This opportunity is open to organisations with standard and non-standard eligibility. Check if your organisation is eligible.

This section provides information on which organisations can be part of applications. As detailed below, organisations can be:

• the lead organisation on an application, only if they meet standard UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) eligibility or intend to complete the non-standard eligibility process for this opportunity before an award is made. Further details on non-standard eligibility checking will be included in the full application funding opportunity. Each application has only one lead organisation, and an organisation can only be the lead organisation on one application
• a collaborating organisation on applications, for organisations that will be co-leading delivery of the award, receiving funds from the award, and naming their employees on the project team in the application. Collaborating organisations do not need to meet standard UKRI eligibility. Applications can have multiple collaborating organisations, and an organisation can be a collaborating organisation on multiple applications
• a subcontractor, where the organisation will not have named people on the project team but will receive funds from the award through procurement by the lead organisation
• a project partner, where the organisation contributes to the project (in cash or in-kind) but does not receive funds from the award or have named people on the project team. As project partner organisations do not receive any funding via this award, they do not need to meet standard or non-standard UKRI eligibility

In this opportunity, the term collaborating organisation has the meaning given above. Organisations that are subcontractors or project partners do not fall under the definition of a collaborating organisation.

You are encouraged to engage with a variety of organisations to ensure delivery of a truly integrated programme, which combines academically rigorous research with deep, experiential learning in entrepreneurship and venture creation. In all stages of your application, you should outline how organisations within your partnership will work together to achieve the aims and objectives of your programme. We are organising webinars (details below), where we will provide details of how we will support networking between potential applicants through a collaboration platform.

This section also details which named individuals are eligible to be:

• project lead (if they are based at the lead organisation)
• named in other roles such as project co-lead (if they are based at the lead organisation or at a collaborating organisation)

Please see Roles in funding applications: eligibility, responsibilities and costings guidance for more details on roles within your application.

The number and composition of organisations participating in an application can change between the expression of interest, outline and full application stages. However, rationale for changes should be explained within the relevant application stage. Applicants are not permitted to change the lead organisation at any point in the application process, unless agreed in advance by UKRI. This is because an organisation may only act as a lead organisation on a single application.

There are further considerations for UKRI and the lead organisation depending on what type of organisations are leading and collaborating. These considerations include adherence to the Subsidy Control Act 2022. More details on this can be found under the ‘What we are looking for’ section.

Your research organisation can only apply to lead one submitted application but can be a collaborating organisation on any number of applications.

Organisations eligible to apply as lead organisation include:

• higher education institutions
• research council institutes
• eligible independent research organisations and Catapult centres
• public sector research establishments (PSREs)

Check if your organisation is eligible.

Businesses, social enterprises, and other organisations can also lead applications. Organisations in this position do not need to apply for non-standard eligibility before submitting an outline application as lead organisation. However, UKRI will need to complete due diligence and the non-standard eligibility process before making any award to your organisation. Further details on non-standard eligibility checking will be included in the full application funding opportunity, but please contact UKRI to ask for more information on applying for non-standard eligibility.

Alternatively, these organisations can also be collaborating organisations (and therefore hosting project co-leads or other named individual roles), or act as project partners or subcontractors as detailed below.

The lead organisation:

• will shape the vision, skills priorities, and delivery model, individually or in partnership with collaborating organisations
• is responsible for submitting your application
• will act as the training grant holder, if you are successful
• must provide the principal base (host) for a minimum of one student per year of intake for this funding opportunity

The lead organisation does not need to have UK doctoral research degree awarding powers, and no organisation with these powers is required within your consortium at outline application stage. However, it will be mandatory to have an organisation with UK doctoral research degree awarding powers in your consortium when submitting a full application, if you are invited to do so.

Identification of the lead organisation should not be interpreted as recognition as the dominant partner or where the majority of studentships will be hosted.

While only one lead organisation can be included on the UKRI Funding Service at any stage of the application process, UKRI welcomes applications that reflect flexible and joint leadership models.

Collaborating organisations are those that will co-lead development and delivery of the training programme, and that will receive funds from the award. A collaborating organisation’s employees can be named on the project team.

Any organisation hosting students at any point of your award must be named as a collaborating organisation on your application.

Collaborating organisations can include:

• organisations which are eligible to receive UKRI funding, like with lead organisation eligibility
• businesses of all sizes, including venture builders and venture capital firms
• charities, non-governmental organisations and third sector organisations
• other public sector bodies

Organisations that are not acting as a lead or collaborating organisation within an application may act as subcontractors. These are third party organisations who are subcontracted by the lead organisation to deliver a specific piece of work. This will be subject to the procurement rules of the lead organisation. All costs that support the delivery of the subcontract are eligible.

Staff at subcontracting organisations cannot be named as a project lead or a project co-lead and should not be named as a member of your core team within your application.

Any subcontracting costs you include should be outlined and fully justified in your application and will be subject to assessment. Where procurement processes have not been completed at the point of either the outline or full application, you should provide as much information as possible. You should be aware that any agreed subcontracting costs put forward in your application are expected to be upheld, in the event you are successful. This is of particular relevance for subcontractors acting on multiple applications.

Organisations which are not acting as a lead or collaborating organisation within an application may act as a project partner. Unlike lead, collaborating and subcontractor organisations, project partners are not permitted to receive any funds from the award.

