policy briefs for municipalities, and contributions to international discourse on urban safety and youth agency.
Eligibility is limited to research teams based in the Global South, preferably those with field experience in one or more of the current programme countries (Indonesia, the Philippines, Colombia, Ecuador, Ghana, Tanzania).
The research team should bring expertise in urban studies/planning, safety and wellbeing, governance, youth engagement, public policy, social sciences, or related fields, and familiarity with and appreciation of design and systems-thinking approaches. Collaborative, interdisciplinary consortia are encouraged.
Proposals (max 15 pages) must outline research questions, methodology, expected outputs, and a budget.
Submissions should be emailed to Andrea Betancourt (andrea.betancourt@gib-foundation.org) with the subject line-
“Submission Research S2Cities, [Organisation Name].”
For further information view Call for Research Proposals.
Key Dates:
- Information and Q & A Session for Applicants: 14 October 2025, 14:00 CET (click here for zoom link)
- Proposal Deadline: 19 November 2025, 23:59 CET
- Final Selection: 15 January 2026
- Programme Start: March 2026
