This funding opportunity allows UK based researchers to collaborate with international partners and submit joint application to the Biodiversa+ 2026 to 2027 joint funding opportunity Novel ecosystems (BiodivFuture).
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for NERC funding.
The full economic cost (FEC) of the total requested budget from all UK partners on a project can be up to £375,000. NERC will fund 80% of the FEC and fund your project for up to 36 months.
You should refer to the Biodiversa+ website for general eligibility and the specific funding organisation eligibility rules for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) before applying.
The research of the UK component must be within the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) remit and the research challenges being addressed must be to enhance environmental understanding. The participation of other disciplines represented by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) are encouraged to support addressing these complex challenges. More information can be found here:
Applicants are encouraged to contact NERC to discuss remit before submitting the proposal, email Biodiversa@nerc.ukri.org
This opportunity is open to UK research organisations with standard eligibility. Check if your organisation is eligible.
This funding opportunity is open to research groups and individuals. We:
The UK Project lead must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UKRI funding. This includes eligible public sector research establishments and independent research organisations.
There is no limit to the number of UK Project co-leads per application, but it must be clear from the application what unique contribution each Project co-lead will make to the success of the proposed project.
Other ways different organisations can be involved include:
To be eligible transnational research consortia must include team members from a minimum of three countries financially participating in the funding opportunity, including at least two different EU member states or Horizon Europe associated countries. Please refer to the list of participating countries on the Biodiversa+ website.
International researchers cannot be included on the UK component of this funding opportunity as Project co-lead (international). You can consider including international collaborators (or UK partners not eligible to apply for UKRI funding) as project partners.
You may be involved in no more than two applications submitted to this funding opportunity (only one of these can be as the Project partner coordinator of the research consortium).
The full details of the scope can be found on the Biodiversa+ website.
BiodivFuture focuses on supporting future-looking research and innovation that will address biodiversity and novel ecosystems. This includes their socio-ecological dynamics and consequences relating to the sustainability goals of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, and associated future pathways and trajectories of change.
The funding opportunity covers investigating the causes (drivers), effects (biological responses), and outcomes (including opportunities, risks and trade-offs) of current and future trajectories of change in all relevant realms (terrestrial, freshwater, marine and coastal areas), around the world.
This funding opportunity aims to fund novel, high-quality transnational research with potential for societal and political impact that will significantly improve our understanding of novel ecosystems with holistic, systemic, and integrated approaches.
This funding opportunity addresses three themes. Projects are welcome to address one or more of these themes:
Understanding the functioning of novel ecosystems and their links to socio-cultural and socio-economic dynamics, identifying mechanisms and developing approaches that can facilitate biodiversity gains.
Studying robust, plausible, and concrete pathways to novel ecosystems and associated socio-ecological dynamics to prosper under temporal asynchronies and uncertainties.
Studying fair and equitable sharing of biodiversity benefits in the context of novel ecosystems, supported by inclusive, collaborative, and investment-oriented pathways for nature-positive socio-ecological transformation.
The duration of this award is a maximum of 36 months.
The latest grant start date for UK awards of Biodiversa+ projects is 14 February 2028.
The FEC of your project can be up to £375,000. NERC will fund 80% of the FEC. This is the total requested budget from all UK partners on a project.
We anticipate supporting a minimum of 13 projects involving UK research partners across a range of UK budget sizes. UK budget requests exceeding £312,500 at 100% FEC (£250,000 at 80% FEC) should provide additional justification.
The budget applied for shall be stated in Euro. Conversion from Euro to British Pound Sterling should be based on the official exchange rate per application opening date for preproposals; 9 September 2026. The official exchange rate can be found here: Exchange rate (InforEuro) European Commission.
You must include the total UK budget in British Pound Sterling and the exchange rate used within your justification of resources narrative, which should be included in the application form under the section on Explanation or remarks concerning the proposed budget.
For requests exceeding £312,500 at 100% FEC (£250,000 at 80% FEC), UK applicants must clearly explain why additional resources above £250,000 are needed and the expected added value to the UK. For example, this could be to support UK leadership in the transnational project where the UK partner is the Project partner coordinator.
You can request standard UKRI eligible costs. In addition:
UKRI funded projects in this Biodiversa+ call will form a part of the wider NERC-Defra RESET programme. UK-funded participants from this call must engage with this wider programme.
In addition to reports required by the Biodiversa+ secretariat, UK project teams will be required to provide annual reports to UKRI and regular reports to the wider RESET programme hub.
