GrantRadar

UK Research and Innovation (NERC)

Exploring the frontiers of environmental research 2026

NERC funding for truly novel, early-stage, curiosity-driven environmental research with the potential to be transformative, where preliminary data is not required and outcomes are uncertain. It is for researchers at all career stages who live in the UK and are affiliated with a UK research organisation eligible for NERC funding. Projects cost £100,000 to £200,000 full economic cost, of which NERC pays 80%, last up to two years and must start by 1 May 2027. Decisions use distributed peer review, so applicants must review about six to eight other applications between 6 and 27 January 2027.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
£100,000 – £200,000
Deadline
25 days left
12 November
Effort
Heavy
budgets, references, often several stages

Who can apply

  • Standard UKRI eligibility: the project lead must be resident in the UK and have a substantial relationship with, and be affiliated to, a UK research organisation eligible for NERC funding; only the lead research organisation submits
  • Individuals at all career stages and from non-academic routes are welcome
  • Each person can appear on at most two applications and lead only one
  • The only international co-lead allowed is one based at a Norwegian institution under the UKRI-Research Council of Norway Money Follows Cooperation agreement; all other international collaborators, UK partners not at approved organisations, and business or financial sector organisations take part as project partners
  • By applying you agree to take part in distributed peer review and must be available to review between 6 and 27 January 2027; missing the review deadline means automatic rejection

What it funds

Early-stage, curiosity-driven environmental research that sits predominantly within NERC's research areas and is:

  • Original and visionary, challenging current thinking or establishing a completely new line of enquiry
  • Development of new techniques to tackle existing problems
  • Early stage and untested, lacking preliminary data and perhaps using creative or unconventional approaches
  • Any combination of pure, applied, technology-led or policy-driven research, potentially crossing disciplinary boundaries
  • Use of NERC services and facilities, including ship-time, marine equipment and British Antarctic Survey logistics, at a scale suited to the award and costed within the limit

potential outcomes include a new discovery, testing an unconventional idea, proof of principle or establishing feasibility. The project lead must cost at least 0.2 FTE. A project co-lead (international) based in Norway is funded at 100%.

What it will not fund

  • Activities that would be supported through any other more appropriate funding opportunity
  • Incremental developments along existing lines of enquiry
  • Established research programmes seeking further validation
  • Activities that are primarily non-research focused or focused on an individual's career development (for example networking, studentships, fellowships, infrastructure, equipment purchase or training)
  • Methodological or technology development purely to address a specific end user's need
  • PhD studentship costs
  • Individual items of equipment over £25,000
  • Data archival and curation service costs (paid directly to the NERC Environmental Data Service)
  • Uninvited resubmissions of applications previously assessed by UKRI
  • Delayed starts or extensions to accommodate staff recruitment

How to apply

  1. If you need ship-time or marine equipment, contact marineplanning@nerc.ukri.org early and get your SME or ADF form approved by NERC Marine Planning before you submit
  2. If you need British Antarctic Survey logistics support, submit an online OSPQ as early as possible and get it approved by the Antarctic Access Office before you submit
  3. For other NERC facilities, agree access in advance and obtain the facility's technical assessment
  4. Start an application on the UKRI Funding Service and confirm you are the project lead
  5. Answer the questions: discipline classification, Vision (including a distinct, evidenced novelty statement), Approach, ethics, resources, application history, data management and facilities
  6. Send the application to your research office, which checks it and submits it to NERC by 4pm on 12 November 2026
  7. Review the six to eight applications allocated to you between 6 and 27 January 2027

applications without the novelty statement, or requesting marine facilities or Antarctic logistics without approved forms, will be rejected. NERC strongly recommends institutions run internal quality assurance. Contact NERC first if the work may cross research council boundaries.

Have ready

  • SME or ADF facility form as a single PDF (8MB maximum), only if requesting ship-time or marine equipment

most applications are answered in text boxes with no uploads. Facility technical assessments are not submitted, but you must confirm you have received them.

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