CASRAI Dictionary

Tag: UKRI funding portal

  • UKRI Funding Finder: Building a Grant Pipeline

    The UKRI Funding Finder is UK Research and Innovation’s single search directory for live and recent funding opportunities across its seven research councils, Research England and Innovate UK. Used on its own, it only shows what is open today. Used alongside UKRI’s “future opportunities” timeline and the Funding Service application platform, it becomes the backbone of a proper grant pipeline — replacing the old habit of checking each council’s pages separately.

    The UKRI Funding Finder is the opportunity-discovery layer of a wider UKRI digital ecosystem. It is a searchable, filterable listing — not an application system in itself — that sits at ukri.org/opportunity and feeds every live UKRI call into one interface.

    What is the UKRI Funding Finder, exactly?

    The Funding Finder is a search and filter tool, not an application form. Each listing links out to a detail page covering eligibility, assessment criteria and a “start application” button. As of July 2026, UKRI’s Funding Finder listed 124 open and recently published opportunities across its nine constituent councils, sortable by publication date, opening date or closing date.

    Opportunities that opened before 20 September 2020 are not held on the live Finder; UKRI directs users to the UK Government Web Archive for that older material. This matters for pipeline planning: the Finder is a rolling, present-and-near-past window, not a permanent archive.

    The three-tool system: Finder, timeline and Funding Service

    Most guidance treats “the UKRI Funding Finder” as one tool. In practice it is the middle layer of a three-part system, and pipeline planning depends on using all three together rather than refreshing the Finder repeatedly.

    Tool What it shows When to check it
    Future opportunities timeline Calls still in development, with expected launch months and indicative budgets, up to several months ahead Quarterly, for horizon-scanning and early case-for-support drafting
    Funding Finder Live and recently published calls with full eligibility and assessment detail Weekly, or via RSS/email alert, for active curation
    UKRI Funding Service The application, review and award-management platform behind each “start application” link Once a project lead begins drafting, through to award closure

    The future opportunities timeline is the least-used but most valuable layer for pipeline building. UKRI’s own page states it shows “the launch month for research and innovation funding opportunities coming up in the future, to enable applicants to plan ahead” — as of 1 July 2026, that timeline extended out to November 2026, and included funding information such as a £50 million total fund (maximum award £26.25 million) for the MRC’s Centre of Research Excellence round five, and a £20 million Large Grants round confirmed for November 2026.

    How to build a grant pipeline from the Funding Finder

    Building a genuine pipeline — rather than a list of deadlines — means combining discovery, filtering, capacity planning and submission tracking into one recurring process.

    1. Scan the future opportunities timeline quarterly. Flag calls matching institutional strengths months before they open, so researchers can start drafting a case for support early.
    2. Subscribe to the Funding Finder RSS feed or UKRI email updates rather than manually revisiting the page; this converts monitoring into a passive feed.
    3. Filter by council and funding type (fellowships, collaborative research and development, equipment, public engagement) to build faculty-specific sub-pipelines rather than one undifferentiated list.
    4. Check each opportunity for institutional caps. Many UKRI calls apply demand management limits on how many applications one organisation may submit, which requires an internal sifting or peer-review step before submission.
    5. Set up Funding Service administrator accounts and notification groups so the research office is automatically alerted when a project lead starts a draft, and can route notifications to finance or costing teams.

    This sequencing matters because the Funding Service does not carry personal account data forward from UKRI’s legacy Je-S (Joint Electronic Submissions) system — UKRI states explicitly that “personal account information from the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system will not be transferred to the Funding Service.” Pipelines built on old Je-S habits, such as saved searches or stored contact lists, do not migrate automatically and must be rebuilt inside the new service.

    Answer-first Q&A

    What is the UKRI Funding Service?

    The UKRI Funding Service is UKRI’s digital platform for applying to and managing research and innovation funding. It replaced the legacy Je-S system, hosting the online application form, team-member roles, co-editing, review responses and award management for opportunities that display a “start application” link from the Funding Finder.

    Who is eligible for UKRI funding?

    Eligibility is set per opportunity, not centrally. Each Funding Finder listing states which organisations, career stages and roles (project lead, fellow, co-investigator) qualify for that specific council and scheme; applicants should check the “who is eligible” section of the individual call rather than assume blanket eligibility across UKRI.

