This opportunity is one of two pilots ESRC is launching in spring 2026 designed to fill gaps in our applicant-led funding offer.
Aim
Connect awards foster connections between researchers to scope, seed and grow emerging research fields and new areas of inquiry. The opportunity provides a space for early collaboration on ideas within and beyond the social sciences that are novel, exploratory and high-risk, helping to build the foundations for future strategically important research and innovation.
Scope
We will be looking for applications that bring researchers together, forming new collaborations across disciplines, or bringing together different fields of research to develop high-risk, exploratory or unconventional research ideas and approaches.
The size and length of awards will give researchers from different backgrounds the space to test the potential of emerging research fields and new areas of inquiry. Proposals should outline how collaborations will be developed and new areas of inquiry tested, for example, by applying ideas or methodologies from one field to another to stimulate new insights and challenge existing assumptions.
This is an applicant-led funding opportunity. The primary focus of the proposed activities should be on the social sciences. However, we encourage collaborations with disciplines outside of the social sciences where it could lead to development of novel approaches.
Applications must have a project lead from the social science disciplines within ESRC’s remit.
Duration
The duration of this award is a maximum of six months, with projects expected to start on 1 October 2026.
Funding available
The FEC of your project can be between £50,000 and £150,000.
ESRC will fund 80% of the FEC.
What we will fund
Applicants will have a wide scope to propose activities that scope and foster novel connections, which may include but not be limited to:
- networking
- seminars and workshops
- focused events or conferences
- knowledge exchange activities
- scoping and initial pilot studies
- initial data collection
What we will not fund
The following cannot be funded through this opportunity:
- duplication of collaborations and research that already exist
- literature surveys
- research proposals that could be funded through other more appropriate funding opportunities, for example, research grants and new investigator grants
- collaborations that do not have a project lead from social science disciplines
This is a pre-announcement, and the information may change. The funding opportunity will open in April 2026. More information will be available on this page at that time.
Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)
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.
