You can apply if you are resident in the UK for at least 183 days in a tax year and hold a lecturer or lecturer-equivalent position at a UK higher education institution, research council institute or a UKRI-approved independent research organisation.
Principal applicants must be employed at the submitting research organisation at lecturer level, or equivalent, or due to move to the organisation before the start date of the grant. Or if not employed, applicants must have an agreement that the research will be conducted at the submitting research organisation as if they were an employee at lecturer level, or equivalent.
Co-applicants must be employed at an eligible organisation and meet the same employment criteria.
Early career researchers
If you are an early career researcher who has:
- held a lecturer or equivalent-level position for no more than three years full time
- not obtained funding from any source as a principal investigator, including postdoctoral research assistant staff support costs
you can secure your first major element of research funding through the new investigator scheme.
You will be assessed following the same procedure as other applications, however research potential rather than track record will be taken into account.
Industrial partners
Industrial partners are encouraged on all research grant applications. There are, however, two formal ways to seek support for your research if you are working with an industrial partner:
- Industrial partnership awards: academic-led research with significant industrial involvement and where an industry partner contributes in cash at least equivalent to 10% of the full economic costs of the project
- Stand-alone LINK: collaborative research with at least one company where at least 50% of the full project cost comes from industry either in cash or in-kind
We do not fund the work of your industrial partners. Industrial partners must agree ownership and exploitation of the intellectual property at the outset and clearly define the proposed scientific and commercial results in a management framework.
See the eligibility section in our research grants guide (PDF, 375KB).