    What is the success rate of UKRI funding?

    UKRI does not publish one blended success rate on the Funding Finder itself. Individual research councils report scheme-level outcomes in their own annual reports, and rates vary widely by call type — oversubscribed responsive-mode rounds are typically far more competitive than invite-only or directed opportunities, so pipeline planning should treat success rate as scheme-specific, not UKRI-wide.

    Is UKRI funded by the government?

    Yes. UKRI is a non-departmental public body that receives its funding as grant-in-aid from the UK government, primarily through the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology’s science and innovation budget, which it then allocates across its nine councils.

    What this means for research offices

    Institutions that treat the Funding Finder as a static search page will always be reacting to deadlines. Institutions that layer the future opportunities timeline, RSS alerts, council-specific filters and Funding Service administrator accounts into a single recurring research administration workflow convert the same public data into genuine lead time — the single biggest lever research administrators have for improving application quality within UKRI’s demand-managed, capped-application environment.

    The practical shift is procedural, not technical: no new software is required, only a scheduled habit of checking the timeline before the Finder, and the Finder before the Funding Service. As UKRI continues migrating remaining legacy Je-S workflows onto the Funding Service, research offices that have already built this three-layer habit will adapt fastest, because their pipeline never depended on the old system in the first place.

  • UKRI Policy Fellowships 2026: Embedding Researchers in Government

    What are the UKRI Policy Fellowships 2026

    UK Research and Innovation opened its 2026 call on 9 June 2026, and the UKRI Policy Fellowships 2026 now offer 50 embedded fellowship positions across 26 host partners spanning UK government departments, devolved administrations, arm’s-length bodies and the What Works Network. Each fellowship runs for 18 months and places a researcher directly inside a policy team, working alongside civil servants on live evidence needs rather than producing research at arm’s length.

    The scheme sits within UKRI’s wider fellowship investment framework, which funds researcher mobility between academia and non-academic settings. Unlike a conventional secondment negotiated bilaterally between a university and a government department, the policy fellowships route is a competitive, centrally administered funding call with fixed strands, published cost ceilings and a standard exemplar agreement — details that matter as much to research offices as to the applicants themselves.

    Applications close at 16:00 on Thursday 10 September 2026, submitted through the UKRI Funding Service by the applicant’s employing research organisation.

    Funding strands, amounts and cost-sharing

    The 2026 call is organised into three funding strands, each with its own focus, eligible career stage and full economic cost (FEC) ceiling. UKRI funds 80% of the FEC; the remaining 20% is met by the fellow’s employing research organisation, consistent with the standard UKRI research grant cost-sharing model rather than a fully funded secondment.

    Strand Focus FEC ceiling Career stage
    Core Policy Fellowships Priority areas across UK and devolved government Up to £180,000 Early or mid-career
    What Works Innovation Fellowships Homelessness, policing and place, via the What Works Network Up to £220,000 All career stages
    Natural Hazards and Resilience Fellowships System resilience and preparedness for environmental risk Up to £280,000 Early or mid-career

    Host partners named against these strands include the Department for Business and Trade, the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the Scottish Government, the Department of Health and Social Care, the UK Health Security Agency, the Ministry of Justice, the Home Office, the Department for Education, the Cabinet Office, the Environment Agency, the Centre for Homelessness Impact and the Wales Centre for Public Policy, among others. Thematic clusters span economic growth and industrial strategy, health inequalities, justice and public safety, education, housing and place, and the use of data and AI in government.

    Eligibility, key dates and how to apply

    Applicants must hold a doctorate or equivalent research experience, be based at a UKRI-eligible research organisation, and demonstrate subject-matter expertise relevant to a specific fellowship position. UKRI is explicit that career stage is not time-bound by years since doctorate; a researcher without a PhD may still qualify if they can evidence an equivalent sustained research-focused role. Researchers who have already undertaken or are currently undertaking a UKRI policy fellowship are not eligible to reapply.