Further details will be provided following the announcement of the awards.
For more information on the RESET programme, see the ‘Additional info’ section.
You can apply to use a UKRI facility or resource in your funding application. Costs for NERC non-ship marine facilities and equipment are allowed. All NERC services and facilities costs should be included in the application and will count towards the funding limit. You should discuss your application with the facility or service as soon as possible before the funding opportunity’s closing date to
You should provide at least an estimate of facilities cost in your pre-proposal. If you are invited to submit a full proposal, you must ensure you have prior agreement from the facility before submitting the full proposal and include the full calculated cost of the service in your application. The facility will provide a technical assessment that includes the calculated cost of providing the service. You should not submit the technical assessment with the application, but you must confirm you have received it.
Read the full list of NERC facilities that require a technical assessment. For more information, see the NERC research grants and fellowships handbook.
We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.
UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.
As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.
See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support.
You must adhere to UKRI open research policy and NERC data policy and complete the ‘Data management and sharing’ question.
For details of data centres, see the NERC Environmental Data Service.
We will pay the data centre directly on behalf of the programme for archival and curation services, but you should ensure that you request sufficient resource to cover preparation of data for archiving by the research team. Additional services from the data centres, such as database development or a specialist in project data management during your project, will need to be discussed with the relevant data centre prior to submission, costs for additional services will need to be funded from your grant.
Through our funding processes, we seek to make a positive contribution to society and the environment. This is not just through research outputs and outcomes but through the way in which research is conducted and facilities managed.
All NERC grant holders are to adopt responsible research practices as set out in the NERC responsible business statement.
Responsible research is defined as reducing harm or enhancing benefit on the environment and society through effective management of research activities and facilities. Specifically, this covers:
You should consider the responsible research context of your project, not the host institution as a whole. You should take action to enhance your responsible research approach where practical and reasonable.
We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.
We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:
UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.
Before applying you must read the full details on the Biodiversa+ website.
You must apply using the Biodiversa+ application platform Electronic Proposal Submission System (EPSS). A two-step application procedure will apply, with a mandatory submission of pre-proposals at the first step and submission of full proposals at the second step.
Following the completion of the assessment process, UK applicants on successful applications will be required to submit details of their application through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service. Details on how to do this will be provided to relevant Project leads following the assessment process.
You should refer to the Biodiversa+ website for full details on how your application will be assessed.
The assessment process will be led by the Biodiversa+. Your application will be assessed by independent experts in a two- stage process:
For help and advice on costings and writing your proposal please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.
For general questions regarding the call including general eligibility, call scope and assessment, please contact Biodiversa+ Call Secretariat, Agence Nationale de la Recherche biodiversa.cs@agencerecherche.fr
For specific questions regarding UK participation in this call including UKRI eligibility and funding rules, please contact NERC Biodiversa+ programme team: biodiversa@nerc.ukri.org
For technical questions regarding the EPSS, please contact EPSS technical helpdesk epss.biodiversa@g.etag.ee
NERC’s involvement in this Biodiversa+ opportunity forms part of the wider RESET) programme. The RESET programme will provide opportunities for national-led projects, international partnerships, and government-industry focused translational research through several commissioning opportunities. These include:
Strategic research projects to support six to eight projects to develop new knowledge on ecosystem transitions, novel ecosystem states, ecosystem function, resilience thresholds and tipping point dynamics.
Joint international research projects (funded through the European Biodiversity Partnership (Biodiversa+) led 2026 to 2027 joint funding opportunity Novel ecosystems: biodiversity, socio-ecological consequences and future trajectories (BiodivFuture).
Policy-facing translational projects: Defra are funding activities in two areas to develop tools, frameworks and evidence to inform Government policy and operations. These include:
A research project on the implications of nature loss on UK national security. This project will be the primary locus within RESET for security-facing analysis and the development of government-usable risk and decision tools.
An ongoing Defra initiative to develop and test prototype ecosystem assessment toolkits for operational and policy applications. There is no new funding opportunity associated with this activity but it will draw on and integrate tools and approaches developed through RESET
A single award lasting three years. Commissioned through Defra, the hub will establish:
The Biodiversa+ secretariat will hold a general webinar on 10 September at 12pm to 1:25pm UK time and you must register to attend. This will be immediately followed by national or regional information webinars.
NERC will host a webinar for UK applicants to this funding opportunity at 1:30pm UK time on 10 September. You need to register in advance. A recording will be uploaded to this page following the webinar.
