The University has a fund which provides support for large bids. You can find further information on the Large Bid Fund and guidance how to apply here:
https://www.research-strategy.admin.cam.ac.uk/research-funding/support-large-bid-preparation
The team in the Research Strategy Ofiice can assist you, as we are aware the application process can be time consuming. The RSO can offer support with facilitation, coordination and input into large complex bids, particularly to promote cross-disciplinary grant applications.
Please get in touch if you are interested and we can help.
Restricted Call: BBSRC ALERT Mid-range Equipment (internal deadline: 8th October 2025)
With the MRC call being cancelled, we invite only applications to the BBSRC ALERT Mid-range equipment call.
The call is expected to be for capital equipment over £200k, including VAT, at a maximum of £1.5m per individual piece of equipment. The maximum duration of grants is 12 months. The BBSRC do not require host contributions toward equipment purchase. Applications from all areas within the BBSRC remit are eligible. Relevance to the priority areas is particularly encouraged.
For more information about the schemes, including detailed requirements and eligibility, please see the call page from the previous round of the call: BBSRC ALERT mid-range equipment.
University Internal selection:
As with last year, we expect that for the BBSRC ALERT call there will be no restrictions on the number of applications the University can submit – but that the BBSRC will encourage institutions to review and prioritise their submissions.
Therefore, these calls will be managed according to the University’s restricted calls procedure.
Schools have been asked to each provide a ranked lists of requests they recommend are supported to apply to this round of funding. Departments should contact their School office to understand the selection/ranking process and timetable, and advise whether any applications intended for the MRC call which have already been made also fall within the BBSRC remit.
Funder deadline: January 2026 (TBC)
If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us at researchstrategy@admin.cam.ac.uk.
EPSRC has announced the Turing AI Pioneer Interdisciplinary Fellowships: outline applications
The newly established fellowships are aimed at established researchers from across UKRI remit who are looking to build skills and capability in Artificial Intelligence (AI) relevant to their domain with a view to addressing a defined research challenge in their field. As such, applicants with a background in core AI research are not eligible to apply. Broadly, fellows are expected to (a) upskill themselves and their teams in AI methodologies and (b) collaborate with (non-)academic partners to deliver wider societal and economic impact. In particular, the funder encourages collaboration with an established AI specialist/researcher to capitalize on the career development and AI focus of the project: please refer to the “Collaboration with an AI expert” section of the call page.
While the funder indicates proposals from all councils’ remits are welcome, they note that the proposals in the following domains supporting government missions/challenges are particularly welcome: engineering biology; frontier physics; materials science; medical research; quantum technology.
The fEC value of the projects can be up to £2,187,500, and EPSRC will fund 80% of the fEC. Project duration can be up to three years, with a fixed start date of 1 October 2026. While the funder states that researchers should be established, they also note that there are no standardised eligibility criteria for this fellowship due to the diversity of career paths in AI. With regards to the eligibility, please refer to the EPSRC Eligibility page, and the “Scope” section of the call page.
University Internal selection:
Institutions can only submit / lead on four outline applications. Therefore, this call will be managed according to the University’s restricted calls procedure. Your Department’s Research Grants Team and/or Departmental Administrator (or equivalent) must be made aware of your internal application.
To take part in the internal selection, please complete our online form
(NB: if asked to log-in, please use your crsID/Raven details; note that a Form cannot be saved and returned to) by Wednesday 20 August 2025.
You will need the following documents and information to complete the Form:
• Project Summary that addresses the assessment criteria below (max. 600 words)
• Head of Department Letter confirming that the Department is happy to host the fellowship
• Applicant Narrative CV (max. 4 pages for four modules following the funder's format)
Internal Assessment Criteria:
Please note that the assessment of internal applications will focus on the following core funder criteria (see the "Application Questions" section for more details on each criterion):
• Quality and capability to deliver: research excellence including the ambition, novelty, and timeliness of the proposed programme; the proposed team have the right mix of expertise
• AI Integration and training: how AI will be integrated in the applicant’s research programme not only during but also beyond the fellowship, including with aid of a career development/training plan; how the AI methodology will enrich and transform the applicant’s research domain, and lead to a step-change in addressing the chosen research challenge
• Collaborations for impact and delivery: How the applicant will build and sustain collaborations with (non-)academic partners and the chosen AI specialist to co-create the project
Funder deadline for the outline applications: Tuesday 14 October 2025, 4:00pm BST.
