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.
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.
Only the lead research organisation 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
AHRC must receive your application by 25 November 2026 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 institutional deadlines.
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
AHRC 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 riches@ahrc.ukri.org
Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].
Typical examples of confidential information include:
- individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave)
- 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.
Institutional matched funding
There is no requirement for matched funding from the institutions hosting the project lead, project co-leads or other staff employed on the application, beyond the standard 20% FEC. Expert reviewers and panels assessing UKRI funding applications must not consider levels of institutional matched funding as a factor on which to base recommendations. Direct and in-kind contributions from third party project partners are encouraged.
This policy does not remove the need for support from host organisations who must provide the necessary research environment and infrastructure for award-specific activities funded by UKRI. For example, research facilities, training and development of staff.
Publication of outcomes
AHRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at What AHRC has funded.
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 can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.
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
Guidance for writing a summary
Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:
- the challenge or opportunity
- what you propose to deliver
- the aims and objectives
- who will benefit
- how access or capability will be improved
- any key partnerships
- the expected impacts and benefits
The summary should clearly explain what is being proposed, who will benefit, and why the investment is important at a national level.
Core team
List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:
- project lead (PL)
- project co-lead (UK) (PcL)
- project co-lead (international) (PcL (I))
- specialist
- research and innovation associate
Only list one individual as project lead.
UKRI has introduced a new addition to the ‘Specialist’ role type. Public contributors such as people with lived experience can now be added to an application.
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 the proposed infrastructure?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Explain how the proposed infrastructure will:
- deliver measurable scientific, technical, economic, cultural or societal benefits
- be of international importance, (if applicable)
- expand access to nationally significant facilities and address current unmet user demand
- enable high-quality, heritage science research, innovation and professional practice
- meet the strategic aims of RICHeS and AHRC, including through effective collaboration with industry partners, including SMEs
- enhance, benefit and complement the existing RICHeS distributed infrastructure network, avoiding unnecessary duplication of existing capability, facilities or established techniques
- support innovation in heritage science, including through the application of new or emerging techniques
- demonstrate clear and significant benefits beyond the host institution, including for the wider heritage sector, other scientific disciplines, industry, policymakers and the public
- describe credible pathways through which the proposed capability will be accessed, adopted and used by stakeholders to deliver impact
- identify the potential local, regional or national impacts, both direct and indirect, and who the beneficiaries might be.
References may be included within this section. You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
Approach
Word limit: 2,500
What are your plans to manage and deliver the proposed infrastructure?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
We expect you to show how your approach includes:
- a credible management plan covering both the strategic and operational delivery of the proposed infrastructure
- an appropriate legal and organisational model, where applicable
- effective governance arrangements, including roles, responsibilities and decision-making processes
- a feasible project plan, including work packages, milestones, deliverables and timescales, supported by a Gantt chart (or equivalent), with clear identification and management of risks to delivery
- plans for the operation, maintenance and future development of the infrastructure throughout its anticipated lifespan, including future upgrade requirements
- arrangements for access, usage and infrastructure sharing that maximise benefit to the wider research and innovation community
- a description of the research and innovation environment that will support the successful delivery and operation of the infrastructure
- how accessibility, equality, diversity and inclusion, and environmental sustainability have been embedded within the design and delivery of the project
- plans for access and user engagement, including how you will meet your obligations under the RICHeS Access Fund process, including support for users, assessment of access requests, delivery of agreed access activities and facilitation of data deposition in the Heritage Science Data Service (HSDS)
- how you will engage with industry partners, including SMEs, to deliver collaborative activity and maximise opportunities for innovation, knowledge exchange and commercialisation, including your approach to cascading funding for innovation
- plans for operational sustainability and legacy beyond the end of AHRC funding, including how follow-on staffing support will contribute to ongoing access, capability, resilience and long-term sustainability. These could include cost recovery models, securing additional funding, development or expansion after the initial period of funding
- appropriate approaches for data management, intellectual property management and FAIR data practices, including integration with the HSDS
- how the proposed infrastructure will generate benefits and impact beyond the host institution, including for users, stakeholders and wider communities
- credible pathways through which those benefits will be realised, sustained and maximised over time
- how the proposed infrastructure will contribute to local, regional, national and, where relevant, international impact
References may be included within this section.
