Grants

See the full opportunity details on the Innovation Funding Service.
UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £7.8 million for small research and development (R&D) partnership projects. This funding is from the industry-led R&D Partnerships Fund, a part of the Defra Farming Innovation Programme.
Eligibility summary
This competition is open to collaborations only.
To lead a project your organisation must:
be a UK business of any size collaborate with other UK registered organisations be or work with at least one grant claiming micro, small or medium sized enterprise (SME)

See the full opportunity details on the Innovation Funding Service.
UK registered businesses can apply for loans for close to market innovative projects with strong commercial potential. They must significantly improve the UK economy and drive societal benefit.
Eligibility summary
This competition is open to single applicants from micro, small or medium sized enterprises registered in the UK.

Apply for funding for academic research addressing UK nuclear fission priorities. This is a strategic opportunity inviting large multidisciplinary consortia to adopt a whole-systems approach, integrating reactor design, fuel cycles, decommissioning, waste management, materials science, modelling, and socio-economic impacts to inform policy, provide impact and drive innovation. Consortia can have a focus area as well as an impact plan.
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for EPSRC funding.
The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £8.5 million. EPSRC will fund 80% of the FEC.
Projects can last up to five years.

Apply for funding for collaborative physics projects addressing the challenges of climate change, energy, and capacity building, across African economies. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) funding and have a project co-lead based at an eligible research organisation in Ghana, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, or Uganda.
Projects must start on 1 April 2026. The total fund amount is £3 million. STFC will fund five to 10 projects for up to 24 months and will fund 80% FEC for UK applicants and 100% FEC for international applicants.

See the full opportunity details on the Innovation Funding Service.
The ATI Programme funds industrial research and investment aid for research infrastructures to make the UK civil aerospace sector more competitive.
Eligibility summary
This competition is open to single applicants and collaborations.
To lead a collaborative project or work alone, your organisation must:
be a UK registered business of any size to lead a research project be a UK registered business of any size, an academic institution, research organisation or a research and technology organisation to lead a capital infrastructure project plan to carry out an aerospace research or technology development project in the UK address the requirements of the UK Aerospace Technology Strategy sign up to the Aerospace Technology Institute framework agreement

Apply for funding to conduct research in nature-based engineering, defined in EPSRC’s Tomorrow’s Engineering Research Challenges report as developing systems and technologies inspired by nature.
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funding. Teams must include two or more researchers from different areas and at least one early career researcher (ECR) and/or postdoctoral research assistant (PDRA).
The Full Economic Cost (FEC) can be up to £481,250, including £75,000 for PDRA/ECR development. EPSRC will fund 80% of FEC. Projects can run up to two years.

See the full opportunity details on the Innovation Funding Service.
UK registered businesses can apply for funding to resolve productivity and competitiveness issues, by working with NPL scientists.
Eligibility summary
This competition is open to single applicants only.
To apply you must be a UK registered business.

Apply for funding for a ship borne and virtual site survey investigation to support development of applications for scientific ocean drilling expeditions.
You must be:
based at a UK research organisation eligible for Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funding in a role that meets the individual eligibility requirements The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £500,000 for ship borne investigations and £187,500 for virtual investigations. NERC will fund 80% of the FEC.
Your project can last up to 24 months.

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is seeking to support applications through our standard research grant scheme in the following two areas:
advanced materials solutions for critical minerals in-situ and in-operando materials metrology and characterisation You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for EPSRC funding.
There is no limit on the value of the grant or length of the project. You should ask for what is needed to deliver the proposed programme of research.
EPSRC will award 80% of the full economic cost (FEC) of the project.
Apply to this highlight notice via EPSRC standard research grant, Nov 2023: responsive mode.

See the full opportunity details on the Innovation Funding Service.
Farming, growing or forestry businesses based in England can apply for a share of up to £3 million. This funding supports on-farm trial and demonstration projects to improve adoption of new ideas or solutions in the agricultural sector.
This is an Accelerating Development of Practices and Technologies (ADOPT) grant.
Eligibility summary
This competition is open to collaborations only.
To lead a project your organisation must:
be an active farming, growing or forestry business based in England be able to evidence that you are an established business, including sole traders and partnerships collaborate with at least one other farming businesses based in the UK

Apply for funding to host and manage the Infrastructure Centre for the Distributed System of Scientific Collections (DiSSCo) UK programme, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). You will deliver services to store, publish, visualise, and augment data from the UK’s digitised natural science collections.
This is a closed funding opportunity, for application by invitation only.
The full economic cost (FEC) of your proposal can be up to £10 million to cover the ten-year duration of the programme (1 April 2026 to 31 March 2036). AHRC will fund 100% of the FEC.

Apply for funding to host and manage the central programme delivery hub for the Distributed System of Scientific Collections (DiSSCo) UK programme. In partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). You will deliver support, training and central management for the digitisation of UK natural science collections.
This is a closed funding opportunity, for application by invitation only.
The full economic cost (FEC) of your proposal can be up to £18.2 million to cover the ten-year duration of the programme (1April 2026 to 31 March 2036). AHRC will fund 100% of the FEC.

Apply for funding to host and manage the Catalysis Centre for the Distributed System of Scientific Collections (DiSSCo) UK programme. In partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). You will deliver innovation in digitisation technologies and the exploitation of digitised Natural Science Collections data.
This is a closed funding opportunity, for application by invitation only.
The full economic cost (FEC) of your proposal can be up to £15 million to cover the ten-year duration of the programme (1 April 2026 to 31 March 2036). AHRC will fund 100% of the FEC.