Coordinated call: RS Faraday Discovery Fellowships AIR (internal deadline: 20th October 2025)
The Royal Society has announced the second round of the Accelerated International Route Faraday Discovery Fellowships. It aims to provide a fast-track option for attracting mid-career researchers looking to relocate to the UK from overseas. It is intended for outstanding international researchers nominated by their UK host organisation and will run for two years. The fast-track programme will provide grants of up to £4m over a five-year period to support the development of world-leading research groups in the UK. It is expected that institutions will use these awards to make strategically important appointments, attracting leading researchers from overseas. Please note that concurrent applications cannot be made to the Faraday Discovery Fellowship standard route and accelerated international route.
The first stage of the application process requires a nomination by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research. To nominate a candidate, you will need to complete our online form which compiles all the information and documents needed to be submitted with the nomination to the Royal Society (if asked to log-in, please use your crsid/Raven details) by 20th October 2025. Please find attached a document which details the information and uploads you will need, along with a template for the nomination.
Internal deadline: 20th October 2025
Nomination deadline: 25th November 2025
Full stage application deadline: 20th January 2026
If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us at researchstrategy@admin.cam.ac.uk.
Documents
Restricted Call: Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships (internal deadline: 23rd October 2025)
The Leverhulme Trust has pre-announced the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships call, due to open on 3rd November 2025. Ten awards of up to £5 million will be made to UK universities in this round, with each award to fund up to 30 Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships in a priority research area for that institution.
The Trust and the scheme have a focus on funding interdisciplinary research, and it is therefore expected that topics will involve more than one discipline.
For further information about the call, see the funder’s guidance and the attached bid guidance document from the Postgraduate Research Office.
University Internal selection process
A university may submit only one application as lead but may partner in multiple applications, provided they are in different disciplinary areas. Therefore, this call will be managed according to the University’s restricted calls policy for both Cambridge-led applications and those where Cambridge would be the non-lead partner.
To take part in the internal selection, please complete our online form by 23rd October 2025 (if asked to log-in, please use your University SSO details). You will need the following information and documents to complete the form:
- Name(s) and affiliation(s) of principal applicant and co-applicant(s) at the University Cambridge and any partner institution, plus brief biographical details about the principal applicant (max 200 words)
- The title and disciplinary area of the proposal
- If the proposal is collaborative with another institution, whether the University of Cambridge would be the lead or non-lead partner
- A programme synopsis covering the following (max 1200 words):
- An outline of the topic and fields of study, and alignment with strategic priorities of the University/Schools/Departments. For collaborative applications, please also outline the basis and history of the partnership and how the programme will be managed.
- An overview of plans for the supervision of doctoral scholars, including the arrangements for selecting supervisors and monitoring student progress.
- A brief overview of the proposed training and cohort-building activities.
- An outline of how the proposed programme would utilise and administer the post-doctoral support element.
- A brief summary of the relationship between the proposed Doctoral Scholarship programme and any current doctoral training awards in this area, if applicable.
- How the Leverhulme Scholarships would provide added value in the chosen research subject area and to the university/universities and how the University might sustain a legacy of the Scholarships in the chosen area.
- A letter of support from the principal applicant’s Head of Department, countersigned by the relevant Head of School.
Applications will be assessed against the following subset of the funder’s general criteria and specific criteria for this call:
- The originality, importance and significance of the programme.
- The strength of the case for the choice of subject area identified as a priority for doctoral training.
- The quality of the proposed plans for the supervision of doctoral scholars, and the training and cohort-building activities.
- How well the proposed scholarships fits within the current institutional provision for doctoral training (at both universities, where applicable) and the extent to which the award would add value and deliver a legacy for the research in the chosen area
The outcome of the internal selection will be announced in November 2025 and support will be available to the selected application(s) to develop the proposed programme.
Funding call information session (online)
To support prospective applicants and Departmental colleagues in understanding this call and applying to the internal selection, we plan to hold an information session together with colleagues from the Postgraduate Research Office via MS Teams on Friday 26 September at 11:00-12:00. Please register to attend the session and you will then receive the joining link.
Funder’s timeline
- Scheme Opens: 03 November
- Funder deadline: 06 March 2026
- Decision: July 2026
If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us at researchstrategy@admin.cam.ac.uk
Documents
Restricted call: Sir Jules Thorn Biomedical Award 2026 (internal deadline: Monday 27 October 2025)
The Sir Jules Thorn Charitable Trust has announced the 2026 Sir Jules Thorn Biomedical Award for Biomedical Research.
One grant of up to £1.7m is offered to support a five-year programme of translational biomedical research led by an outstanding researcher in the early years of an established research and academic career. The work must include research on patients with a hypothesis based on pre-clinical experimental data. The application must set out a clear strategy defining how the research will translate into benefit for patients and the timescale within which this will take place.