    • Call opened: 9 June 2026, 09:00
    • Applicant webinar: 25 June 2026
    • Deadline: 10 September 2026, 16:00
    • Shortlisting: October to November 2026
    • Interviews: January 2027
    • Decisions: February 2027
    • Fellowship start: 1 May 2027

    Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI, though the fellowship agreement itself is negotiated between three parties: the host partner, the fellow, and the employing research organisation. Fellows must also pass any security, nationality and clearance checks the specific host requires before the placement can begin.

    What is the deadline for UKRI Policy Fellowships 2026?

    Applications for the UKRI Policy Fellowships 2026 close at 16:00 on Thursday 10 September 2026, submitted via the UKRI Funding Service. Only the applicant’s lead employing research organisation can make the submission, so institutional sign-off must be secured well before this deadline.

    Who is eligible to apply for UKRI policy fellowships?

    Eligible applicants hold a doctorate or equivalent research experience, are based at a UKRI-eligible research organisation, and meet the early or mid-career descriptor for Core Policy and Natural Hazards strands. What Works Innovation Fellowships are open to researchers at all career stages, including those without a completed doctorate.

    How many UKRI policy fellowship positions are available in 2026?

    UKRI is funding 50 fellowship positions across 26 host partners in the 2026 call, spanning UK government departments, devolved administrations, arm’s-length bodies and What Works Network members. Positions are distributed unevenly across the three funding strands and named host organisations.

    How is UKRI policy fellowship funding structured?

    UKRI funds 80% of the full economic cost of each fellowship, up to strand-specific ceilings of £180,000, £220,000 or £280,000. The employing research organisation covers the remaining 20%, matching UKRI’s standard grant cost-sharing model rather than a fully externally funded secondment.

    How research offices administer secondment agreements and reporting

    For research administrators, the operational detail sits below the headline figures. UKRI requires a formal fellowship or secondment agreement between the host partner, the fellow and the employing research organisation before a placement starts. UKRI has published an exemplar agreement, developed in consultation with UKRI Legal, central government departments and the university sector, and advises institutions to review it well ahead of submission rather than treating it as a post-award formality.

    This has direct implications for how institutions resource the administration of placement schemes:

    • Costing and 20% co-funding sign-off: Because UKRI funds only 80% of FEC, finance teams must confirm the department or faculty can cover the balance before the application is submitted, not after the award is made.
    • Compliance checks: UKRI states plainly that research office and finance teams undertake checks on hosting arrangements and financial eligibility, while ultimate responsibility for compliance remains with the applicant — a split of accountability research offices should document in their own sign-off workflow.
    • Host-specific clearance: Security and nationality checks vary by host department, so administrators cannot rely on a single institutional template; each placement’s clearance requirements need checking against the specific host’s published criteria.
    • Mentor and team roles: Early-career applicants must name a senior mentor from their employing organisation, adding a role that research offices need to track alongside the fellow and the host contact.
    • Reporting during placement: Fellows remain employed by their home institution throughout, so payroll, HR and reporting lines stay with the research organisation even while day-to-day line management sits with the host — a dual-reporting structure that research administration systems must be configured to reflect.

    This three-way agreement structure — host, fellow, employer — is the genuine administrative distinction of the UKRI scheme compared with informally negotiated academic-government exchanges, and it is the detail most coverage of the 2026 call omits in favour of headline position and funding counts.

    Implications for institutions and applicants

    Research offices supporting an applicant should treat the fellowship agreement review as a parallel workstream to the academic proposal, not a downstream task. Given the FEC ceilings scale with strand rather than individual placement complexity, institutions should also confirm early whether their standard overhead recovery models accommodate an 80/20 split embedded within a government host, rather than a conventional university-based grant.

    Applicants working with sensitive or linked administrative datasets should note that feasibility assessments — including secure data access approvals — need to be scoped against the 18-month fellowship window from the outset, since data access timelines can otherwise outrun the placement itself.

    Outlook: what happens after the September deadline

    With shortlisting running October to November 2026, interviews in January 2027 and a fellowship start date of 1 May 2027, institutions have a multi-month gap between submission and confirmed placement — a window research offices can use to finalise co-funding approvals, mentor arrangements and host-specific clearance paperwork rather than leaving them until decisions land. As UKRI continues to expand policy fellowship strands beyond their original remit, research administrators are likely to see this three-party agreement model applied to further embedded-researcher schemes, making early familiarity with the exemplar agreement a transferable skill rather than a one-off task.