The Heat Network Efficiency Scheme (HNES) provides funding to public, private and third sector applicants, to support improvements to existing district heating or communal heating projects in England and Wales that are operating sub-optimally and resulting in poor outcomes for customers and operators.
Projects can apply to HNES for either revenue or capital grant funding:
Revenue grants – grants to fund procurement or mobilisation of external third-party support to carry out Optimisation Studies. These studies will assess heat network projects to identify causes of sub-optimal performance and recommend costed intervention or improvement measures.
Capital grants – grants to part-fund the delivery (installation) of eligible intervention/improvement measures.
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
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.
£100k – £3mCloses in 3 days (26 August 2026)UK-wide
UK Research and Innovation, Natural Environment Research Council
Apply for funding to deliver collaborative research which focuses on the underpinning science of aviation’s non-carbon dioxide (non-CO2) impacts and how they interact with climate over time with the view to identifying benefits, mitigation options, informing industry and government policy decisions.
Up to £385.4kCloses in 16 days (8 September 2026)UK-wide
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £33 million to develop device level hardware and associated software to meet the scale, programmability, and runtime performance needs of universal fault tolerant quantum computers.
£1m – £3.5mCloses in 26 days (18 September 2026)UK-wide
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.
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
UK Research and Innovation, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)
Apply for a BBSRC fellowship to further your career through an independent research project.
You must:
be an early career researcher
hold a PhD qualification (or equivalent experience)
be based at a UK research organisation eligible for BBSRC funding
UK Research and Innovation, Medical Research Council
Funding opportunity for mid-range capital equipment that will enable and enhance research across MRC’s scientific areas.
You must be employed at a research organisation eligible to apply for MRC funding.
There is no limit on the value of the grant, the value specified within the summary page is an example.
UK Research and Innovation, Economic and Social Research Council
We are commissioning one doctoral focal award plus to develop a cadre of social scientists from doctoral studentships and across career stages with the skills needed to use data-driven research approaches in innovative ways.
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for ESRC funding.
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
The National Space Innovation Programme (NSIP) provides co-funded grant support to derisk high-reward R&D projects with a clear target market. NSIP operates open funding calls for all space-related technologies under two strands: NSIP Kick Starter that supports highly disruptive early-stage innovations, and NSIP Major Projects which emphasizes commercialisation and growth of particularly lucrative ideas from UK businesses, universities and research organisations. NSIP Call 3 will expand the NSIP portfolio of innovative R&D projects that meet the programme’s objectives to: catalyse investment into the UK space sector, capture market growth, raise Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) of priority space capabilities, and position space activities closer to commercialisation and exploitation.
UK Research and Innovation, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
Apply for funding to establish an Innovation and Knowledge Centre (IKC) focused on driving adoption of the Capability Hardware Enhanced RISC Instructions (CHERI) digital security by design technology.
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for EPSRC funding.
Up to £7.7mCloses in 25 days (17 September 2026)UK-wide
UK Research and Innovation, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Apply for funding for a research grant in any area within the remit of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for BBSRC funding.
There is no limit on the value of the grant, the value specified within the summary page is an example.
UK Research and Innovation, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC)
Apply for an early independence fellowship if your research focus is within EPSRC Mathematical Sciences remit.
You must have:
a PhD
evidence of career consolidation and past productivity
plans for establishing your own research niche that enables a step-change towards independence
Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade
The UK Space Agency, invites proposals for projects through the International Bilateral Fund (IBF) that will help strengthen the UK space sector’s international partnerships.
Projects can be up to 18 months and must begin on 1 April 2027. Up to £1.5m is available in UK Space Agency grant funding for each project.
Owing to high levels of anticipated demand for this funding call, the UK Space Agency has taken the decision to restrict the number of applications to one per lead organisation (for the avoidance of doubt, this measure applies to all types of organisations, including industrial, academic and public sector research bodies). The inclusion of an international partner and matched contributions (as per UK subsidy control guidelines) are mandatory.
UK Research & Innovation, Engineering & Physical Sciences Research Council, NICT
Apply for funding to form world-leading partnerships with collaborators in Japan for your research into Advanced Connectivity Technologies.
UK applicants must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for EPSRC funding.
Japanese applicants must be eligible for NICT funding.
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.