The exception is that an organisation is permitted to be a project partner and a subcontractor on the same application. However, this must be fully justified and will be subject to assessment. An example that may be justified is when an organisation is both:

• making in-kind contributions to your award
• selected to deliver other work related to your training programme which involves costs at a level necessary to be covered via a subcontract

Information on project partners is not required at outline application stage. However, at full application stage the involvement of any project partners in your application is expected to be justified, for example, outlining the direct (cash) and indirect (in-kind) contributions to your training programme.

Organisations acting as a project partner are permitted to perform this role on any number of applications. However, like subcontractors, project partners must be aware of their long-term commitments at the point of application and be willing to support all applications they are named on, in the event that they are successful. At the full application stage, applications must outline how project partners will make meaningful contributions to the delivery of the training grant in the ‘Project partners’ section.

We welcome applications including a wide range of project partner organisations. This can include, but is not limited to:

• businesses of all scales
• public sector organisations, such as public sector research establishments (PSREs) and government at all levels, including devolved administrations
• third sector organisations
• museums
• universities that are not leading or co-leading the proposal
• other key stakeholders across the research and innovation landscape

Your application must demonstrate that there is significant added value from any project partners you choose to form part of your partnership. This may include, but is not limited to:

• hosting work experience, placements, venture building activities or similar
• co-supervision, mentoring or both
• training for students, staff, or both, including on entrepreneurship, venture creation or commercialisation
• access to facilities, infrastructure, data, customers or markets
• financial commitments to partially, or fully, fund additional studentships
• commitment to cover the costs of access to facilities or training that cannot otherwise be provided
• strategic links to an important stakeholder or user
• supporting employees into doctoral study
• supporting future career destinations of venture doctorate graduates

There is no limit to the total number of organisations you may include within your application. However, each member of your partnership must make meaningful contributions to the delivery of the training grant, as set out in your application.

Please see Roles in funding applications: eligibility, responsibilities and costings guidance for more details on roles within your application.

To apply to this funding opportunity as the project lead, you must be based at the lead organisation.

Eligibility for individuals named as project leads will be assessed against UKRI’s individual eligibility policy.

Project co-leads and other roles in funding applications are welcome at either the lead organisation or collaborating organisations. Project co-leads cannot be based at subcontractors or project partners.

UKRI’s individual eligibility policy applies to project co-leads. However, we recognise that there may be a broader range of organisations than usual applying to this funding opportunity.

In particular, where they play an integral role in programme delivery, project leads and co-leads may include:

• research technical professionals
• innovation and commercialisation professionals
• research software engineers
• professional training and programme managers

We encourage applicants to develop opportunities to attract investment from non-UKRI sources over the lifetime of the programme. Additional investment may be used to strengthen the financial sustainability, ambition and real-world relevance of your programme and its associated activities. This may include approaches at the programme level or in support of individual student projects.

There is no formal requirement that proposals must include secured co-investment of any value at any stage of your application. However, there is an expectation that applicants should describe how they will aim to attract investment to support student ventures, including access to investors, venture support and pathways to commercialisation. All applicants are additionally expected to include evidence of track record in securing investment in ventures relevant to this funding opportunity.

We welcome innovative leverage models, including approaches that attract or crowd-in investment from venture capital, business, philanthropy or other stakeholders.

The UKRI-RCN Money Follows Cooperation Agreement and the UKRI-IIASA agreement do not apply to this funding opportunity. As such, applications submitted to this funding opportunity cannot include an IIASA or a Norway-based project co-lead (international).

We will not accept uninvited resubmissions of projects that have been submitted to UKRI or any other funder.

Find out more about EPSRC’s resubmissions policy.

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, but is not limited to:

• career breaks
• support for people with caring responsibilities
• flexible working
• alternative working patterns

UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.

Demand management is being applied to this funding opportunity. As outlined in the ‘Who can apply’ section, organisations are permitted to submit one application as lead. However, organisations may collaborate in other ways on any number of outline applications.

We expect this opportunity to fund between one and three doctoral focal awards to train the next generation of researchers and innovators. Doctoral focal awards provide support for areas that require a concentration of studentships in combination with a highly tailored training programme.

We are looking to support a small number of large-scale venture doctoral focal awards. Applications must support a minimum of 50 students, across up to five annual cohorts. These will enable doctoral students to integrate academically rigorous research with deep, experiential learning in entrepreneurship and venture creation.

Applications must:

• deliver doctoral training that strengthens links between research, innovation and enterprise and supports venture creation
• clearly support at least one of the eight high-growth sectors in the UK government’s Industrial Strategy, as well as UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s mission to advance knowledge, improve lives and drive growth
• move beyond classroom-based commercialisation training, with spin-out creation being the intended commercial output from the outset
• be shaped by real-world commercial opportunity
• demonstrate a strong capability and track record in academic quality, venture support and attracting investment, entrepreneurship training and commercialisation
• demonstrate the capacity to support cohort-based delivery at scale

We welcome applications from new collaborations as well as applications that expand on existing doctoral training investments. However, all applications must present a clear step-change from typical doctoral provision.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) are leading the delivery of the opportunity. However, this opportunity is open to proposals across the breadth of UKRI’s remit, including science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) and social sciences, humanities and arts (SHAPE) disciplines. For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, please see the ‘Additional Information’ section.

By the end of the award, funded programmes must demonstrate delivery of the following three outcomes.

