Research grants are open to:
- UK higher education institutions
- research council institutes
- UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)-approved independent research organisations
- eligible public sector research establishments
- eligible research and technology organisations
- NHS bodies with research capacity
Check if your institution is eligible for funding.
You can apply if you are a resident in the UK and meet at least one of the following conditions:
- are employed at the submitting research organisation at a level equivalent to lecturer or above
- hold a fixed-term contract that extends beyond the duration of the proposed project, and the host research organisation is prepared to give you all the support normal for a permanent employee
- hold an EPSRC, Royal Society or Royal Academy of Engineering fellowship aimed at later career stages
- hold fellowships under other schemes (please contact EPSRC to check eligibility, which is considered on a case-by-case basis)
The lead institution must be based in the UK and must be eligible to hold EPSRC grants.
International co-investigators are not eligible for this funding opportunity.
Holders of postdoctoral level fellowships are not eligible to apply for an EPSRC grant.
Eligibility criteria
In addition to the general eligibility requirements, applicant consortia must satisfy one of the following requirements (A or B) to be eligible to apply through this funding opportunity. Applicant consortia only need to satisfy one of the criteria. You can satisfy both, but this is not a requirement.
Criterion A
The applicant consortium must hold at least one current EPSRC strategic research grants. This grant must have an end date after March 2023 to qualify.
In order to satisfy the eligibility criterion, the principal investigator of the centre to centre proposal must be the principal investigator or co-investigator on the existing strategic investment.
We expect at least 50% of the investigators within the centre to centre consortium to be investigators on the existing grant or grants. However, there is no requirement to include all investigators involved in the existing strategic grant in the application for this funding opportunity.
We particularly welcome applicants from diverse research consortia and the inclusion of early career researchers.
The list of strategic research investments considered to satisfy this criterion is as follows:
- A and Data Science for Science, Engineering, Health and Government
- ARCHER2 high performance computing centre
- Accident ToLerANT fuels In reCycling (ATLANTIC)
- Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)-EPSRC synthetic biology research centres
- Centre for power electronics
- Centre for Secure Information Technologies
- Cyber security of the internet of things hub (PETRAS)
- Ensuring the Security of Digital Technologies at the Periphery
- EPSRC-DSTL university defence research collaborations
- EPSRC institutes
- ExCALIBUR programme
- Future Manufacturing Research Hubs
- Healthcare technologies interdisciplinary research collaborations (IRCs)
- Henry Royce Institute
- High-end computing consortia
- ICT Future Communications Systems Platforms
- Innovation and Knowledge Centres
- Mathematics in Healthcare Centres
- National Interdisciplinary Circular Economy Research Programme
- National Research Facilities
- NCSC-EPSRC cyber security research institutes
- Next stage digital economy hubs or centres
- Physics of Life
- Programme grants
- Prosperity partnerships
- Quantum technology hubs
- Rosalind Franklin Institute
- SUPERGEN hubs
- The Alan Turing Institute
- Tier 2 high performance computing centre
- TRANSCEND: Transformative Science and Engineering for Nuclear Decommissioning
- UK Catalysis Hub
- UK Centre for Research on Energy Demand
- UK Energy Research Centre
- UKRI Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS) Hub
In cases where an investment on this list consists of more than one large-scale grants (more than £2 million) with different principal investigators and distinct objectives, the group of investigators on each separate grant may submit a proposal to this funding opportunity if desired.
Smaller component grants (less than £2 million) of a larger centre or similar investment do not qualify under this criterion, but may be included in the qualifying portfolio under criterion B.
Criterion B
Applicant consortia must collectively hold a research portfolio of at least £3 million of current EPSRC research grants. Each of these grants must have an end date after 9 March 2023. If an offer letter for a grant has been issued by 9 March 2023, it can be included in this portfolio even if the project has not yet started.
Grants can only be included in the centre to centre consortium’s portfolio if the principal investigator of the grant is involved in the consortium. Not every proposed investigator is required to hold a current EPSRC grant, but we expect the majority of the applicant team to be investigators on one or more of the existing grants cited. EPSRC particularly welcome applications from diverse research consortia and the inclusion of early career researchers.
There are no requirements on the minimum or maximum number of grants that can be listed in order to establish eligibility in this criterion. The qualifying amount for the cost of the grant is EPSRC’s contribution, rather than the full economic cost.
Exceptions: we are aware that grant values are typically significantly smaller for some of the fundamental areas of EPSRC’s remit. For example, mathematical sciences. As such, we are willing to consider exceptions to criterion B, where consortia have a significant EPSRC grant portfolio in their area and you can provide evidence of prior collaboration (for example, joint publications). Consortia working in these areas must confirm eligibility with EPSRC prior to outline submission by emailing the EPSRC International Team (international@epsrc.ukri.org).
Conditions around eligibility
Any individual grant may only be cited against one proposal through this funding opportunity. Linked grants (parent and child grants) which make up a single research project count as one grant.
The following grants will not qualify to satisfy either A or B:
- UKRI Challenge Fund award
- capital equipment grants, including institute capital funding
- Centres for Doctoral Training
- Doctoral Training Partnerships
- training and skills hubs
- fellowships (with the exception of AI world leading researcher fellows)
- Impact Acceleration Accounts
- institutional sponsorship awards and other institutional block grants
- networks and Network Plus grants
- overseas travel grants
- platform grants
- workshops
Applicant teams may be based in a single discipline or multidisciplinary, as long as they satisfy one of the criteria. We are open to proposals in any area of research predominantly in EPSRC’s remit. We welcome the inclusion of early career researchers in applicant consortia and diverse research consortia, as long as one of the eligibility criteria A or B are satisfied by the team overall.
There are no requirements on the maximum or minimum number of investigators we would expect to see involved in these proposals. UK investigators can be from a single institution or multiple institutions. Please ensure sufficient time to create Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) system accounts for investigators who do not currently have one.
There is also no limit on the number of international institutions or countries that projects can work with. Investigator teams should be the most appropriate set of researchers to achieve the proposed project.
Please note that UK applicants may only be named as investigator (either principal or co-investigator) on one proposal to this funding opportunity.
Current International Centre to Centre grant holders are only eligible to apply through this funding opportunity where the research challenges to be addressed are significantly different to their current grant. As such it is expected that they will satisfy the eligibility criteria based on a different grant or set of grants and be working with different international partners.
A track record of the core applicant team working together is required and will be assessed at both outline and full proposal stages. See assessment criteria section.
Outline submissions to this funding opportunity will not count towards the EPSRC repeatedly unsuccessful applicants policy. Full proposal submissions to this funding opportunity will count towards the policy.
If you are currently restricted under the repeatedly unsuccessful applicants policy, you may submit unlimited outlines. However, you will only be able to submit one full proposal as principal investigator or co-investigator during the 12-month restricted period.