Unlocking advanced capabilities in conservation and heritage science (Grant)

Apply for funding to strengthen conservation and heritage science infrastructure by building sustainable national capability, improving access to nationally significant facilities and addressing unmet user demand. Projects should expand collaboration with industry, to accelerate technology development, commercialisation and knowledge exchange. The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £1.5 million, with £300,000 allocated to cascading funding. Projects must start 1 April 2027 and may last up to 24 months, ending by 31 March 2029. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for AHRC funding. Demand management Demand management is not being applied to this funding opportunity. Aim Unlocking Advanced Capability is the next phase of the Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) Programme, building on infrastructure establishment (Tranche 1) to target capability enhancement. It supports UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s mission to advance knowledge, improve lives and drive economic growth. This investment will strengthen the UK’s conservation and heritage science ecosystem by funding equipment and facilities, and supporting collaborative projects that: • build sustainable national capability for research and innovation • expand access to nationally significant facilities • address unmet user demand It will also stimulate innovation through enhanced collaboration with industry, including small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)s, enabling knowledge exchange, technology development and pathways to commercialisation. Projects should deliver long-term capability improvements, strengthen resilience across the sector and create opportunities for wider impact, spillover benefits and UK leadership in heritage science and conservation. This investment will: • strengthen the UK’s conservation and heritage science infrastructure • support collaborative projects that build sustainable national capability • improve access to nationally significant facilities and address unmet user needs • foster innovation through partnerships with industry, including SMEs, enabling knowledge exchange, technology development and commercialisation • deliver long-term capability, increase sector resilience, create opportunities for wider impact and spillover benefits, and enhance the UK’s leadership in conservation and heritage science Scope The RICHeS Programme is designed to maximise the research, development and innovation potential of UK conservation and heritage science by delivering a generational step change in the sector’s effectiveness, efficiency and excellence. Specifically, it will: • catalyse the development of an informed, collaborative and innovative UK heritage science community • ensure that the heritage science sector has the capability and the capacity to meet user demand and deliver world-class scientific excellence • ensure that heritage science equipment, expertise, resources and research data are findable and accessible to users, available to external stakeholders, and capable of being leveraged by a range of partners For this funding opportunity, RICHeS is looking for projects that can: • demonstrate they meet the aims above • evidence collaboration across a coherent group of relevant partners, including connections with private-sector SMEs to increase knowledge exchange • clearly evidence need or unmet demand, and the capacity to respond to future sector and societal needs We are particularly interested in consortium applications focused on: • potential for innovation and spill over into sectors on environmental sustainability, health, or risk management of heritage assets • bioarchaeology and genomics • embedding and extending of AI and computational methods that drive efficiency and streamline processes Core components must include: • hosting facilities, advanced capability: Grants to nationally significant facilities up to £1.2 million to expand access and analytical capability including improvements to physical infrastructure and enabling AI or technical innovations • innovation funding: Projects may outline a dedicated allocation (up to £300,000) of cascaded funding to support collaborative innovation with industry partners, including SMEs. This activity must be directly related to capitalisable activity to enhance your infrastructure (such as, technically, via efficiencies, via bespoke alterations or automations) In developing a consortium bid, you may wish to consider how: • you and your research partners have identified current user demand for your facilities offer, the evidence for the scale and nature of unmet demand, and how investment will help you manage that demand • you and your research partners can build or extend connections with industry to increase knowledge exchange, particularly with organisations outside the heritage and conservation sector • your facilities, expertise and research will benefit stakeholders, including the wider heritage

This opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. Check if your organisation is eligible . 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 UK Research and Innovation (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/OPP1357/apply/1382 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