Please note a few points about eligibility, including updates obtained through communication with the funder:
- The work set out in the proposal must be a major commitment for the Principal Applicant, comprising at least 50% of their research time. Where the Principal Applicant holds an existing award from another funder, the institution/organisation will need to verify in its letter of support that the terms of that other funding are consistent with the 50%-time commitment required by the Award.
- Grants must be led by a single Principal Applicant in the early years of an established research and academic career. Typically, shortlisted candidates have an established a strong track record of independent research, previously supported by competitive, peer-reviewed fellowships such as those offered by Wellcome, MRC or NIHR. However, the Trust is not prescriptive about how the early years of an established research and academic career is defined and recognises that outstanding researchers may not follow a conventional career path, and/or may have had periods away from research for professional or personal reasons.
- The award may not be used to meet the salary costs of the applicant, who should be in an institutionally funded post for the duration of the grant.
- Please note that the funder has communicated with us that it will accept applications from any eligible applicant so long as the project involves patients and is translational. Therefore, applicants need not be affiliated with the University’s School of Clinical Medicine to apply.
Please see the funder's guidance for applicants for full details and the funder's webpage for further useful resources, including the Guidance for Institutions document. Examples of the type of research funded under this programme can be found in the previous awards section of the Trust’s website.
University Internal selection:
Institutions can only submit one application. Therefore, this call will be managed according to the University’s restricted calls procedure.
To take part in the internal selection process, please submit your application via our online submission form by Monday 27 October 2025 (if asked to log-in use your Raven details; please note that the Form cannot be saved).
Each applicant will need to have the following information ready to complete the online form submission:
- Confirmation of the applicant's eligibility
- CV (3 pages maximum). Applicants are advised to consider DORA principles when presenting research outputs.
- Summary of the proposed research, focusing in particular on the following (750 words maximum): Why your project would be suitable for translational study; the unmet need which is to be investigated and how the research will meet that need; a clear strategy defining how the research will translate into benefit for patients and the timescale within which this will take place.
- A support letter from the Head of the Department/Centre/Institute that will hold the grant, confirming their support for the project and agreement to host the grant
Internal Assessment Criteria:
Please note that the assessment of internal applications will focus on the following core funder criteria:
- Candidate: the research must be led by a clearly identified Principal Applicant of outstanding quality in the early years of an established research and academic career.
- Quality of the Research Programme: the proposed research must have a justifiable claim to be at the leading edge of international science.
- Benefit to Patients: the application must set out a clear strategy defining how the research will translate into benefit for patients and the timescale within which this will take place
Preliminary application deadline: 12:00, 15 December 2025
Full application deadline: 12:00, 21 May 2026.
If you have any queries, please don’t hesitate to contact us at researchstrategy@admin.cam.ac.uk.
Restricted call: ESRC New Investigator Grants (internal deadline: midday, Friday 7th November 2025)
The ESRC have announced their New Investigator Grant scheme. This scheme is suitable for early career researchers who have yet to make the transition to be an independent researcher. Proposals are welcome in any topic which falls within ESRC’s remit, including projects at the “interface with the wider sciences”, provided that social sciences accounts for at least 50% of the proposed research. The ESRC will award grants of between £100-350K (covered at 80%fEC).
University Internal selection
The ESRC expect the University to run an internal selection process to ensure that we submit only bids from outstanding individuals with the potential to become the research leaders of the future. The University may only submit a limited number of applications. To meet these requirements, this call will be overseen by a cross-school Committee, as decided by University’s Research Policy Committee.
There are three internal calls every year (MT, LT and ET). Only applicants whose proposals have been approved through the internal selection process will be allowed to proceed with submission of their applications to ESRC.
Interested applicants should submit an online application.
You will be required to upload the following:
- Your research project proposal (template attached)
- A letter of support from your Head of Department
This letter is very important to the success of the application as it is needed to confirm the details of the departmental support and the applicant’s eligibility. The letter must also specify a department/faculty-based mentor, and a reviewer, both of whom have agreed to provide feedback on the full proposal, should the applicant be selected to proceed. The reviewer may be from within or outside the applicant’s department/faculty. Please note that naming a reviewer is an internal requirement, and the reviewer will not be named on the full application to ESRC. The mentor and the named reviewer will be expected to provide feedback on the full proposal prior to submission to ESRC. This will be coordinated by the School Research Facilitator.
- A Worktribe report
The report should show the preliminary costing for the project, including the cost of the applicant’s salary and research assistance (if required). The Worktribe report should not be submitted for ROO approval at this stage; the costing is for indicative purposes only, to inform the internal selection. It will be possible to modify it after the internal selection.
If you have any questions, please write to ESRCNewInv@admin.cam.ac.uk.