This access route is open to UK-based researchers from academia, industry, and other organisations.
It provides flexible computational support for artificial intelligence (AI) related research and development projects, such as:
first-time users of AI supercomputing resources testing of (novel) algorithms, code, and workflows benchmarking of algorithms, code, and workflows before applying for larger AI Research Resource (AIRR) opportunities Each project can access up to 10,000 graphics processing unit (GPU) hours on the Isambard-AI and Dawn supercomputers, to be used within three months. No funding is provided.

Open to researchers at UK-registered micro, small and medium businesses, this access route supports early-stage development of artificial intelligence (AI) products prior to market launch.
Eligible research and development activities include:
feasibility studies industrial research experimental development Up to 20,000 graphics processing unit (GPU) hours on the Isambard-AI and Dawn AI Research Resource (AIRR) supercomputers is available per project, to be used within three months of project start. No funding is available to successful applicants.
Your organisation must be a UK registered business and have a Companies House registration number.

Applications must be from partnerships or consortia of eligible UK research organisations (ROs).
Regional accounts for clinical researchers is a £6 million trial initiative to address gaps in support for clinical researchers at critical career pinch points.
Funding up to four years will be provided at 100% full economic cost (FEC) to successful regional consortia spanning medical schools, institutions and NHS trusts. These consortia will have the flexibility to identify and fund clinical researchers at key career points, while providing support to enable their longer-term success.
This is a pre-announcement and the information may change.
The funding opportunity opens 14 October 2025. More information will be available on this page then.

Apply for funding to explore the potential market of your engineering biology-based idea, increase market awareness and gain deeper understanding of your technology’s potential applications.
You must be a bioscience researcher or technician based at a UK university, BBSRC-funded institute or approved public sector research enterprise.
BBSRC will fund up to £2,500 to support market discovery activities.
You must have completed Innovation to Commercialisation of University Research (ICURe) Discover if you wish to apply for ICURe Explore or Exploit.

The BBSRC-STFC Bio BIC is an incubator programme for early-stage biotechnology start-ups, providing access to the following UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) campuses:
STFC Sci-Tech Daresbury campus Rothamsted Enterprises AberInnovation Additional specialist support is available from The Pirbright Institute.
Bio BIC provides:
£50,000 of research and development (R&D) funding £10,000 innovation voucher for R&D activity technical, commercial and intellectual property support

See the full opportunity details on the Innovation Funding Service.
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £1.6 million for the development of Proof of Concept demonstrators of AI technologies with state of the art performance. This is to support the UK’s AI sovereignty objectives.
Eligibility summary
This competition is open to single applicants.
To lead a project, your organisation must be a UK registered business.

Apply for funding to develop and test novel therapeutics, medical devices, diagnostics and other interventions.
You must be invited to apply for stage two of this funding opportunity.
Your project can start and finish at any stage on the developmental pathway from early development, through pre-clinical refinement and testing to early-phase clinical studies and trials (up to phase 2a).
There is no limit on the amount of funding you can apply for, but it should be appropriate to the project. We usually fund 80% of a project’s full economic cost.
This is an ongoing funding opportunity. Application rounds close every March, July and November.

Apply for Follow-on Funding (FoF) to bridge the gap between bioscience research and achieving economic and societal benefit.
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) funding.
Follow-on Funding (FoF) applications must draw substantially on current or prior BBSRC funding.
FoF awards progress discoveries to a stage where the route to practical application is clear.
The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £800,000. BBSRC will fund 80% of the FEC.
FoF awards support defined programmes of work for up to two years.

AHRC and SSHRC plan to invite expressions of interest to attend a humanities-led, interdisciplinary research sandpit putting humanities insights and methodologies at the heart of artificial intelligence (AI) tech design.
A sandpit is a facilitated workshop process through which new project teams and research propositions will be co-developed and funded.
We are looking for 60 participants from UK, Canadian and US research organisations to take part in in-person and virtual workshops.
During the sandpit process, teams would form and develop and refine project ideas for applications.
We plan to fund up to four grants.
Travel and subsistence costs for the in-person workshop will be covered by AHRC and SSHRC.
This is a pre-announcement, and the information may change. The funding opportunity will open in August 2025. More information will be available on this page by then.

See the full opportunity details on the Innovation Funding Service.
UK registered micro and small businesses can apply for a share of up to £10 million to develop affordable, adoptable and investable innovations in the five critical technologies.
Eligibility summary
This competition is open to single applicants only.
To lead a project your organisation must:
be a UK registered micro or small business not have previously been awarded funding from Innovate UK carry out its project work in the UK intend to exploit the project outcomes from the UK for domestic or global benefit

See the full opportunity details on the Innovation Funding Service.
Farming, growing or forestry businesses based in England can apply for a grant of £2,500 to engage an external project facilitator to support the development of a full ADOPT grant application.
Eligibility summary
This competition is open to single applicants only.
To lead a project your organisation must:
be an active farming, growing or forestry business based in England be able to evidence that you are an established business, including sole traders and partnerships have a UK bank account

This opportunity allows UK and US-based researchers to submit a collaborative proposal that will go through a single review process.
The goal is to reduce some of the barriers that researchers and funding agencies encounter when trying to work internationally.
This opportunity does not represent a separate research funding scheme – applications will be integrated into existing programmes at the relevant lead agency.
The participating agencies include UKRI councils AHRC, BBSRC and ESRC, and the NSF/SBE.