Exploring the frontiers of environmental research 2026 (Grant)

Apply for funding to pursue truly novel curiosity-driven environmental research that is at an early stage of development and has the potential to be transformative. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) funding. Projects should focus on preliminary investigation that may inform future activities and applicants should articulate the potential for impact of the project outcomes. The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be between £100,000 and £200,000. NERC will fund 80% of the FEC. The duration of the award is a maximum of two years. Demand management Demand management is being applied to this funding opportunity at the individual level. Further details are provided in the ‘Additional information’ section. Aim This funding opportunity aims to enable researchers to test new ideas and approaches. As well as concepts at a stage when they are not yet sufficiently developed for standard funding routes and the outcomes are inherently uncertain. By supporting innovative new lines of research and reducing the expectation for preliminary data, this opportunity intends to encourage a high-risk, high-reward culture in the application and assessment process. Scope This funding opportunity supports early-stage, curiosity-driven environmental research with the potential to be transformative. We are seeking to invest in our best researchers to pursue world-leading, truly novel, exploratory research projects, the outcomes of which could lead to a clear and significant advancement in knowledge, capability or application.Projects should focus on exploratory or preliminary investigation that may inform future activities, such as longer-term research activity, a commercialisation opportunity or influencing policy. The proposed work should have the capacity to significantly reshape current and future thinking and introduce a new avenue of enquiry.The proposed research must sit predominantly within NERC’s research areas .We will work with other research councils to ensure that applications close to remit boundaries are assessed by the most appropriate lead council. We encourage you to contact us first to discuss your application if you believe your research may cross research council boundaries.Applications must demonstrate how the funding opportunity’s environmental research scope is being met and projects must address clearly defined environmental science questions.Your research project: • should be original and visionary, challenging current thinking and paradigms, representing a clear departure from existing research directions or establishing a completely new line of enquiry • may include the development of new techniques to tackle existing problems • must be early stage and untested, lacking preliminary data and perhaps involving creative or unconventional approaches to the research challenge • may involve a high level of uncertainty or require a range of exploratory investigations, such that while there are clear aims to explore, the outcomes are neither predictable nor guaranteed • can involve any combination of pure, applied, technology-led or policy-driven research, potentially crossing disciplinary boundaries Potential outcomes could include: • generating a new discovery or insight that challenges current understanding • testing an unconventional idea at a disciplinary interface • opening novel research paradigms for further exploration in the longer-term • demonstrating proof of principle • establishing feasibility of a new or innovative approach Additional benefits may arise from funded projects, regardless of whether the original objectives are achieved, such as: • establishing a new cross-disciplinary collaboration • deriving key lessons learned from negative results or the disproving of a theory This opportunity is not intended to support: • activities that would be supported through any other more appropriate funding opportunity (as determined by us) • incremental developments along existing lines of enquiry (for example, extending previous work in a predictable way) • established research programmes seeking further validation • activities that are primarily non-research focused, or those focussed on the career development of an individual as a researcher (for example: networking, studentships, fellowships, infrastructure, equipment purchase, or training) • applications that focus on methodological or technology development purely to address a specific end user’s need Support for risk This funding opportunity aims to support early-stage innovative research projects that wouldn’t be supported elsewhere. NERC has a high tolerance for risk where applicants have clearly thought about where risks may exist.Therefore we: • do not require preliminary data • expect projects to involve significant uncertainty • accept that outcomes may not be predictable or guaranteed Assessment will focus on the potential reward, rather than the likelihood of suc

This opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. Check if your organisation is eligible Who is eligible to apply To be eligible as a project lead, you must be: • a resident in the UK • have a substantial relationship, and be affiliated, with an eligible UK research organisation We recognise that expertise is built through many routes, including industry experience, applied or practitioner roles, technical careers, non linear pathways and time spent outside academia. Therefore, in line with Individual eligibility we focus on individuals’ talent, skills and capability to lead and deliver the proposed work, rather than formal qualifications and length in post.We encourage: • multidisciplinary research and collaborations with other organisations • applications from individuals at all career stages Who is not eligible to apply An applicant may appear on a maximum of two applications submitted to this opportunity. Of those two, they may be listed as project lead on only one.We strongly recommend institutions use an internal quality assurance process to: • help ensure proposals are appropriately aligned with the scope of this opportunity • contribute to efficiency within the peer review process and avoid very low success rates Resubmissions We will not accept uninvited application resubmissions that have previously been assessed by UKRI. International researchers Under the UKRI and Research Council of Norway Money Follows Cooperation agreement a project co-lead (international) (previously co-investigator) can be based in a Norwegian institution. Read more about this in the NERC eligibility guidance for applicants .All other international collaborators (or UK partners not based at approved organisations) should be included as project partners. This includes organisations from the business or financial sectors. 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.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.

Click here to start an application on the UKRI Funding Service https://funding-service.ukri.org/OPP1353/apply/1387 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 application. Hyperlinks can be used in reference information. When including references, you should consider how your references will be viewed and used by the assessors, ensuring that: • references are easily identifiable by