We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered.
The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.
For Research England and this funding opportunity, the project lead is the person responsible for managing the application process. They are to be chosen by the coordinating group submitting the application. They will be the main point of contact for Research England. They do not need to be the most senior person involved in the application. They do need to be someone who can speak confidently to the application’s content, so they are able to respond to queries from Research England.
Only the lead coordinating group can submit an application to UKRI.
To apply
Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.
- Confirm you are the project lead.
- Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password.
- Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.
- Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.
- Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
- Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.
Please be aware that research office and finance teams undertake checks on hosting arrangements and financial eligibility. The ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with all opportunity requirements lies with the applicant.
Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.
When including images, you must:
- provide a descriptive caption or legend for each image immediately underneath it in the text box (this must be outside the image and counts towards your word limit)
- insert each new image on a new line
- use files smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format
Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words. The following are not permitted, and your application will be rejected if you include:
- sentences or paragraphs of text
- tables
- excessive quantities of images
A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column.
For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:
References
References should be included within the word count of the appropriate question section. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.
Hyperlinks can be used in reference information. When including references, you should consider how your references will be viewed and used by the assessors, ensuring that:
- references are easily identifiable by the assessors
- references are formatted as appropriate to your research
- persistent identifiers are used where possible
General use of hyperlinks
Applications should be self-contained. You should only use hyperlinks to link directly to reference information. You must not include links to web resources to extend your application. Assessors are not required to access links to conduct assessment or recommend a funding decision.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI)
Use of generative AI tools to prepare funding applications is permitted, however, caution should be applied.
For more information see our policy on the use of generative AI in application and assessment.
Deadline
Research England must receive your application by 7 January 2027 at 4:00pm UK time.
You will not be able to apply after this time.
Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal deadlines for your organisation.
Following the submission of your application to this funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and submitted applications will not be amended. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.
Personal data
Processing personal data
Research England, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications.
We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice.
Sensitive information
If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email strategicprogrammes@re.ukri.org
Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].
Typical examples of confidential information include:
- declaration of interest
- additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section
- conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection
- the application is an invited resubmission
For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice.
Publication of outcomes
Research England, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity on the Collaboration for a Sustainable Future programme webpage.
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.
Summary
Word limit: 550
In plain English, provide a summary. We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information. Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example:
- opinion-formers
- policymakers
- the public
- the wider research community
Core team
Research England provides organisation-led not applicant-led funding. Therefore, we do not require all team members involved in the project to be listed under core team. Under core team, you should list anyone who you wish to have visibility of the application through the application process.
We do expect more detailed information to be provided in the Resources and cost justification section, under ‘exception – other’.
For Research England, the project lead is the person responsible for managing the application process. They are to be chosen by the institution submitting the application. They will be the main point of contact for Research England. They do not need to be the most senior person involved in the application. They do need to be someone who can speak confidently to the application’s content, so they are able to respond to queries from Research England.
List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:
- project lead (PL)
- project co-lead (UK) (PcL)
Only list one individual as project lead.
Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.
Application questions
Vision
Word limit: 500
What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
The assessors will consider how well your response, with the group being represented and coordinated is herein called ‘Group’:
- aligns to the Collaboration for a Sustainable Future programme’s ambition to identify opportunities for institutional collaboration within the research and innovation system in England
- clearly define the group you are coordinating and who is included within that Group’s representation. It is expected that Group’s span multiple English higher education providers.
- clearly define the perspective this Group will offer and why that is relevant and of value to the ambitions of the Collaboration for a Sustainable Future Programme and this opportunity.
- clearly articulate why this Group will offer insights that are unique and require coordination as a Group
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
Approach
Word limit: 750
How are you going to deliver your proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
A clearly designed approach, with the group being represented and coordinated is herein called ‘Group’:
- which is effective and appropriate to achieve your vision
- which is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed
- for effectively and efficiently coordinating this Group and, together identifying barriers and challenges and creating proposed solutions to collaboration for a sustainable cost-effective future
- to ensure those proposed solutions articulate the input(s) needed and the outcome(s) and impact(s) that you expect to be realised from those input(s)
- to draw on and reflect best practices from across geographies, sectors, industry, charities, international and wider communities as is applicable to that Group.
- to ensure the barriers, challenges and proposed solutions are published in an accessible output(s) which can enable others in the research and innovation system to learn from your activity and take forward ideas
- to produce and publish expected output(s) from this Group, noting that we expect this to be proportionate to the size, scale and shape of the Group and the funding being requested within this opportunity
- considers and understands the impact of new approaches on the culture and environment of our higher education research and innovation system for example the impact on equity, inclusion, diversity, trust and collective responsibility
The funding is not expected to enable the group to deliver the created solutions.
