Exploring the frontiers of environmental research 2026

Open UKRI funding opportunity · Grant. Closes 2026-11-12. Total fund £8 million. Opportunity page: https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/exploring-the-frontiers-of-environmental-research-2026/

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.

What we're looking for 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…