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: 1,650
Why are you the right individual or team to deliver and manage the proposed infrastructure?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have:
- the relevant experience (appropriate to career stage)
- the right balance of skills and expertise
- the appropriate leadership and management skills and your approach to develop others
- contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community
- appropriate experience with working across sectors, including industry
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
The word limit for this section is 1,650 words: 1,150 words to be used for Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) modules (including references) and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.
Use the R4RI format to showcase the range of relevant skills you, and if relevant, your team (project lead and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on), have and how this will help to deliver the proposed work. You can include individuals’ specific achievements but only choose past contributions that best evidence their ability to deliver this work.
Complete this section using the R4RI module headings listed below. You should use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI. You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings:
- contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies, or knowledge
- the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships
- contributions to the wider research and innovation community
- contributions to broader research or innovation users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit
Additions
Provide any further details relevant to your application. This section is optional and can be up to 500 words. You should not use it to describe additional skills, experiences or outputs, but you can use it to describe any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them).
You should complete this section as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.
The roles in funding applications policy has descriptions of the different project roles.
Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)
What are the ethical and RRI considerations, implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:
- the relevant ethical and RRI considerations, including both the research or topic area itself and the design and delivery of the project
- the wider implications of the proposed work, and how you will maximise the positive societal, environmental, and economic benefits arising from the project, whilst minimising unintended negative impacts, such as research misuse or accidental harm
- how you will manage these considerations throughout the lifecycle of the project
If you are collecting or using data you should identify:
- any legal and ethical considerations of collecting, releasing or storing the data (including consent, confidentiality, anonymisation, security and other ethical considerations and, in particular, strategies to not preclude further reuse of data)
- formal information standards that your proposed work will comply with
Additional sub-questions (to be answered only if appropriate) relating to research involving:
- animals
- human participants
- genetically modified organisms
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.
Please refer to the UKRI position statement on funding ethical research and Responsible innovation for more information around our expectations on ethical and responsible research and innovation.
Animal involvement and “3Rs”
You must complete this section about how your proposed project will involve or impact animals.
If your project does not involve or impact animals, you must confirm this on the next page.
You may be asked about:
- what animals you are involving
- the severity of the procedures you are using
- where the procedures will take place
- welfare standards you aim to meet
- the relevance of your project to the development, validation or dissemination of the 3Rs
You may also need to download, complete, and upload at least one set of additional questions. You will be told how to do this towards the end of this section.
To complete this section and check whether your project is in the scope of the questions, refer to the UKRI policy for research and innovation involving animals.
What counts as an animal
UKRI policy relates to all animals in the Kingdom Animalia, including vertebrates and invertebrates.
Genetically modified organisms and biological risk
You must complete this section if your project will include genetically modified organisms or genetic technologies.
If you project does not involve genetically modified organisms or genetic technologies, you must confirm this on the next page.
You may be asked about:
- the type of organism your project will involve and the procedures your project will include
- the intended use of the organism or genetic technology
- the genetic, biological and environmental risks of your project
For more information, see UKRI’s guidance on genetic technologies.
Human participation in health-related research
You must complete this section about whether your project will include human participation.
If your project does not involve human participation, you must confirm this on the next page.
You may be asked about:
- what type of human participation your project includes
- the project design for human participation
- the phase of the clinical trial
- whether the project will be in an NHS setting, if so, how the project will be registered
- whether diversity and inclusion will be considered
For more information, see UKRI’s guidance for human participants in research.