To demonstrate this outcome, students will, by the end of the award:

• complete doctoral level degrees that meet UK quality assurance frameworks
• gain practical experience of venture creation, including understanding of intellectual property (IP) ownership, protection and exploitation, and exposure to uncertainty, risk, regulation, finance and markets
• be able to make informed, evidence-based decisions about appropriate commercialisation pathways, including spin-out formation, licensing or alternatives
• be able to balance the demands of academic rigour and entrepreneurial dynamism, adapting their approach as opportunities and evidence evolve
• develop the skills, confidence and mindset to pursue a range of non-academic career pathways, including entrepreneurial and commercial roles
• progress through the venture journey as a cohort, building durable peer, investor and ecosystem networks

Expected outputs by the end of the award include:

• the creation of successful commercial outputs, such as spin-outs that are commercially viable and survive beyond five years. As projects progress and pivot, alternative appropriate high value commercial outputs may include social ventures, licences, IP portfolios, investable propositions, or equivalent commercial assets
• clear pathways for follow-on investment, adoption or scale, where appropriate
• commercial assets and ventures that are, wherever possible, anchored in the UK, aligned with UK national interests and delivering socioeconomic benefits to the UK

Expected outputs by the end of the award include:

• strong integration between academic research and commercial opportunity
• graduates bridging effectively between research and enterprise communities, engaging effectively with businesses, investors, users and public sector partners
• research delivering economic, social, and environmental benefits to the UK, while remaining open, collaborative and internationally engaged
• responsible balancing between open research, commercial exploitation and public accountability, in line with UKRI terms and conditions for training funding

Venture creation is inherently high risk, and we recognise that not all students will deliver high value commercial outputs. Success can be progression on the entrepreneurial journey towards commercialisation, not just forming specific types of commercial entity or a guaranteed spin-out outcome.

You must outline a coherent and structured training programme to achieve the three outcomes. The programme must meet UKRI’s statement of expectations for doctoral training. You are encouraged to think creatively about the model, considering how:

• studentships will be advertised to encourage a diverse range of applicants
• the recruitment process will be fair, open and transparent in line with UKRI good practice principles in recruitment and training at a doctoral level
• students will receive structured time, training and support to undertake both high‑quality doctoral research and venture creation, with flexibility to test, refine and pivot commercial opportunities in response to market signals and technological changes
• doctoral projects will be designed and planned so that, barring exceptional circumstances, students submit their thesis within their funded period. The maximum funded period is five years full-time equivalent, but durations above four years full-time equivalent must be clearly justified as providing value for money
• students will be assessed, using approaches such as a traditional thesis, thesis by portfolio, artefact, composition or other formats that meet quality assurance
• students will move between academic and non-academic environments, including through placements where appropriate
• the programme will be delivered at cohort level, including cohort‑based training, peer learning and peer networking, to ensure that students have opportunities to collaborate, exchange ideas and benefit from peer-to-peer support training
• a cohort identity will be developed and maintained across the lifetime of the training programme.
• students will have access to relevant external networks, such as business advisors, investors and innovation ecosystems, to support experiential entrepreneurship and venture building
• a diverse and inclusive training environment will be fostered, with flexibility to support students at different stages of research maturity and commercial readiness
• student wellbeing will be embedded, recognising the pressures of venture creation. Support should include access to pastoral and mental health support beyond supervisors, and mechanisms to manage periods of heightened intensity. Support from supervisors, mentors and partners must appropriately reflect commercialisation realities such as iteration, pivots and non-linear progress
• risks will be identified and managed, including oversight of individual projects, adherence to subsidy control, trusted and responsible research and innovation, UK anchoring of foreground IP for national benefit, and compliance with UKRI open access requirements

Additionally, you may choose to extend aspects of training and support to students not following the full venture doctorate programme funded by this award, where those students have strong entrepreneurial ambition and their research has commercial potential. If this model is pursued, at least 60% of students must go through the full venture doctorate programme.

Strong governance will be required to deliver these awards, with effective oversight of all training, capability‑building and exploratory activities. Applications must include independent oversight, including an advisory board, to provide scrutiny, assurance and strategic challenge. This should form part of an approach to enable continuous learning, evaluation and adaptation.

You must ensure there is no duplication of UKRI funding and must be compliant with the Terms and conditions for training funding. We have highlighted several key aspects below.

On IP:

• under TGC 11, you are responsible for arrangements relating to the ownership and management of IP, including that intellectual assets are used to the benefit of society and the economy
• IP ownership and attribution must be set out clearly in a formal collaboration agreement in advance of projects starting. This includes background IP developed prior to collaboration, foreground IP generated by the doctoral student, and foreground IP that may be generated by partners working closely on the project
• you must outline how plans for collaboration agreements are proportionate, transparent and appropriate to the nature of the partnerships involved, including where IP is licensed to spin-outs or other commercial vehicles
• you must set out how the proposed arrangements comply with subsidy control requirements, where applicable
• results of research should be published in accordance with normal academic practice and UKRI’s policy on open access, balancing this with the protection of commercially sensitive information
• you must ensure timely deposit of doctoral theses (within 12 months of award, subject to justified and documented exceptions), appropriate acknowledgement of UKRI funding in publications, outputs and communications

On UK anchoring:

