The NZUK Link Foundation builds on the firm historical foundations of the special New Zealand and UK relationship. For over 30 years it has promoted intellectual, professional and creative collaborations between New Zealand and Great Britain.

This touches all parts of our shared histories and cultures:  the ties of Empire and loyalties of fighting side by side for freedom in two world wars; friendly sporting competition and exchange; diplomacy, civic and legal forms of governance;  the mutual appreciation of landscape and culture: the impact of British art, architecture, literature on the fabric of New Zealand’s early colonial culture and now the flow of New Zealand culture, business and innovation towards Britain.

With the aim of promoting equality, prosperity and cultural vitality, the Link’s collaborations and exchanges have focused on the past, by celebrating the shared heritage; the present, through exchanges that share and build on world leading practices; and the future, by fostering ideas, research and innovations for new generations. By enabling outstanding and promising individuals to travel, train, research and promote their areas of interest, the Link has facilitated new benefits for arts, industries and professions, as well as wider benefits for society.
In the last 30 years, the Link has sustained the vital bilateral relationship by supporting more than 250 individuals and groups with over £1.5 m of funding, creating life-changing experiences for participants, while also generating wider exchange and deepening relations between our two countries.

Past collaborations have taken the form of visits and/or exchanges in the fields of education, culture and heritage, commerce and industry, the environment and conservation, hospitality and the arts. Over 80 discretionary grants have been awarded by the Link to individuals and groups to travel for this purpose since 1990, in the arts, education, veterinary and medical, heritage, hospitality, journalism and music.  To give a flavor, benefactors such as the Cambridge Commonwealth Trust/ Foreign & Commonwealth Office; Anglian Water (environment and conservation); Bank of Scotland /Countrywide Banking Corporation; British Airways; ENZA and East Kent Packers (pip-fruit industry); Fonterra; Meat New Zealand; The Worshipful Company of Drapers (fashion and textiles);  and the Worshipful Company of Barber-Surgeons (medical), have sponsored Fellowships for New Zealanders in a range of professions and educational fields to visit the UK; and vice versa, for British practitioners, researchers and professionals to visit New Zealand.

For Fellowships sponsored by the NZUK Link click here, and for Discretionary Grants to the UK click here.