UK Research and Innovation (AHRC)

Unlocking advanced capabilities in conservation and heritage science

AHRC capital funding to strengthen conservation and heritage science infrastructure: equipping and upgrading nationally significant facilities, widening access to them and meeting unmet user demand. It is the next phase of the Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programme and is led by UK research organisations eligible for AHRC funding, ideally as consortia with industry partners including SMEs. Projects can cost £500,000 to £1.5 million full economic cost, funded at 100% for eligible capital costs: up to £1.2 million for facilities and up to £300,000 of cascading funding for innovation with industry. Projects start on 1 April 2027, last up to 24 months, and subject to a gateway review are followed by an annual staffing grant from April 2029 to March 2031.

Apply on the funder’s site

You could get: £500,000 – £1,500,000
Deadline: 38 days left; 25 November
Effort: Heavy; budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

The project lead must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for AHRC funding (UKRI standard eligibility), and only that lead research organisation submits the application
Consortium bids are encouraged, and AHRC asks those developing consortium proposals to contact riches@ahrc.ukri.org early so it can help connect organisations
Core team roles include project co-leads (UK and international), specialists and research and innovation associates
Project partners can be in industry, academia, the third sector or government, in the UK or overseas; they cannot receive the cascading funding
Collaboration with private-sector SMEs is expected
The lead organisation must carry out due diligence and follow the Subsidy Control Act 2022 when passing cascading funding to third parties
No institutional match funding is needed
Demand management does not apply

What it funds

Capital investment of up to £1.2 million to develop, upgrade or equip nationally significant facilities and capability platforms, including:

Acquisition, delivery and installation of equipment for conservation and heritage science research
Construction, refurbishment or adaptation of facilities and supporting infrastructure feasible for completion within the grant window
Specialist IT equipment, software and other essential digital infrastructure
Staff costs directly associated with equipment installation, commissioning and implementation
Service and maintenance contracts that maximise the operational life and impact of funded equipment
Cascading funding for innovation (up to £300,000): capitalisable collaborative activities with industry partners, including SMEs, to develop, test or demonstrate new technologies, products or services that enhance the facility; it must be allocated within the first year, or no later than 1 April 2028
Follow-on staffing grant: after the project, and subject to a successful gateway health check, an annual award of £120,000 at 80% FEC (£96,000) from 1 April 2029 to 31 March 2031 for salary, employer on-costs and estates and overheads, issued as a separate award

AHRC is particularly interested in consortium applications focused on innovation spilling over into environmental sustainability, health or risk management of heritage assets; bioarchaeology and genomics; and embedding AI and computational methods. This is a capital funding opportunity: all requested costs must be capital or capitalisable. Funded facilities must take part in the RICHeS Access Fund and work with the Heritage Science Data Service.

What it will not fund

Original research unrelated to capability development
Collection digitisation, except where essential to developing or testing the capability
Training programmes, except training required for project staff to operate the capability and support user access
Studentships or postdoctoral research associates
Events or conferences
Business-as-usual activity
Cascading funding for named project partners or consortium partners

for the cascading funding, industry partners exclude higher education institutions, independent research organisations and charitable organisations.

How to apply

Optional: attend the webinar for potential applicants (held 30 September 2026) and read up on the RICHeS Access Fund
Make sure your research organisation is registered on the UKRI Funding Service (Je-S is not used)
Start an application on the UKRI Funding Service (https://funding-service.ukri.org/OPP1357/apply/1382) and confirm you are the project lead
Answer the questions in the text boxes: summary, core team, vision, approach, applicant and team capability (R4RI format), ethics and RRI, resources and cost justification, gender equality statement, your organisation's support, project partners, data management and sharing, facilities and Trusted Research and Innovation
Upload the project partners' letters of support as a single PDF
Send the completed application to your research office for checking
Your research office submits the application so that AHRC receives it by 4pm on 25 November 2026

submitted applications cannot be changed. Images are allowed in some answers but must not contain text paragraphs or tables or the application will be rejected.

Have ready

Online application on the UKRI Funding Service
Statement of support from your research organisation (up to 1,000 words), approved by an appropriate institutional authority and naming a significant person, their position and office address or web link
Letters or emails of support from each named project partner, as a single PDF in English or Welsh, up to two sides of A4 per partner
Project plan with a Gantt chart (or equivalent) within the Approach section
Data management plan (up to 500 words)
Gender equality statement (up to 400 words)

write 'N/A' for partner letters if you have no project partners.

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