• through this opportunity, we aim to maximise the economic and societal value for the UK of IP and related assets generated through publicly funded doctoral training
• under TGC 5.2.4, students must be resident in the UK for the majority of their studies and any time spent overseas should be for the purposes of fieldwork or similar activities
• you must aim to ensure foreground IP is owned, governed and exploited by UK-based individuals or organisations, contributing to long-term national benefit
• the focus on ‘anchoring’ in the UK does not preclude international collaboration, licensing or scaling, but instead emphasises early-stage ownership, control and decision-making being retained within the UK
• UKRI recognises that decisions about where value is ultimately created are influenced by a wide range of factors beyond IP, such as access to markets, talent, visas, tax incentives and capital

On subsidy control:

• under TGCs 2.3.1 to 2.3.11, you must ensure at all times that the training grant funding awarded to you is compliant with the Subsidy Control Act 2022, or the EU State Aid regulations where Article 10 of the Windsor Framework Where funding could affect trade between Northern Ireland and the EU you should contact UKRI
• depending on the organisations involved in each consortium, the activities each organisation is undertaking, and the nature of their involvement (for example, whether or not they are subcontracted through a procurement process), part of the funding awarded through this opportunity may constitute a subsidy
• UKRI may determine that a subsidy scheme needs to be developed. If it is determined that a scheme is required, awards following full applications would need to be assessed against this scheme. Further information will be included in the full applications funding opportunity
• whether UKRI makes a subsidy scheme, individual subsidies or otherwise, any awards made will be subject to subsidy control considerations. This may affect the level of funding, requirements about co-investment by the lead or collaborating organisations, or the award conditions. UKRI may decide to make multiple separate awards to lead and collaborating organisations.
• UKRI will work with you to ensure that, if successful, any awards made comply with the Subsidy Control Act 2022, and awards will not be made until UKRI is satisfied
• you should seek independent legal advice on what this means for you, before applying
• you will be asked in your expression of interest whether funding will support activities in businesses or other enterprises
• further information about the Subsidy Control Act 2022 requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk)
• it is the responsibility of the lead organisation to make sure all collaborators and activity funded through the centre remain compliant with the eventual status of the award, whether this is on a no subsidy or a lawful subsidy basis. This should be accounted for in the governance of the award and the delivery of any activities and funding by the award. The lead organisation must advise UKRI of any potential or actual changes to this status
• it is important to note that it is the activity that an organisation is engaged in as part of the project and not its intentions, that define whether any support provided could be considered a subsidy
• there are also likely to be considerations regarding enterprises created through these awards, such as spinouts. These may be covered by minimal financial assistance or de minimis state aid, but again the lead organisation must advise UKRI of any potential or actual changes to the status

On trusted research and innovation (TR&I):

• the standard UKRI opportunity text on TR&I detailed later in this section applies less to this opportunity given the focus on anchoring in the UK. The specific bullet points have been prepared for this opportunity
• under TGCs including 2.2.2, 2.6.2 and 2.7.1, you must ensure that the award and all student projects are compliant with relevant UK legislation and UKRI trusted research and innovation principles
• UKRI’s principles aim to protect the UK’s IP, sensitive research, people, and infrastructure from potential theft, misuse and exploitation. The focus of this opportunity on anchoring in the UK makes this especially relevant
• awards must embed TR&I principles in due diligence, partnership working and decisions relating to funding or collaboration
• ongoing monitoring of TR&I must be embedded in the governance and risk management of the award, and this will be monitored by UKRI through the advisory boards of successful awards
• students must also receive TR&I training
• due diligence may be required on lead organisations, collaborating organisations, subcontractors, project partners and other parts of consortia before awards are made
• see further guidance and information about TR&I, including where you can find additional support

Successful awards will be required to develop detailed plans and processes demonstrating how these essential elements will be embedded in your award, as well as other areas including:

• equality, diversity and inclusion
• student wellbeing
• responsible research and innovation
• environmental sustainability

Applicants must demonstrate they can deliver a programme, which combines academically rigorous research training with venture creation. We particularly welcome applications from multi-organisation consortia which bring together expertise in doctoral training, entrepreneurship and venture creation. Applications are welcome from a wide range of organisations. See the Who can apply section for eligibility criteria.

All organisations must demonstrate added value from their inclusion. For example, funding, provision of access to facilities or training, or strategic links to important stakeholders or users. Cohesion across the consortium must be demonstrated in the application, including a clear case for the given size of their consortia.

Where an award is associated with more than one organisation (including collaborating organisations, subcontractors or project partners), a formal collaboration agreement is required between the organisations. This should set out the basis of collaboration between the organisations, including the allocation of resources throughout the award or individual student projects, and ownership of IP and rights to exploitation.

It will be the responsibility of the lead organisation to put such an agreement in place before student projects begin. The terms of collaboration agreements must not conflict with UKRI’s training grant terms and conditions, or any additional conditions associated with this funding opportunity.

Applications must have a maximum duration of 114 months. The duration must be justified by applicants in line with their proposed programme model, in particular the number of cohorts and the duration of doctoral study.

Where the end date of a studentship is subsequently extended later than the end date of the grant, in line with training grant conditions 6 and 8, grant holders will be able to apply to UKRI at the time to extend the grant, which may be beyond 114 months.

Projects must start no earlier than 1 July 2027 and no later than 1 January 2028. The first students must start in the 2027 to 2028 academic year. Awards will have a fixed start date, on the date requested in the application.

Up to £25 million funding is available for this opportunity. As a non-full economic cost award, UKRI will fund 100% of eligible costs listed in the opportunity, subject to subsidy control considerations outlined above. Eligible costs vary between UKRI training grants, so please check the lists below for full details.

