UK Research and Innovation, Economic and Social Research Council

Growth Roundtable

ESRC will fund one Growth Roundtable: a three-year applied policy research initiative on the regulatory and institutional conditions needed to encourage investment and economic growth, with a particular interest in AI and other emerging technologies. The award holder acts as a central hub that brings together experts from policy, regulation, business, investment and research, and uses a flexible fund to commission small projects and other work from them. Unusually for UKRI, organisations with non-standard eligibility can lead it, including charities, NGOs, third sector organisations and social enterprises.

Apply on the funder’s site

You could get: £1 – £2,950,000
Deadline: 56 days left; 7 January
Effort: Heavy; budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

The project lead must meet UKRI individual eligibility and be based at a UK organisation with either standard UKRI organisational eligibility (universities and other eligible research organisations) or non-standard eligibility for this opportunity
Non-standard eligibility covers charities, non-governmental organisations, government departments, third sector organisations, social enterprises and other educational establishments that do not usually undertake research, such as colleges; these pass additional due diligence and eligibility checks before an award is made, but can apply before the checks
International researchers can join as project co-lead (international); other international collaborators, and UK partners not at approved organisations, join as project partners
Only the lead organisation submits

What it funds

An applied policy research project that commissions, curates and publishes evidence on the regulatory, institutional, market and governance conditions needed to support investment, innovation, productivity and long-term growth, including:

Engagement and collaborative activity to identify priorities, shape research questions and connect stakeholders
Commissioning targeted evidence: short-term research projects, analytical studies, evidence reviews and other focused work responding to policy challenges
Outputs such as policy briefs, evidence syntheses, rapid reviews, short research papers and analytical reports
A flexible funding pot, used by the Roundtable to fund workshops, events, small projects, producing key outputs, secondments, internships and horizon scanning

Projects last up to 36 months and must start by 1 April 2027. ESRC funds 80% of the full economic cost (some exceptions at 100%), with the total ESRC contribution not exceeding £2.95 million. Funding is for a single award.

What it will not fund

Applications focused primarily on advancing academic knowledge without a clear strategy for stakeholder engagement, evidence mobilisation and policy impact
Core team members' costs from the flexible fund
Uninvited resubmissions of projects already submitted to UKRI

How to apply

Make sure your organisation is registered on the UKRI Funding Service (not Je-S)
Optionally attend the applicant webinar on 17 November 2026
Select 'Start application' on the Funding finder page, confirm you are the project lead, and sign in or create a Funding Service account
Answer the questions in the text boxes: summary, core team, vision, approach, applicant and team capability, resources and costs, ethics and responsible research and innovation, project partners, host organisation's support, and data management and sharing
Send the completed application to your research office for checking; it submits to UKRI by 4pm UK time on 7 January 2027

Assessment is by panel, with ESRC making the final decision. Submitted applications cannot be changed.

Have ready

A single PDF of letters or emails of support from each named project partner
A statement of support from the host organisation, pasted into the text box (not uploaded)
Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) for the team

Additional ethics question sets may need downloading, completing and uploading if the project involves them.

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