Eligibility of organisations
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has standard organisational eligibility requirements. Check your organisation’s eligibility to apply.
Funding opportunity type eligibility
Certain funding opportunities may have specific eligibility criteria, and prospective applicants should confirm their eligibility for an opportunity before submitting their proposal.
The best way to see if you are eligible is to look at the individual funding opportunity that you want to apply for.
Eligibility of individuals
Project leads and project co-leads
UKRI has standard eligibility criteria for project leads and project co-leads. Check if you can apply to lead a project.
Eligibility for project lead and project co-lead roles is assessed on whether an individual can clearly demonstrate the capability needed for the aims and delivery of the project, in alignment with the ‘What we’re looking for’ requirements in the funding opportunity.
Project co-lead (international)
The project co-lead (international) role should only be used for Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) applications where the funding opportunity is part of the UKRI-Research Council of Norway Money Follows Cooperation agreement.
EPSRC does not otherwise accept project co-lead (international) applicants, unless specified in the funding opportunity guidance on the Funding Finder.
A Norway project co-lead (international) is an individual employed by a research organisation (RO) in Norway. They must fit the normal definition of a project co-lead on a research project, assisting the project lead in the management and leadership of the project. The international RO must be of comparable status and standing to a UKRI-recognised UK institution eligible for UKRI funding. Check the UKRI policy for the principles of including a Norway project co-lead (international) in your application.
There may be some EPSRC funding opportunities that will not allow a Norway project co-lead (international), if this is the case it will state this in the funding opportunity guidance.
Researcher co-lead
A researcher co-lead is a post-doctoral (or equivalent) research and innovation associate who is not eligible to submit an application in their own right, but who merit appropriate recognition for either of the following:
- making a significant contribution to developing the application
- providing input which is essential to its successful outcome
Research staff that may qualify as researcher co-leads include research and innovation associates and research technical professionals or equivalent roles.
A researcher co-lead must be:
- a named researcher employed on the project and seek their salary as directly incurred costs up to 100% full-time equivalent
- based at the RO of either the project lead or any of the project co-leads
- given intellectual ownership (for example, through corresponding authorship) and grant management duties in relation to the ensuing research
We expect a researcher co-lead will be working on the grant for at least 50% of their contracted hours over the lifetime of the award (this is not a mandatory eligibility requirement). Where this is not the case, further justification as to how the post will be significantly contributing towards the proposal and research should be provided in the resources and cost justification section.
If the researcher co-lead is not employed at the RO, prior to the start of the project, they should have previously collaborated with the project lead or project co-leads.
Clinical eligibility
NHS bodies with research capacity are eligible to apply as lead applicants for funds from all research councils. Applicants must hold a permanent or fixed-term post at an NHS body that has been approved for eligibility. NHS bodies include NHS trusts, hospital board, primary care trust or GP practices.
Check if your NHS body has been approved for eligibility.
If your organisation is not listed see apply to be an eligible organisation.
The proposed research must fall primarily within EPSRC’s remit. Follow the remit query process if you are unsure whether the research is appropriate.
The host organisation must have a research office account to access the UKRI Funding Service prior to applications being submitted to UKRI.
To find out if the organisation has an account contact the Funding Service helpdesk: support@funding-service.ukri.org
EPSRC will only pay for the research costs associated with the application. We will not pay for the associated NHS support costs or NHS treatment costs.
Find out more about eligible NHS costs.
Last updated: 30 June 2026