Category: Funding, Studentships & Awards

Researchers in Residence Sprint Programme Funding

The Innovation Launchpad Network+ (ILN+), has secured an additional £500,000 from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) to launch the Researchers in Residence (RiR) Sprint programme.

Running between October 2026 and February 2027, the RiR Sprint will build on the success of the Network’s flagship Researchers in Residence scheme by providing a new fast paced model of collaboration between universities and the Innovate UK Catapult Network.

The call for the Researchers in Residence Sprint programme is open now, with projects commencing in October 2026 and ending in February 2027. Applications are invited for projects of between £25,000-£50,000 of university researcher costs which will take fundamental work from the University lab and scale it towards application in the real world.

Everything you need to know, including a three-step guide to application, is here.

Call for Applications: Postdoctoral Fellowships at Zukunftskolleg (deadline: 12 Oct)

We invite researchers in the early stages of their careers who plan to develop and implement an independent research project to apply for a 2-year Postdoctoral Fellowship. The fellowships are open to researchers from all fields represented at the University of Konstanz.

You will find the call for applications as well as information about the eligibility criteria and the application process under: https://www.uni-konstanz.de/zukunftskolleg/fellowships/postdoctoral-fellowship/.

Questions can be directed via e-mail to zukunftskolleg-application@uni-konstanz.de.

We look forward to receiving the applications until 12 October 2026, 11:00 am (CET).

 

Funding Opportunity: Wellcome Accelerator Awards

Wellcome Accelerator Awards

Application deadline: 25 August 2026, 15:00 BST

The third round of our annual Wellcome Accelerator Awards is now open. The awards support researchers of Black, Bangladeshi and Pakistani heritage in the UK to undertake activities that put them in a stronger position to reach their next career stage within academia. The funding can be used for research or research-adjacent activities, such as training, secondments, and networking.

Accelerator Awards | Grant funding | Wellcome

UKRI Policy Fellowships 2026

UKRI Policy Fellowships 2026

Applications are now invited to the UKRI Policy Fellowships scheme, which will offer 50 fellowships that span the breadth of the UKRI remit. Fellowship opportunities will be based with a host in 1 of 27 different UK government departments, devolved governments and What Works Centres.

The UKRI Policy Fellowships are designed to improve the exchange of specialist knowledge between academic institutions and policy, facilitating deeper, more enduring connections between researchers and policy makers. These exciting opportunities will allow fellows to undertake cutting edge research and inform decision-making on the most pressing policy problems of our time. The fellowships aim to support career development and enhance fellows understanding of applying research in government contexts. All fellows will become part of a cohort of academic researchers and receive training, mentoring and networking opportunities with likeminded individuals.

The fellowship cohort will be organised around the key policy priority areas including, where applicable, the UK Modern Industrial Strategy sectors (IS-8) and government missions.

Three types of fellowship are offered:

Core Policy Fellows

Core policy fellows are open to early and mid-career researchers and will be based within UK or devolved government, or an arm’s length body focusing on key public policy priority areas. For Whitehall departments and arm’s length body hosts, fellowships will align with one of the IS-8 sectors supporting objectives to drive productivity, innovation and long‑term economic growth, or one of the government’s core missions.

Modern Industrial Strategy (IS-8) sectors:

  • advanced manufacturing
  • clean energy Industries
  • creative industries
  • defence
  • digital and technologies
  • financial services
  • life sciences
  • professional and business Services

Government missions:

  • economic growth
  • NHS fit for the future
  • safer streets
  • break down barriers to opportunity
  • clean energy

Gambling policy fellowships are also offered within the core policy fellowships, focusing on delivery of the government’s statutory levy on gambling operators. The fellowships will enable early and mid-career researchers to work closely with levy commissioners on key public policy areas for the prevention and treatment of gambling related harms.

 

Natural Hazards and Resilience Policy Fellows

Natural Hazards and Resilience policy fellowships are open to early and mid-career researchers and will be based within UK or devolved government, or an arm’s length body. The Natural Hazards and Resilience policy fellowships will enable early and mid-career researchers to work closely with policy makers to focus on natural hazards and pandemic preparedness to help solve critical national and global challenges and work to guarantee the UK’s future resilience to situations that could cause or threaten serious harm to human welfare or the environment. This would include a spectrum of potential natural hazards with a clear focus on human impact such as:

  • health risks (including infectious disease)
  • flooding
  • loss of essential services like power, food, water, and telecoms

These fellowships are funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport as part of the COVID-19 Commemoration programme.

