New Partners and Capability Development Fund – Consultation Notification

05 Jun 2025

We are preparing to issue a call for expressions of interest for new participants to join the consortium via a New Partners and Capability Development Fund.

The Fund will:

  • Bring in partners that are new to UKERC
  • Deliver research that complements existing UKERC themes
  • Address new and emerging areas of relevance to UKERC
  • Develop new capabilities within UKERC to tackle key research questions.

As part of this we will be awarding three projects that demonstrate strong potential for impact and collaboration with new partners. Each successful proposal may receive funding of up to £250,000 at 80% full economic cost (FEC).

The first step of this process is an online consultation on prospective new topics, as described below.

Project topics

The first phase of activity will fund three new partner projects in total, to bring in a new partner aligned with each of the research themes detailed below:

A consultation document will be published that outlines a range of prospective topic areas identified by the UKERC Management Board. We will be inviting feedback from stakeholders to help us prioritise and refine the subject areas.

Following consideration of this feedback we will publish a call for expressions of interest (EoI) from potential partners. EoIs will be subject to review, with one project in each area selected for further development. Successful proposals will then be invited to engage with UKERC Theme leaders to co-create the final project scope.

How to provide your feedback

We will be opening the consultation next week and will invite stakeholders to submit feedback via a Google form. We welcome anyone with an interest in the subject matter to contribute when it opens.

Timeline for consultation and EoI stage:

  • 09-27 June: stakeholder consultation
  • 30 June – 21 July: UKERC internal review of stakeholder consultation responses
  • 28 July – 30 September: EoI call open

Eligibility:

EoIs are invited from eligible UK researchers, i.e., applicants based in UK Higher Education Institutions, Research Council Institutes and Centres, and Independent Research Organisations approved by any of the Research Councils. Please refer to the UKRI website for details on funding eligibility. Potential applicants should contact UKERC well in advance of the submission deadline if they have any queries concerning their eligibility. Organisations not eligible to receive Research Council funding directly (e.g. industry, government agencies, third sector organisations) may participate as project partners.

Individuals may submit no more than one EoI as Principal Investigator plus one as Co-investigator, or two as Co-Investigator, to this call.