Bioinformatics and Biological Resources Fund (26BBR) (Grant)

Apply for funding to implement, improve or consolidate bioinformatics or biological resources in support of UK bioscience, helping to drive forwards progress in bioscience research and innovation. Your project must focus on the delivery of a community resource that addresses a significant demand or supports an established user base in the biosciences. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for BBSRC funding. The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £2 million. BBSRC will fund 80% of the FEC, that is, up to £1.6 million. Projects can be up to five years in duration. Demand management Demand management is not currently being applied to this funding opportunity. However, should the level of interest exceed what can be managed within the assessment process, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) may introduce measures to help mitigate the situation. Further details will be clearly communicated where this is the case. UKRI encourages organisations to support applicants in preparing well-planned, high-quality applications that are competitive for funding relative to the funding opportunity. Scope Bioinformatics and biological resources are an essential component of the UK’s bioscience infrastructure, helping drive forwards progress in bioscience research and innovation. Sustainable provision of high-quality FAIR biological data and cutting-edge bioinformatics software are critical enablers of data-driven discoveries in the 21st century. The availability of nationally and internationally important bioscience data assets is key to ensuring the UK’s future international competitiveness, particularly for application of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies that promise to transform our understanding of living systems and accelerate the bioeconomy. Similarly, provision of comprehensive, cutting-edge biological materials is vital to enabling efficient use of resources across research communities, unlocking new opportunities for research across diverse and distributed teams in the UK, and to enhance the reproducibility of research findings by ensuring consistent biological standards within the field. The Bioinformatics and Biological Resources Fund (BBR) aims to help address this need by providing a sustainable route to support resources such as databases, software and biological materials. Projects supported through BBR focus on high quality community-focused provision such as: • management and sharing of large and complex datasets at a community level for data discovery, data mining and data integration, supporting FAIR (findable, accessible, interoperable, reusable) principles and moving towards AI readiness • state-of-the-art, well maintained software tools enabling cutting-edge analyses, workflows and ultimately novel insights from bioscience data, such as from AI and machine learning • access to materials that underpin world class bioscience research, including but not limited to culture and germplasm collections, mutant lines and clones, DNA samples and genetic libraries Duration The duration of this award is a maximum of five years. Projects can only start by 1 July 2027 at the earliest. Funding available The full economic cost of your project can be up to £2 million. BBSRC will fund 80% of the full economic cost, and your research organisation will be expected to fund the remaining 20%. The indicative budget for this funding opportunity is up to £7 million. What we will fund BBR supports the following types of applications: • establishment of a new and innovative resource that will be beneficial to 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, to increase its relevance, quality and utility. For example, by enabling the resource to support FAIR principles or by enabling new uses, such as metadata enrichment for machine learning and AI approaches • association, or integration, of distinct resources that will create an upgraded resource with a greater value than the sum of the parts All applications are expected to evidence consideration for alternative long-term sustainability options beyond BBSRC support. While the intention for BBR projects is to benefit UK researchers, we recognise that internationally leading infrastructures, facilities and resources will also have significant portions of their user base outside of the UK. When scoping your project, please consider that resources with a significant impact and demand from within the UK research base fit the scope of the funding opportunity better than projects that serve a broad international community in which the UK only has a relatively small domestic user base. What we will not fund Applications in the following areas are excluded from BBR and will not be accepted. We may reject these applications without consul

This funding opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. Check if your organisation is eligible . The 2026 Bioinformatics and Biological Resources Fund is open to researchers and research technical professionals (RTPs) normally eligible to apply for funding from BBSRC. Check if you’re eligible for BBSRC funding . Research technical professionals Building on the Technician Commitment UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Action Plan and the UKRI people and teams action plan , we particularly encourage applications from RTPs and research software engineers as either project leads or project co-leads. A research technical professional can be listed as a project lead or project co-lead, provided that their level of responsibilities and duties is appropriate to a person with substantial research experience. If you are unsure if you are eligible, contact bbr.fund@bbsrc.ukri.org International researchers International researchers are not eligible to apply for funding as part of this funding opportunity, but they can be included as project partners if relevant. Equality, diversity and inclusion We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers and RTPs. We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes: • career breaks • support for people with caring responsibilities • flexible working • alternative working patterns UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process. Find out more about equality, diversity and inclusion at UKRI .

Click here to start an application on the UKRI Funding Service: https://funding-service.ukri.org/OPP1435/apply/1472 We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system. The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application. Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI. To apply Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page. • Confirm you are the project lead. • Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password. • Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page. • Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office. • Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing. • Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI. Please be aware that research office and finance teams undertake checks on hosting arrangements and financial eligibility. The ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with all opportunity requirements lies with the applicant. Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. When including images, you must: • provide a descriptive caption or legend for each image immediately underneath it in the text box (this must be outside the image and counts towards your word limit) • insert each new image on a new line • use files smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words. The following are not permitted, and your application will be rejected if you include: • sentences or paragraphs of text • tables • excessive quantities of images A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column. For more guidance on the Funding Service, see: • how applicants use the Funding Service • how research offices use the Funding Service • how reviewers use the Funding Service References References should be included within the word count of the appropriate question section. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the