UKRI Policy Fellowships 2026: Embedding Researchers in Government

• What are the UKRI Policy Fellowships 2026
• Funding strands, amounts and cost-sharing
• Eligibility, key dates and how to apply
• How research offices administer secondment agreements and reporting
• Implications for institutions and applicants
• Outlook: what happens after the September deadline

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.

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.