Funding opportunity

Pre-announcement: Pushing the frontiers of environmental science 2026

• Opportunity status: Upcoming
• Funders: Natural Environment Research Council (NERC)
• Funding type: Grant
• Maximum award: £950,000
• Publication date: 9 January 2026
• Opening date: To be confirmed
• Closing date: Open - no closing date

Apply for funding to pursue an ambitious, high-reward curiosity-driven project in environmental research.

You must be:

• based at a UK research organisation eligible for Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funding
• in a role that meets the individual eligibility requirements

We welcome:

• multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research
• projects delivered in partnership with other research funders and users

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £950,000. We will fund 80% of the FEC.

There is no defined project duration, but awards are usually between three and four years.

This is a pre-announcement, and the information may change. The funding opportunity will open in spring 2026 (date TBC). More information will be available on this page by then.

Who can apply

This opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. Check if your organisation is eligible.

Who is eligible to apply

Before applying for funding, check the following:

• NERC eligibility guidance for applicants to check your eligibility as an individual
• Check your project is in our remit.

Organisational demand management caps will not be applied to this funding opportunity.

Who is not eligible to apply

• We will not accept uninvited resubmissions of projects that have previously been submitted to UKRI. Find out more about NERC’s resubmissions policy.

International researchers

We do not normally fund overseas organisations. Any exceptions to this will be outlined in the full opportunity details.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

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:

• career breaks
• support for people with caring responsibilities
• flexible working
• alternative working patterns

UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.

What we're looking for

Pushing the Frontiers supports researchers’ curiosity and imagination to enable discoveries that unlock new knowledge with a degree of adventure previously unrealised.

We are seeking to invest in our best environmental researchers to be truly adventurous and ambitious in the pursuit of curiosity-driven, high-reward projects, which may or may not involve substantial risk. We welcome applications from individuals at any career stage, subject to the UKRI eligibility criteria. This funding opportunity is open to research groups and individuals.

We are looking for applications that can support pure, applied, technology-led or policy driven research but still address, or provide the means to address, clearly defined environmental research questions.

We welcome, and are increasingly supporting, multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research, designed, supported and delivered in partnership with other research funders and research users.

The research must sit predominantly within NERC’s research areas. We will work with other research councils to ensure that applications close to remit boundaries are assessed by the most appropriate lead council. We encourage you to contact us first to discuss your application if you believe your research may cross research council boundaries.

See our remit query form.

Update on delivery changes from early 2026

From early 2026, we are aligning with UKRI’s approach to delivering applicant-led responsive funding opportunities. This will be done by removing closing dates from our Pushing the Frontiers scheme and adapting our assessment mechanism, making our processes simpler and more consistent for our communities.

We’re making these changes to:

• give applicants greater flexibility, by allowing them to submit at any time
• balance workloads more effectively for applicants, reviewers, panel members and NERC staff
• align with UKRI’s approach to delivering applicant-led responsive funding opportunities – no closing dates
• align with UKRI’s assessment process of expert review for applicant-led opportunities

Moving to an always-open funding opportunity

What’s changing

• No deadlines. Applications can be submitted at any time throughout the year.
• Assessment process. Applications will be assessed by expert review. Those that meet a suitable quality threshold will be given an opportunity to respond to reviews before proceeding to moderation panel.​ Panel meetings will be held on a regular cycle to make funding recommendations.
• No organisational demand management caps, on a trial basis. Submitting organisations are strongly encouraged to maintain internal prioritisation and quality assurance processes to ensure applications are competitive.

What’s not changing

We remain committed to funding a balanced portfolio of adventurous and ambitious high reward curiosity-driven environmental research and maintaining a fair, efficient, and excellent research funding ecosystem. Organisations and applicants are reminded that:

• the budget for Pushing the Frontiers will remain unchanged
• NERC capacity to assess applications remains the same
• the application process and scope of the opportunity will remain the same

New approach launch

The final round of Pushing the Frontiers under the current model closes on 21 January 2026, with funding decisions expected in July 2026.

The new always-open approach is expected to launch in early 2026. Further information on anticipated decision-making timelines and processes will be made available at this time.

How to apply

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system. We will publish full details on how to apply when the funding opportunity opens.

How we will assess your application

Assessment process

We will assess your application using the following process.

Expert review

We will invite experts to review your application independently, against the specified criteria for this funding opportunity.

You will not be able to nominate reviewers for applications on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service. Research councils will continue to select expert reviewers.

Shortlisting

We will review the comments and scores for each application. If your application is shortlisted, you will have 14 days to respond to reviewers’ comments.

Shortlisted applications and associated comments will be sent to a moderating panel who will make a funding recommendation.

Panel

We will review the comments and scores for each application. Shortlisted applications will go to a panel who will make a funding recommendation.

For more information on how we prioritise applications for funding please visit How we make decisions.

NERC will make the final funding decision.

Feedback

We will give feedback with the outcome of your application. This will be in the form of reviewer comments.

Principles of assessment

We support the San Francisco declaration on research assessment and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.

Find out about the UKRI principles of assessment and decision making.

Using generative artificial intelligence (AI) in expert review

Reviewers and panellists are not permitted to use generative AI tools to develop their assessment, including to correct language, spelling, grammar and formatting. Using these tools can potentially compromise the confidentiality of the ideas that applicants have entrusted to UKRI to safeguard.

For more detail see our policy on the use of generative AI.

We reserve the right to modify the assessment process as needed.

Contact details

Get help with your application

If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this page

The helpdesk is committed to helping users of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service as effectively and as quickly as possible. In order to manage cases at peak volume times, the helpdesk will triage and prioritise those queries with an imminent opportunity deadline or a technical issue. Enquiries raised where information is available on the Funding finder opportunity page and should be understood early in the application process (for example, regarding eligibility, content or remit of a funding opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.

Contact details

For help and advice on costings and writing your application please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.

For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please contact pushingfrontiers@nerc.ukri.org

Any queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the Funding Service should be directed to the helpdesk.

Email: support@funding-service.ukri.org

Phone: 01793 547490

Our phone lines are open:

• Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm
• Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

To help us process queries more efficiently, we request that users highlight the council and opportunity name in the subject title of their email query, include the application reference number, and refrain from contacting more than one mailbox at a time.

For further information on submitting an application read How applicants use the Funding Service.