Resources and cost justification
Word limit: 3,000
What will you need to deliver and manage the proposed infrastructure and how much will it cost?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Justify the application’s more costly resources, in particular:
- capitalisable staff costs
- significant travel for collaboration (but not regular travel between collaborating organisations or to conferences)
- any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities
- all facilities and infrastructure costs
- if applicable, disposal or decommissioning costs
- all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’
- costs associated with cascading funding for innovation, where requested
You should note that this is a capital funding opportunity. All costs justified here must be capital or capitalisable expenditure, in line with the ‘What we will fund’ section.
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 appropriate, proportionate and fully justified in relation to the proposed objectives
- represent an efficient and effective use of public funding
- provide value for money and maximise the potential benefits arising from the investment
- are aligned with the scale of identified user need, demand and anticipated usage
- support the successful delivery, operation and long-term sustainability of the proposed capability
- maximise opportunities for innovation, knowledge exchange and collaboration, including through cascading funding for innovation
- contribute to the anticipated scientific, technical, economic, cultural and societal impacts of the proposed infrastructure
Gender Equality Statement
Word limit: 400
How does your proposed work demonstrate sufficient consideration of gender equality?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Provide a Gender Equality Statement that explains:
- how measures have been put in place to ensure equal and meaningful opportunities for people of different genders to be involved throughout the project, including the development of the project, the participants of the research and innovation and the beneficiaries of the research and innovation
- the expected impact of the project (benefits and losses) on people of different genders, both throughout the project and beyond
- the impact on the relations between people of different genders and people of the same gender. For example, changing roles and responsibilities in households, society, economy, politics, power and so on
- how any risks and unintended negative consequences on gender equality will be avoided or mitigated against, and monitored
- if there are any relevant outcomes and outputs being measured, with data disaggregated by age and gender (where disclosed)
All ODA funding must adhere to the International Development (gender equality) Act 2014. To meet this, all applications to UKRI ODA funding opportunities must provide a gender equality statement. See further guidance for equality, diversity and inclusion.
For funding opportunities under the International Science Partnerships Fund (ISPF), all ODA funding must adhere to the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) gender equality policy. See further information on this policy and the related guidance for considering gender equality in your research.
AHRC and expert reviewers will assess whether your proposal has demonstrated sufficient consideration of gender equality.
Your organisation’s support
Word limit: 1,000
Provide details of support from your research organisation.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Provide a statement of support from your research organisation detailing how they will support you, as the applicant, and your proposed activities. This should include details of any additional support that might add value to the work.
Assessors will be looking for a strong statement of support from your research organisation. This information should have been approved for submission by an appropriate institutional authority.
You must also include the following details:
- a significant person’s name, their position and office or department, or all
- office address or web link
Upload details are provided within the Funding Service on the actual application.
Assessors will be looking for evidence that the host organisation:
- is committed to the successful delivery of the proposed infrastructure and its strategic objectives
- will provide an appropriate environment, facilities, services and institutional support to enable delivery of the project
- has considered the long-term operation, sustainability and future development of the capability beyond the award period
- supports the proposed approach to access, collaboration, user engagement and knowledge exchange
- will help maximise the impact and benefits of the infrastructure for the wider research and innovation community
- has appropriate governance, oversight and institutional backing in place to support delivery of the proposed activities
- demonstrates that the proposed infrastructure aligns with the organisation’s wider strategic priorities and long-term plans
Project partners
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 research. 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.
Project partners: letters (or emails) of support
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 two 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.
For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.
Data management and sharing
Word limit: 500
How will you manage and share data collected or acquired through the proposed research?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Provide a data management plan that clearly details how you will comply with UKRI’s published data sharing policy, which includes detailed guidance notes.
Facilities
Word limit: 500
Does your proposed research require the support and use of a facility?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
If you will need to use a facility, follow your proposed facility’s normal access request procedures. Ensure you have prior agreement so that if you are offered funding, they will support the use of their facility on your project.
For each requested facility you will need to provide the:
- name of facility, copied and pasted from the facility information list (DOCX, 43.1KB)
- proposed usage or costs, or costs per unit where indicated on the facility information list
- confirmation you have their agreement where required
Facilities should only be named if they are on the facility information list above. If you will not need to use a facility, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.
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 assessments 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.