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
Applicant and team capability to deliver
Word limit: 500
Why are you the team and organisation(s) to successfully deliver the proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Your credibility and track record at, with the group being represented and coordinated is herein called ‘Group’:
- effectively and efficiently coordinating the Group, and together identifying barriers and challenges, and creating proposed solutions
- being able to draw on and reflect best practices from across geographies, sectors, industry, charities, international and wider communities as is applicable to the Group.
- producing and disseminating accessible output(s) which has enabled activity and/or action in a structure approach that is similar to this funding opportunity
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
This is not a collaborative research project. We do not expect to see Resume for Research and Innovation (R4RI) modules.
Resources and cost justification
Word limit: 500
What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?
Please refer to the scope for detail on costs we will and will not support.
The funding is not expected to enable the delivery of the created potential solutions.
We will not fund applications that should be supported through other mechanisms for example formula funding or membership subscriptions. This includes the applicant’s organisation’s business as usual activities. As such, you should clearly articulate why your application could not be supported through other mechanisms.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
- costings need to be detailed as ‘exception-other’ and Research England will fund 100% FEC
- detail on what these costs are, and why they are required to deliver your project. We expect an appropriate level of detail regarding breakdown of staff and non-staff costs
You can request costs associated with reasonable adjustments where they increase as a direct result of working on the project. For further information see Disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders. Where a funding limit is imposed on the opportunity, requested costs for reasonable adjustments may exceed the maximum funding amount.
Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line-by-line breakdown of all project resources. Overall, they want you to demonstrate how the resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work:
- are comprehensive, appropriate, and justified
- represent the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes
- maximise potential outcomes and impacts
Place
Is the group you are representing local, regional or national with any place-based impacts?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Please indicate whether the group you are representing is local, regional or national and whether there are any place-based impacts as appropriate to your approach.
Project partners
We expect to see Group contributions and/or letters of support as appropriate to the size, shape and scale of the Group and your track record of convening said Group. This will form part of the evidence of your ability to convene this Group. You should consider how any information here complements information provided under ‘Approach.’
We do not expect to see project partner’s letters of support where that partners support for being coordinated by you is clearly demonstrated through other ways, for example, track record of membership subscriptions.
A project partners’ contributions for this opportunity may include their time and expertise as part of a Group being coordinated by you.
Add details about any project partners’ contributions. If there are no project partners, you can indicate this on the Funding Service.
A project partner is a collaborating organisation who will have an integral role in the proposed application. This may include direct contributions for example cash, donated equipment and resources, or staff seconded to the project, or indirect and in-kind contributions for example use of project partner’s equipment, datasets, or facilities. Project partners may be in industry, academia, third sector or government organisations in the UK or overseas, including partners based in the EU.
Add the following project partner details:
- the organisation name and address (searchable via a drop-down list or enter the organisation’s details manually, as applicable)
- the project partner contact name and email address
- the type of contribution (direct or indirect) and its monetary value
If a detail is entered incorrectly and you have saved the entry, remove the specific project partner record and re-add it with the correct information.
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
The contribution of a partner to the Group’s time and expertise will not require formal collaboration agreements.
Project partners: letters (or emails) of support
The contribution of a partner to the Group’s time and expertise will not require formal collaboration agreements.
The inclusion of project partners evidence of support should be appropriate to the size, shape and track record of the applicant and proposed Group to be represented, and the scale of funding being requested by you as part of this funding opportunity.
Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the project partners section. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box, or if you do not have any project partners enter ‘N/A’. Each letter or email you provide should:
- confirm the partner’s commitment to the project
- clearly explain the value, relevance, and possible benefits of the work to them
- describe any additional value that they bring to the project
- have a page limit of 0.5 sides A4 per partner
The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.
If you do not have any project partners, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
Ensure you have prior agreement from project partners so that, if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the project partners section.
Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)
Trusted Research and Innovation is the protection of the UK’s intellectual property, sensitive research, people, and infrastructure from potential theft, misuse, and exploitation.
Organisations receiving UKRI funding are obliged to act in line with UK government legislation. They are also expected to undertake appropriate due diligence assessment of organisations involved in research partnerships, collaboration agreements, and commercial contracts.
You will be asked about:
- which areas of the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act your project relates to
- who you intend to collaborate with and how
- if your project requires an export control licence
Your answers may affect the T&Cs of your funding agreement if you are successful. We may use your answers to determine that our current T&Cs are sufficient or if additional T&Cs are required.