UKRI minimum fees and stipend rates have only been confirmed for the 2026 to 2027 academic year. As a result, all costs requested in applications (including stipends and fees) should be calculated at your chosen October 2026 rates with no addition made to consider inflation over the length of the funding period. This includes the appropriate fee rate for your institution(s) and any enhanced stipend rates above the UKRI minimum, described below.

UKRI will include an allowance for fee and stipend indexation at the final funding stage. Indexation has to be covered by the available budget, so there is less than £25 million available at 2026 prices.

We will fund studentship costs up to a maximum of the equivalent of 50 students. This could be, for example, 100% funding for 50 students or 75% funding for 66 students.

As outlined in the What we are looking for section, applications must support a minimum of 50 students, and at least 60% of these must go through the full venture doctorate programme. This means that at least 30 individual people must be going through the full programme.

Students will be funded across a maximum of five cohorts.

At the outline application stage, applicants must outline a summary of the number of students and cohorts being requested. Further information is in the How to apply section. The numbers should align to the proposed delivery model and costs per studentship proposed in the application.

At the full application stage, further details will be requested through a cost template. Justifications for costs, numbers of students, durations of studentships and numbers of cohorts will be examined carefully to ensure value for money.

UKRI funding for studentship costs includes the following.

Fees charged to UKRI cannot be higher than the fee charged by the university for home funded students on similar programmes.

UKRI’s standard 30% cap on international students will apply.

The stipends must be at least at the minimum rates published by UKRI. We will not cover additional college fees. Applicants are welcome to request funding for enhanced stipends, where justified, to attract students in the context of the area of research and training, the location in the UK, and UK skills need.

Stipend support may also be covered for doctoral students based for the majority of their time in a company, or other non-academic organisation. Applicants proposing more innovative options such as contributions to salaries must contact UKRI before submission, to discuss the best route to fund this. Applicants must ensure at all times that training grant funding is compliant with the Subsidy Control Act 2022, and UKRI must be satisfied with this before making awards.

This covers items for individual students such as travel, consumables, and facility access where this is linked to conducting the research of the project, or specialised training such as a summer school only being attended by a student due to their project.

UKRI training grant condition 4.5 states that at least 50% of the total cost of any studentship must be drawn from UKRI. This condition will be waived for this opportunity. Grant holders will therefore be allowed students where more than 50% of their studentship costs come from non-UKRI sources, if they are able to attract enough leverage to achieve this. These students will still be recorded on UKRI’s studentship data system and count towards the total cohort size for the 30% cap for international students.

We will fund leadership and management costs, where these are specific and proportionate to delivery of this award.

As well as the studentship and staff costs above, we may also fund other costs including:

• costs to set up new focal awards
• the development of training which forms part of the cohort training package, for example, a course taken by a whole cohort or offered as a module as part of a student’s training package
• direct costs that are explicitly linked to training activities and student development
• additional support needed to facilitate diversity and mobility of career paths, and to accommodate doctoral students at different career stages or employed in relevant industrial sectors
• wider career development experience for students
• innovative routes for student recruitment and widening the participation of underrepresented groups in doctoral study

If successful you will have flexibility in how you use the funding awarded and we encourage flexibility and virement between headings, subject to the standard UKRI terms and conditions of training grants. The only exception will be where UKRI makes separate awards to lead and collaborating organisations to reflect subsidy control considerations, where there will be limitations on viring across separate awards. Be aware that the minimum numbers of students will still need to be supported.

UKRI will not fund the following costs:

• direct costs associated with applying for IP protection (including patent filing costs) and company incorporation
• equipment over £25,000 in value (including VAT). Smaller items of equipment (individually under £25,000) can be included under RTSG or other costs, as appropriate
• costs associated with student supervision, for organisations in receipt of fees from this grant or of quality-related research degree programme supervision funds
• visa and international health surcharge costs for international students
• estates and indirect costs

We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.

EDI is a core feature of this funding opportunity, in line with UKRI’s principles on EDI, as detailed here: Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI). We want to work with our partners to shape a dynamic, diverse, and inclusive system of research and innovation that is an integral part of society.

Your doctoral training programme should work to provide everyone involved with an opportunity to participate in, and benefit from, the award.

Applicants must demonstrate at full application stage how their EDI strategy will embed the core principles of EDI at all levels and across all aspects of the award, including:

• increasing access to doctoral study, including recruitment
• working practices, including individualised student support
• wellbeing support, including mental health
• monitoring and evaluation, including a baseline and plans for improvement

We would expect your EDI strategy to describe how your doctoral programme is accessible to a diverse range of people and needs, and how you will be removing barriers to participation across your doctoral programme and associated processes. Your application should demonstrate how you will create and maintain a positive, inclusive, and supportive environment for all students and staff.

You should refer to equality, diversity and inclusion at UKRI and relevant UKRI councils’ EDI action plans.

As outlined above, UKRI will require successful applicants to develop detailed EDI strategies, activities and commitments. These will be regularly reviewed by UKRI. Data will be collected on at least a yearly basis via annual reports, and we will reserve the right to access these data across the lifetime of the award. See the UKRI data collection policy for more information.

Training programmes which are supported by this funding opportunity are done so with the intention of developing a legacy of training excellence. Applications must demonstrate consideration of the legacy and impacts of the doctoral training programme beyond the lifetime of UKRI investment.

We expect award holders to monitor progress towards the vision and objectives of your training programme, as well as evidence impact from this investment.

