The Research England Development (RED) Fund is supporting innovative projects in research and knowledge exchange at a university-wide level and with partners. We are currently conducting a review of the fund to ensure that Research England will continue to support projects that help us achieve our strategic priorities. We are pausing new applications to the fund from 22 October 2025 until end of March 2026. For proposals already submitted, we will advise on development of these in line with our guidance and requirements.
The Research England Development (RED) Fund commits up to £20 million in annual funding. It supports institutional strategic developmental projects in higher education research and knowledge exchange in line with government and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) priorities.
Its aim is to drive innovation in research and knowledge exchange in higher education.
The fund supports:
- activities that contribute to government and UKRI policy priorities, with a particular emphasis on delivering innovative and novel approaches
- collaborations between higher education providers, industry or business partners
- a risk-sharing approach – due to the innovative nature of projects that the RED fund seeks to support, we expect financial contributions, investments or leverage from appropriate partners and beneficiaries to support these higher risk activities
- projects that increase the effectiveness or efficiency of research or knowledge exchange for wider societal and economic benefits
- projects that clearly seek to disseminate key learning points to the sector to enhance positive practice for ‘what works’ and ‘what doesn’t work’
- activities that are unable to be supported through any other means
- innovations with a clear plan for sustainability