UK Research and Innovation (BBSRC)

Bioinformatics and Biological Resources Fund (26BBR)

BBSRC funding to create, mature, maintain or integrate community resources for UK bioscience: databases and data sharing, bioinformatics software, and biological materials such as culture and germplasm collections, mutant lines and genetic libraries. It is for researchers and research technical professionals, including research software engineers, at UK research organisations eligible for BBSRC funding, and resources must meet significant demand or serve an established user base. Projects can cost up to £2 million full economic cost, of which BBSRC pays 80% (up to £1.6 million), and last up to five years, starting no earlier than 1 July 2027. Up to 10 letters showing community demand are mandatory and an independent advisory board is required.

Apply on the funder’s site

You could get: £1 – £2,000,000
Deadline: 32 days left; 19 November
Effort: Heavy; budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

Standard UKRI eligibility: open to researchers and research technical professionals normally eligible for BBSRC funding, based at a UK research organisation with standard eligibility; only the lead research organisation submits and it funds the remaining 20%
RTPs and research software engineers are particularly encouraged as project lead or co-lead if their responsibilities suit someone with substantial research experience
International researchers cannot be funded but can be project partners; project partners can be in industry, academia, the third sector or government, in the UK or overseas
No demand management limit is currently applied
An advisory board independent of the academic institutions and project partners is required

What it funds

Community bioscience resources such as:

Management and sharing of large and complex datasets at community level, supporting FAIR principles and moving towards AI readiness
State-of-the-art, well maintained software tools enabling cutting-edge analyses and workflows
Access to materials that underpin bioscience research, including culture and germplasm collections, mutant lines and clones, DNA samples and genetic libraries
Types of application: establishment of a new and innovative resource that will benefit a broader BBSRC user base
Maturation and subsequent maintenance of a project-based resource into a community-based one
Further development or essential maintenance of an existing community resource with well-established access mechanisms
Association, or integration, of distinct resources into an upgraded resource

all applications must show consideration of long-term sustainability options beyond BBSRC support. Resources with significant UK demand fit better than those serving mainly an international community with a small UK user base.

What it will not fund

Resources without primary relevance to BBSRC's remit, for example generic software platforms applicable to any area of research
Resources mainly used for biomedical, clinical or healthcare research rather than the biosciences
Projects where data generation is the primary objective
Proposals whose primary aim is to address specific research hypotheses or generate new datasets
Resources already suitably supported via other means
Resources that only provide institutional or restricted access
Collections of preserved, non-recoverable specimens, for example herbaria or formalin-fixed material
Archive-only resources without active usage

How to apply

If unsure whether your resource fits BBR or BBSRC's remit, email a short summary to bbr.fund@bbsrc.ukri.org
Gather up to 10 letters or emails of support showing community demand, and letters from any project partners
Start an application on the UKRI Funding Service and confirm you are the project lead
Answer the questions: Vision (1,700 words), resource category, Approach (4,400 words, with a mandatory Gantt chart), strategic case, team capability, management strategy, data management plan using the BBR template, resources, and ethics
Send the application to your research office, which checks it and submits it to BBSRC by 4pm on 19 November 2026
Respond to comments from the three assigned panel members, usually within 10 working days

by submitting you confirm the application has been approved by an appropriate institutional authority. Out-of-scope applications may be rejected without consultation.

Have ready

Community demand letters or emails of support: mandatory, up to 10, as a single PDF of up to 8MB, in English or Welsh
Project partner letters or emails of support, up to two sides of A4 per partner, as a single PDF

partner letters are needed only if you have project partners. Generic template letters of support are of negligible value. The Gantt chart and data management plan are entered within the application.

More like this

Other grants open to organisations like yours.