This information will be used by UKRI to review the success of our training investments. Information provided will also be used to provide assurance that the focal awards are being managed appropriately and are progressing in accordance with the original funding application. This will be conducted in various ways, including:

• mandatory annual reports
• a mid-term review of progress
• hosting a regular visit by UKRI staff

Successful applicants will be expected to respond to other reporting requirements when requested.

UKRI will use key information required from training programmes supported by this funding opportunity in reports and publications.

Applicants are expected to describe their approach to monitoring and evaluation, outlining their success measures and baselines and a continuous improvement process built in within their applications.

UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.

As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.

See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support.

You must complete the expression of interest (EOI) stage. Any applications without an EOI will be rejected.

This opportunity has a mandatory EOI stage. This will enable UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to prepare for the assessment process.

Please submit your EOI for this funding opportunity via Citizen Space. The deadline for submission is 21 September 2026 4:00pm UK time.

The EOI should include:

• contact details for the project lead
• contact details for others involved in the application, including a contact for the lead organisation’s research office
• the title of your proposed training programme
• the organisations that are expected to be involved in delivering your training programme, including the lead organisation and any confirmed or likely collaborating organisations, subcontractors and project partners. This should include where organisations are headquartered and where appropriate, where the organisation’s ultimate owners are based
• the thematic areas your training programme will cover, including links to any of the eight high-growth sectors in the UK government’s Industrial Strategy (approximately 200 words)

Only the lead organisation should submit an EOI. For universities, you must discuss with your university research office before submitting an EOI.

Your EOI will not be assessed externally. It will be used by UKRI to plan the assessment process. UKRI will only contact you if we require any clarifications or have any concerns about whether the proposed work is in scope and remit for this funding opportunity.

Only applications that have submitted an EOI will be permitted to submit an outline application.

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. Please refer to the eligibility sections on the UKRI website to ensure that your organisation and applicants are eligible for UKRI funding. Check if your organisation is eligible.

Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page:

1. Confirm you are the project lead.
2. Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password.
3. 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.
4. Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.
5. Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
6. 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 onto 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

Following the outline applications assessment panel, successful applicants will be invited to submit a full application. Details of this stage will be provided in a separate funding finder opportunity.

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 application.

Hyperlinks can be used in reference information. When including references, you should consider how your references will be viewed and used by the assessors, ensuring that:

• references are easily identifiable by the assessors
• references are formatted as appropriate to your research
• persistent identifiers are used where possible

Applications should be self-contained. You should only use hyperlinks to link directly to reference information. You must not include links to web resources to extend your application. Assessors are not required to access links to conduct assessment or recommend a funding decision.

Use of generative AI tools to prepare funding applications is permitted, however, caution should be applied.

For more information see our policy on the use of generative AI in application and assessment.

UKRI must receive your EOI on Citizen Space by 21 September 2026 at 4:00pm UK time.

UKRI must receive your outline application by 22 October 2026 at 4:00pm UK time.

You will not be able to apply after this time.

Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.

Following the submission of your outline application to this funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and submitted applications will not be amended. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.

If an application is withdrawn prior to assessment or office rejected due to substantive errors in the application, it cannot be resubmitted to the opportunity.

UKRI will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications.

We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice.

If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email TFSchangeEPSRC@epsrc.ukri.org

Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].

Typical examples of confidential information include:

• individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example, due to parental leave)
• declaration of interest
• additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section
• conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection
• the application is an invited resubmission

For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice.

There is no requirement for matched funding from the institutions hosting the project lead, project co-leads or other staff employed on the application, beyond costs that are not eligible. Expert reviewers and panels assessing UKRI funding applications must not consider levels of institutional matched funding as a factor on which to base recommendations.

Direct and in-kind contributions from third party project partners are welcomed. Funding for additional or co-funded studentships, co-created with project partners, is especially welcome.

This policy does not remove the need for support from host organisations who must provide the necessary research environment and infrastructure for award-specific activities funded by UKRI. For example, research facilities, training and development of staff.

UKRI will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity, which may be at What BBSRC has funded and EPSRC Funding Applications Outcomes, if applicable. This will occur once the opportunity outcomes have been communicated to applicants.

If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.

Word limit: 200

In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.

We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information. Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example:

• opinion-formers
• policymakers
• the public
• the wider research community

Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:

• context
• the challenge the project addresses
• aims and objectives
• potential applications and benefits

List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:

• project lead (PL)
• project co-lead (UK) (PcL)
• specialist
• grant manager
• professional enabling staff
• research and innovation associate
• technician
• researcher co-lead (RcL)

Only list one individual as project lead.

If collaborating organisations are hosting studentships, at least one person from that organisation must be included as a project co-lead or other role on the ‘Team’ section of the award.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has introduced a new addition to the ‘Specialist’ role type. Public contributors such as people with lived experience can now be added to an application.

Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.

Word limit: 300

What will this training investment achieve? How will this support UK capability and capacity needs and why is it important that UKRI support this activity?

Please outline:

• a clear and compelling vision for the venture doctorate model being proposed, its distinct objectives and the outcomes it will achieve
• how your vision aligns to the ‘aims and scope’ set out in the ‘What we are looking for’ section, and in particular the three expected outcomes

References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Word limit: 750

How will the doctoral training programme, that you deliver through this grant, support your vision and align with UKRI’s ambitions for its doctoral investments?

