Innovation, Research and Development

The Department for Transport is offering up to £8 million in funding to support UK-registered organisations developing innovative smart shipping technologies for maritime decarbonisation. The Smart Shipping Acceleration Fund aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve air quality by supporting collaborative feasibility studies on scalable technologies like artificial intelligence, robotics, and autonomous vessels. This could include p...

The UK Space Agency has launched a new funding call for innovations that will help build the capabilities of the UK’s satellite constellations. The Connectivity in Low Earth Orbit (C-LEO) programme will provide up to £60 million of grant funding over the next four years to support companies and researchers to develop innovative satellite communications technology. This funding will be targeted towards proposals with technology readiness lev...

Individuals or small groups or organisations in the UK who have a novel technical idea which they want to try out can apply for grants of between £250 and £3,000. Schools and groups of school children can also apply if the idea is technically inventive and novel and delivers either an environmental or social benefit. The fund has been set up in memory of Peter Williams by his family. Peter spent his life generating diverse technical ideas a...

Commercial organisations, appropriately qualified scientists or clinicians based in an accredited university or hospital in any country worldwide can now apply for funding for preclinical and clinical research. Projects should have the potential to advance knowledge that might lead to a cure for Parkinson’s disease. The Cure Parkinson’s Trust has a particular interest in projects that show the potential to delay, slow, stop reverse or prev...

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) has announced a funding call to increase participation and engagement in the biosciences amongst under-represented or minoritised groups across the UK. Grants in the range of £50,000 to £100,000 will enable research organisations to provide peer support, networking, and related activities that improve equality, diversity, and inclusion for their members. Collaboration and par...

UK Research and Innovation, in partnership with the Economic and Social Research Council has announced that €900,000 of funding is being made available to help research organisations, technological and innovation institutions, universities, and other higher education institutions conduct research into labour force shortages within the care sector. The call aims to address how new forms of technological development and digitisation have the p...

A new government campaign has been launched to encourage UK businesses, academics and researchers to apply for Horizon Europe funding. Horizon is the world’s largest programme of research collaboration in science, innovation and technology, with grants averaging £450,000. The campaign will highlight the benefits of Horizon participation for businesses, particularly smaller firms involved in R&D, which might not have previously considered ap...

The British High Commission Pretoria has announced that up to R1 billion (£50 million) of funding is being made available to support UK-South Africa science and research collaboration, including support of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory. Over the next two years, the International Science Partnership Fund will support UK and South African researchers and innovators to co-design and co-fund multi-disciplinary projects that address prior...

The Open University (OU) has announced the launch of its Open Societal Challenges Programme, Challenge Us! This new initiative seeks innovative research ideas that tackle real-world problems facing people across the UK and worldwide. The programme will be open to OU students and recent graduates, UK charities, and businesses based in Milton Keynes, and will focus on the themes of Tackling Inequalities, Living Well, and Sustainability. Grants o...

As part of the effort to advance the UK’s transition to Net Zero, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is making £9.25 million in funding available to support UK research organisations to establish a flagship transdisciplinary research programme in systems approaches. The funding will support up to two five-year research programmes to deliver co-created, cutting edge research into the development and implementation of systems approaches to Net...

The Education Endowment Foundation has announced details of their first funding round for 2024. The Foundation funds and evaluate projects taking place in educational settings in England that will raise the attainment and wider outcomes of 2 to 19-year-olds from disadvantaged backgrounds. This funding round will focus on the priority areas of writing and secondary mathematics. The funding will support different types of research that will bene...

£4 million in funding is being made available to support arts, humanities and social science researchers to develop and bring new products, processes, services and experiences to market. The Social science, Humanities and Arts for People and the Economy (SHAPE) Catalyst programme will equip individuals or teams from UK research organisations with the skills they need to explore the commercial application of their research. At least three roun...

Grants of between £250 and £5,000 are available to individuals and small groups or organisations based in the UK who have a novel technical idea which they want to try. Through the “I’ve Got an Idea” Fund, the Prospectory will provide funding to cover the costs of making and/or testing a novel technical idea, that would deliver a social or environmental benefit, and is intriguing, inventive and has an element of fun. The first award ma...