Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government
The Democratic Engagement Fund provides grants to civil society organisations (CSOs) to deliver politically neutral, place-based projects that support people to understand, engage with, and participate in democracy in England.
The Fund focuses on communities that are currently less democratically engaged, including young people, ethnic minority communities, disabled people, people experiencing homelessness, regular movers, and people from low socio-economic backgrounds. Projects should help overcome barriers to democratic participation related to knowledge, opportunity, motivation or trust, and must contribute learning on what works to increase democratic engagement.
Projects must be delivered in England.
£1,000 – £50kCloses in 8 days (31 August 2026)England
UK Research and Innovation, Arts and Humanities Research Council
Apply for funding to combine design-led interventions with arts and humanities methodologies to make positive contributions to the green transition.
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funding.
The programme supports innovation in legal services by accelerating the development and adoption of lawtech across England and Wales. It also supports the government’s ambition to maintain the UK’s position as a world-leading legal centre by promoting innovation, improving access to legal services and strengthening the international competitiveness of English and Welsh law. Lawtech refers to technology that supports, supplements or transforms the delivery of legal services. Examples include artificial intelligence tools that help individuals understand their legal rights, software that automates routine legal processes, digital dispute resolution platforms and technologies that improve the efficiency and accessibility of legal services.
£3.61m – £3.62mCloses in 3 days (26 August 2026)UK-wide
The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra)
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £15 million for feasibility projects. This funding is from the industry led R&D Partnerships Fund, part of the Farming Innovation Programme.
£200k – £500kCloses in 17 days (9 September 2026)UK-wide
Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner for Merseyside
Child Focused Courts represents significant change to private law children’s cases. The model aims to improve the experience and outcomes for children and families, particularly adult and child victims of domestic abuse. It focuses on early identification of risk, increased engagement with children and bespoke support for victims, all within a streamlined court process.
Up to £609.9kCloses in 12 days (4 September 2026)England
UK Research and Innovation, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council
Apply for funding to establish optical wireless communications research and testing facility.
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for EPSRC funding.
Up to £7.12mCloses in 23 days (15 September 2026)UK-wide
UK Research and Innovation, Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
Apply for funding to engage the public with Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) supported science.
Applicant organisations must:
• be UK-based
• produce annual accounts certified by an accountant
Proposals must include an appropriate STFC subject-matter expert (SME).
£5,000 – £20kCloses in 2 days (25 August 2026)UK-wide
UK Research and Innovation, BBSRC, AHRC, EPSRC, ESRC, MRC, NERC, STFC
Apply for this sector transition fellowship to transfer knowledge and skills across academic and policy sectors and increase sector porosity.
There is no limit on the value of the grant, the value specified within the summary page is an example.
£180k – £280kCloses in 18 days (10 September 2026)UK-wide
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £14.3 million to accelerate the adoption of quantum enabled position, navigation, and timing (PNT) and sensing technologies by addressing specific technical and commercial barriers.
£1m – £3mCloses in 24 days (16 September 2026)UK-wide
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) invites applications for funding to strengthen the UK’s role in digital technical standards, which are essential to the economy and society and developed through global multistakeholder collaboration in organisations such as the European Telecommunication Standardization Institution (ETSI), Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
The goal is to support innovative initiatives that embed standards teaching in higher education, inspire career interest, enhance academic–industry collaboration and strengthen the UK talent pipeline for participation in international standards development.
£2,500 – £40kCloses in 15 days (7 September 2026)UK-wide
This grant provides funding to high performing local authorities that are leading on children's social care reform implementation, to deliver hands on operational support and intervention to other local authorities to improve their CSC services.
£45k – £480kCloses in 15 days (7 September 2026)England
***NECESSARY ACTION: SEE SUPPORTING INFORMATION TAB FOR SPECIFIC DETAILS***
Defra is looking to award grants via the National River Walks Programme to address the Environmental Improvement Plan 2025 commitment to deliver 9 new national river walks, one in each region of England.
One river walk has already been delivered in the North West region. We now welcome applications from the remaining 8 regions of England to deliver the next river walks. We are not looking for further applications from the North West.
We aim to select 4 river walks to be delivered by 31st March 2028. A further competition to fund the remaining 4 walks will be arranged in the future.
Up to £1.35mCloses in 4 days (27 August 2026)England
Apply for funding to deliver collaborative research projects with partners from the US, Canada or both to improve understanding of and resilience to wildfire occurrence and impacts in the wildland-urban interface.
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding.
Following the publication of Better Connected, the Department for Transport has launched the Integrated Transport Digital Twin (ITDT) Fund. This £30 million fund will support selected local transport authorities to develop digital twin trials that improve transport integration, network performance and resilience. The fund will enable local authority-led partnerships to test innovative, data-driven approaches, strengthen collaboration across organisational and geographical boundaries, and generate evidence and learning to inform potential future rollout
£1m – £30mCloses in 9 days (1 September 2026)England
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £13 million for building quantum computing software applications that show clear value and potential high impact on near term quantum computing systems.
£300k – £4mCloses in 24 days (16 September 2026)UK-wide
The UK Space Agency invites proposals for UK-based research and development projects to develop innovative Earth Observation (EO) technologies through the EO Missions and Technology (EOMT) Innovation Call 1.
Applications are encouraged for innovative, early Technology Readiness Level (TRL) projects supporting climate monitoring, the environment, dual use and commercial applications.
£50k – £200kCloses in 9 days (1 September 2026)UK-wide
DCMS is providing grant funding for delivery partner(s) to test an innovative three-year ‘Connections through Gaming’ pilot that will use gaming as a route to engage boys aged 11–16 who may be experiencing loneliness, isolation or low wellbeing.
The pilot will combine gaming-based activities, structured wellbeing and confidence-building support; opportunities to build friendships, confidence and positive social connections, both online and in person.
The pilot is particularly focused on boys aged 11-16 who:
- may be becoming withdrawn or isolated;
- are struggling to build or maintain social connections;
- are not currently engaging with existing youth services; and
- would benefit from additional support before challenges become more entrenched.
£120k – £648kCloses in 19 days (11 September 2026)England
UK registered businesses can apply for a share of up to £20 million to develop innovative solutions for automation and robotics in agriculture, horticulture and forestry. This funding is from the Farming Futures R&D fund.
Amount not publishedCloses 30 September 2026UK-wide
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £25 million for pre-commercialisation projects. This funding is from the UKRI R&D Missions Accelerator Programme through the Clean Energy Superpower Mission.
Amount not publishedCloses in 3 days (26 August 2026)UK-wide