Outline how your training programme will deliver your vision and specific requirements set out in the opportunity documentation. This should include:

• a high-level overview of the range of student journeys, from recruitment to completion, showing how the venture creation pathway is balanced with generating research outputs that meet the expectations of a doctoral degree in the UK
• proposed IP arrangements and how this represents the most appropriate route to commercialising the project outputs and supports where possible commercial assets and ventures to be anchored in the UK

Your approach must align to the scope set out in the What we are looking for section, and in particular the three expected outcomes and training model sections.

References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Word limit: 300

How will you create and maintain an inclusive and supportive culture and environment for all those involved?

Outline the objectives and overall approach of your doctoral training programme with regard to:

• creating, maintaining, championing, and embedding a positive, inclusive, and supportive environment for all students and staff involved
• addressing a variety of needs and supporting good wellbeing

Word limit: 300

Who will lead and drive delivery of this application’s vision?

Summarise the skills and experiences of the leadership team to show they have:

• the expertise, experience, infrastructure, and networks required to deliver the proposed vision and operate the training programme. This includes the business, investor, and innovation ecosystem connections needed to support the creation and growth of new ventures in the UK
• successfully supported the training and development of others, at the same level to the proposal

If you or your current partners do not have UK research degree awarding powers, you will be required to include an organisation with these powers by full application stage. If this is the case, please also outline in this section what role you envisage the organisation(s) with degree awarding powers playing in the eventual consortium that delivers the award.

Word limit: 500

How will the training grant be governed, and partnerships or relationships be supported and managed, to maximise benefit and minimise risk?

Describe:

• the overall role of different partners
• how all partners will contribute positively and constructively to both the programme and the experiences of students, and be supported to do so
• the governance and management structure, including arrangements for both academic programme oversight and either venture incubation or commercial decision-making
• how you propose that funding will flow across the partnership, including who will receive UKRI funding and how UKRI funding will be distributed
• how the programme will manage the legal duties of the programme and providers including how compliance with UK subsidy control requirements and trusted research and innovation principles will be achieved

Word limit: 250

What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?

Provide a single, overall grant value for your proposal and a short, high-level narrative of the main uses and objectives of the funding.

Your narrative should include:

• an outline of the proposed balance of funding between student support, venture creation and incubation activities, and programme delivery and governance
• the total number of students and student cohorts that you expect your programme will support (across all funding sources), and the proportion of students you expect to go through the full venture doctorate programme
• how the proposed funding model delivers value for money through doctoral completions, venture creation, and wider economic and societal impact

You do not need to further justify individual costs at this stage. If you are invited to submit a full proposal, minor changes can be made to the grant value in your outline application, if justified in the full application.

Trusted Research and Innovation is the protection of the UK’s intellectual property, sensitive research, people, and infrastructure from potential theft, misuse, and exploitation.

Organisations receiving UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding are obliged to act in line with UK government legislation. They are also expected to undertake appropriate due diligence assessments of organisations involved in research partnerships, collaboration agreements, and commercial contracts.

You will be asked about:

• which areas of the National Security and Investment (NSI) Act your project relates to
• who you intend to collaborate with and how
• if your project requires an export control licence

Your answers may affect the T&Cs of your funding agreement if you are successful. We may use your answers to determine that our current T&Cs are sufficient or if additional T&Cs are required.

In the event of this funding opportunity being substantially oversubscribed as to be unmanageable, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) reserve the right to modify the assessment process.

We will assess your outline application using the following process, detailed below:

• a mandatory expression of interest, for consideration by UKRI only
• an assessment panel, to prioritise which outline applications are invited to submit a full application

Invited full applications will be considered by an interview panel, which will recommend full applications for UKRI to make a funding decision.

As outlined in the How to apply section, a mandatory EOI must be completed by 21 September 2026 4:00pm UK time. However, this will only be used by UKRI to plan the assessment process (for example, panel membership). The assessment of each outline application will be based on the content of the outline application rather than the EOI.

An assessment panel, drawn from academic, business and other relevant communities, will be invited to assess outline applications against the assessment criteria for this opportunity in order to prioritise applications for invites to submit a full application.

We will use a tiered approach to make decisions, using strategic allocation so that the aims of the opportunity are met. The panel will discuss the extent to which the assessment criteria have been met and agree a consensus score using the scoring definitions.

After they have been scored, outline applications are then assigned to one of three tiers:

• tier 1: the highest quality, prioritised for submitting a full application
• tier 2: highly competitive, selected by strategic allocation and portfolio balancing, as outlined in the Portfolio balancing section below
• tier 3: not competitive enough to be considered to submit a full application

UKRI will make the final decision on invites to submit a full application.

We expect the assessment panel to be held week commencing 30 November 2026.

We expect UKRI will make and communicate the final decision on those invited to submit a full application in week commencing 7 December 2026. The full application opportunity will open at the same time.

For applications invited to submit a full application, full applications must be submitted by 16 March 2027. An interview panel will conduct interviews with applicants. They will assess applications against the assessment criteria for this opportunity using evidence from the submitted full application and the interview.

We expect interviews to be held in person in Polaris House, Swindon, in week commencing 26 April 2027. Up to three people can attend the interview. Each applicant team can decide which three people this is, and it can be representatives of the lead and collaborating organisations, subcontractors or project partners. However, other than in exceptional circumstances, one person must be the individual who is project lead.