 

What Works Innovation Fellowships

What Works Innovation fellowships are open to researchers at all career stages and fellows will be based within the What Works Network to increase the supply of and demand for evidence to address priorities in the hosts’ policy areas of:

  • homelessness
  • policing
  • place

 

Key Dates

9 June 2026 9:00am: Opening date
25 June 2026: Webinar
10 September 2026 4:00pm : Closing date
October/November 2026: Shortlisting
December 2026: Invitations to interview
January 2027: Interviews
February 2027: Decisions communicated
1 May 2027: Start date

Further Details

All fellowship opportunities are 18 months in duration and open to applications from researchers based at an organisation eligible for UKRI funding. Full details and links to apply can be found at this link UKRI Funding Finder.

UKRI will be holding a webinar for this call on 25 June and you can register here.

Royal Society Fellowships 2026 Full List

Schemes opening in 2026

Scheme Open date Close date Decision
Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship 7 January 2026 4 March 2026 July 2026
Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellowship 7 January 2026 4 March 2026 July 2026
International Exchanges Global Round 1 15 January 2026 18 March 2026 June 2026
JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship 15 January 2026 18 March 2026 July 2026
Newton International Fellowships 15 January 2026 11 March 2026 August 2026
Research Grants 29 January 2026 26 March 2026 July 2026
Industry Fellowships 4 February 2026 1 April 2026 July 2026
Short Industry Fellowships 2 April 2026 28 May 2026 July 2026
Kan Tong Po Visiting Fellowships 9 April 2026 4 June 2026 October 2026
Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship 6 May 2026 1 July 2026 November 2026
Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellowship 6 May 2026 1 July 2026 November 2026
University Research Fellowship 14 July 2026 9 September 2026 May 2027
Industry Fellowships 22 July 2026 16 September 2026 March 2027
Short Industry Fellowships 12 August 2026 7 October 2026 December 2026
Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship 1 September 2026 28 October 2026 July 2027
Faraday Discovery Fellowships – Stage 1 August 2026 September 2026 November 2026
Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowships September 2026 November 2026 April 2027
Career Development Fellowships 22 September 2026 18 November 2026 June 2027
Faraday Discovery Fellowships – Stage 2 December 2026 February 2027 July 2027

Become a Scientist Founder with Wilbe (BSF) – Now Live!

Become a Scientist Founder by Wilbe is live!

A free, open-access platform to help scientists and engineers move from research to enduring real-world impact with speed and precision.
Inside you’ll find:

  • A guided path to explore entrepreneurship, lay foundations, or build a company in 10 days.
  • A private community + weekly office hourswith the Wilbe team.
  • Access to curated events, lab space, and the wider Wilbe ecosystem.

Start now: wilbe.com

X
Become a Scientist Founder by @wilbe_science is live!

A free, open-access platform helping scientists + engineers turn research into real-world impact with speed and precision.

  • 10-day guided path
  • Community + office hours
  • Events, labs, ecosystem

wilbe.com

Merck Research Grants

2021 Merck research grants – Merck Research Grants

This year we are offering research grants of 40k€ – 450k€ per year for up to 3 years in the areas of: drug discovery, real time testing and sensors, nanoparticles for nucleic acid delivery, digital innovation, bioelectronics, sustainability, media recycling for cultured meat, organoids

Find out more details and apply today at:

http://researchgrants.merckgroup.com (for world except U.S. and Canada)
http://researchgrants.emdgroup.com (for U.S. and Canada)

 

 

Advanced Research Opportunities Program (AROP)

We have recently established a new scholarship which can be used for PhD students and Post-Docs wanting to conduct research stays at RWTH Aachen University. The “Advanced Research Opportunities Program (AROP)” offers a travel grant of 1.000€ (lump sum) and a monthly stipend of 1.800€ for a period of up to 6 months.
The goal of the program is to strengthen and intensify bilateral relations between RWTH Aachen University and international universities and research institutions of strategic relevance. Among other purposes, the research stays may be used to prepare joint research projects and publications, initiate joint projects in the field of capacity building, develop teaching projects at the partner university, and organize future visits and student exchange programs.

More information on the program can be found here. If you have any further questions, please get in touch with Dr. Daniel Holder.