We will again use a tiered approach to make decisions, using strategic allocation so that the aims of the opportunity are met. The panel will discuss the extent to which the assessment criteria have been met and agree a consensus score using the scoring definitions.

After they have been scored, applications are then assigned to one of three tiers:

• Tier 1: the highest quality, prioritised for funding
• Tier 2: highly competitive, selected by strategic allocation and portfolio balancing, as outlined in the Portfolio Balancing section below, and dependent on remaining budget
• Tier 3: not competitive enough to be considered for funding

UKRI will make the final funding decision following the interviews.

We will communicate the outcomes of the opportunity no later than early May 2027.

For more information on how we prioritise applications for funding please visit How we make decisions.

When deciding both which outline proposals to invite to submit a full application, and which full applications to fund, the panel outcomes will be the primary determiner of funding decisions. However, UKRI will also consider portfolio balance in terms of factors including:

• the balance across Industrial Strategy sectors
• the balance across disciplines
• geography (based on the anticipated location of students)
• the balance of UK research organisations

Following the outline applications assessment panel, we will give feedback to all applicants.

Following the full applications interview panel, we will give further feedback with the outcome of your full application.

We support the San Francisco declaration on research assessment and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.

Find out about the UKRI principles of assessment and decision making.

Generative AI may be used only for the purpose of language refinement during application assessment. When using generative AI to refine the language of a review, expert reviewers and panellists must ensure that:

• no part of the application being assessed is entered into a generative AI tool
• no personal information from the application is disclosed
• generative AI is not tasked with understanding, summarising or evaluating the application’s content

Expert reviewers and panellists must also:

• comply with relevant intellectual property and data protection legislation
• not take into account or speculate within their assessment whether generative AI has been used to develop the application

For more detail see our policy on the use of generative AI.

The assessment areas we will use at outline application stage are:

• vision
• approach
• positive culture and environment
• capability to deliver
• partnerships and governance
• costs

We expect the assessment areas we will use at full application stage will be:

• vision
• approach
• positive culture and environment
• capability to deliver
• partnerships and governance
• costs

Find details of assessment questions and criteria under the ‘Application questions’ heading in the ‘How to apply’ section.

If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this page

The helpdesk is committed to helping users of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service as effectively and as quickly as possible. In order to manage cases at peak volume times, the helpdesk will triage and prioritise those queries with an imminent opportunity deadline or a technical issue. Enquiries raised where information is available on the Funding Finder opportunity page and should be understood early in the application process (for example, regarding eligibility, content or remit of a funding opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.

For help and advice on costings and writing your proposal please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.

For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please contact venturedoctorates@ukri.org

Any queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the Funding Service should be directed to the helpdesk.

Email: support@funding-service.ukri.org

Phone: 01793 547490

Our phone lines are open:

• Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm
• Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

To help us process queries more efficiently, we request that users highlight the council and opportunity name in the subject title of their email query, include the application reference number, and refrain from contacting more than one mailbox at a time.

For further information on submitting an application read How applicants use the Funding Service.

The Industrial Strategy sets out the UK government’s strategy to seize the most significant

opportunities and create the most favourable conditions in key UK sectors for the companies of the future to emerge here. The Industrial Strategy sets out eight sectors (the IS-8) with the highest potential, and emphasises both the importance of enhancing skills and access to talent in these sectors, and the importance of entrepreneurship.

The UK government has also developed a prospectus for entrepreneurship in the UK, highlighting the priority areas for further action to support entrepreneurs. One activity in that prospectus is this UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding opportunity, supporting around 100 students over the next six years who have the potential to turn their cutting-edge research into new companies.

Commercialisation and translation are also key priorities for UKRI. This opportunity delivers against all three parts of UKRI’s mission: advancing knowledge, improving lives, driving growth.

Impact can be defined as the long-term intended or unintended effect research and innovation has on society, economy and the environment; to individuals, organisations, and the wider global population.

Equality impact assessment (PDF, 173KB)

We will hold webinars at the following times:

• 20 August 2026 3:00pm to 4:00pm UK time
• 26 August 2026 10:00am to 11:00am UK time
• 10 September 2026 2:00pm to 3:00pm UK time

These will provide more information about the funding opportunity and a chance to ask questions. We will also provide details at the webinar of how we will support networking between potential applicants through a collaboration platform.

Register for the webinar via CitizenSpace.

Awards will be subject to additional grant conditions as well as the UKRI training grant terms and conditions. While we reserve the right to amend or add conditions before award, these are expected to cover:

• start date
• naming and branding
• collaboration agreements, between lead organisations and any collaborating organisations, subcontractors and project partners
• intellectual property
• subsidy control
• independent advisory board
• cohort engagement
• engagement with UKRI
• collection of information
• monitoring and evaluation, including additional plans outlined in this opportunity
• number of students
• training scope
• student progression

We recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major interruptions and disruptions across our communities. We are committed to ensuring that individual applicants and their wider team, including partners and networks, are not penalised for any disruption to their career, such as:

• breaks and delays
• disruptive working patterns and conditions
• the loss of ongoing work
• role changes that may have been caused by the pandemic

Reviewers and panel members will be advised to consider the unequal impacts that COVID-19 related disruption might have had on the capability to deliver and career development of those individuals included in the application. They will be asked to consider the capability of the applicant and their wider team to deliver the research they are proposing.

Where disruptions have occurred, you can highlight this within your application if you wish, but there is no requirement to detail the specific circumstances that caused the disruption.