FUNding OpportunitiesA selection of the latest calls for funding
Our selection of funding opportunities, from current calls with deadlines approaching or no closing date to industry collaborations and fellowships, have particular emphasis on the AAA sector - Animal Health, Agritech and Aquaculture.
This is a growing sector and represents three of the Scottish Life Sciences sectors (including Digital Healthcare), having a distinct crossover with biotech, gene modification, gene editing etc. for food security and in crop science and environmental research.
Scotland is the ideal environment to carry out research and development in the area of domestic livestock, companion animals, aquaculture and plant science. We offer a truly world–leading scientific expertise, access to state of the art research facilities, a pool of highly skilled personnel and a growing cluster of innovative bioscience companies.
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is investing up to £25 million in the best game-changing and world-leading ideas, designed for swift, successful commercialisation. The Innovate UK Smart grant has focused scope and eligibility criteria to support SMEs (small and medium sized enterprises) and their partners in developing genuinely new innovations with significant potential for rapid economic return to the UK.
Proposals must be business focused, and show deliverable, realistic, adequately resourced plans to achieve return on investment, growth and market share following project completion. Applications can come from any area of technology and be applied to any part of the economy.
The eligibility criteria for the Smart January 2024 round of the
competition are different to previous rounds of the Smart grant. Please read the guidelines carefully before submitting your application.
Registration opens: 18 January 2024
Registration closes: 24 April 2024, 11am
The Net Zero Catalyst is supporting an SME technology developer to find innovators who can provide a solution to formulate, pelletise, trial and validate a new sustainable and cost-effective poultry feed composed of Yeast Protein Concentrate (YPC) as an alternative to imported soya. The challenge involves developing a viable feed pellet that combines YPC with supplementary UK-grown protein sources such as legumes or lupin. For egg-laying birds YPC can only constitute 40-50% of the protein content.
The project presents opportunity to develop a sustainable poultry feed alternative, offering economic and environmental benefit across multiple industries. By transforming whisky industry waste into a valuable agricultural resource, this challenge aims to link waste management and agricultural productivity, contributing to a more sustainable food production ecosystem.
Entrants to this competition must be:
The Net Zero Catalyst is an Innovate UK Innovation Exchange (iX) competition which makes available grant funding for a series of Net Zero iX challenges (up to £25,000 per challenge partnership). Please note that, in accordance with the iX process, all funding will be directed to solution providers.
Registration opens: 28 March 2024
Registration closes: 2 May 2024
Food & Agriculture Science Transformer (FAST)
Programme in partnership with Deep Science Ventures (DSV) and the University of Edinburgh’s Roslin Institute.
Applications ongoing. Reviewed within 10 working days of receipt and if the candidacy successful, it normally takes no more than 2-3 weeks to get started.
This funding opportunity aims to enhance research and innovation capacity and capability that is driven by local needs in SE Asia to meet sustainable, resilient and productive aquaculture system challenges. Projects should specifically aim to promote economic development and welfare with tangible benefits to one or more of the eligible SE Asia beneficiary countries for this programme (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam).
Projects should contribute to sustainable, resilient and productive aquaculture systems which enhance food and nutrition security, the natural environment and climate, local community wellbeing, livelihoods and economic development.
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for BBSRC funding.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) invests in research and innovation to
enrich lives, drive economic growth, and create jobs and high-quality
public services across the UK.
Innovate UK’s Global Incubator Programme is an acceleration programme for innovative companies to work with world-leading incubators abroad. Applications are now being accepted for up to 8 SMEs in the AgriFood and innovative food and beverage sectors to join our programme with GROW in Singapore. The programme will be delivered virtually and include up to two visits to Singapore.
Applications are welcomed from innovative AgriFood companies that focus on, but not limited to the following areas:
Registration opens: 18 April 2024
UK registered academic institutions, RTOs or Catapults can apply for a share of up to £9 million to fund innovation projects with businesses or not for profits.
The Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) programme allows a UK registered business or not for profit organisation, (which will be referred to collectively as the ‘business partner’ from now on) to partner with a ‘knowledge base partner’, which is either a UK higher education (HE) or further education (FE) institution, research and technology organisation (RTO) or Catapult.
Each application must be led by a knowledge base, working with a business partner and supported by a knowledge transfer adviser. Business applicants must have two or more full time equivalent employees and be UK registered.
Typically, a project’s total costs are £8,500 per month. Projects must be between 12 and 36 months. Innovate UK will fund up to 67% of costs for SMEs (75% for non-profits/charities), with the remainder funded by the business partner.
Registration opens: 15 April 2024
Women with exciting, innovative ideas who will inspire others can apply for an award which includes a grant of upto £75,000 and bespoke business support.
Innovate UK, part of UK Research and Innovation, is offering 50 Women in Innovation Awards to women entrepreneurs across the UK. The winners will receive a grant of upto £75,000 and a bespoke package of mentorship, networking, training and 1-to-1 business coaching. Applicants must be confident, with the support of an award, that they can make a significant contribution to a pressing societal, environmental or economic challenge through their innovative project.
The competition is split into 2 phases. In the application phase 1, the awards will be assessed by independent experts. In the interview phase 2, the shortlisted applicants will be interviewed by a panel of experts.
This competition is open to single applicants only. To lead a project you must be a woman founder, co-founder or senior decision maker within a UK registered micro or small and medium-sized enterprise business that has been operating for at least one year by the competition closing date.
Applications for Innovate UK Women in Innovation 2024/25 will open on 13th May., with a briefing event for potential applicants being held on 14th May. You can register for the event here.
Innovate UK is the UK’s national innovation agency. It supports business-led innovation in all sectors, technologies and UK regions. It also helps businesses grow through the development and commercialisation of new products, processes, and services, supported by an outstanding innovation ecosystem that is agile, inclusive, and easy to navigate.
We are a worldwide network of public, private and third sector organisations spanning the GovTech, CivTech and CivicTech spectrum to support and nurture an ecosystem developing products and services which make citizens’ lives better.
The next round of CivTech Challenges will be launched in June 2024.
If you are a Public or Third Sector organisation with a problem you want to solve then you could become a CivTech 10 Challenge Sponsor. Please email civtech@gov.scot
Our standard research grants are for researchers at eligible organisations that include:
You can apply if you:
We are looking for partnerships that help businesses to innovate, develop, grow and become more productive by employing academic expertise that they do not have in-house.
Your project can focus on any type of innovation in any sector but it must aim to deliver results that your business would not otherwise be able to deliver. As a business, you may be looking for an academic partner to help you to address a particular innovation challenge.
Partnerships are part-funded by a grant. Your business will have to contribute to the costs of the project, including the salary of the graduate, known as the associate, and the cost of a supervisor to oversee the project. The associate is employed by the academic partner but works in the business and brings new skills and thinking to deliver a specific innovation project. The project will last between 12 and 36 months.
Project costs vary greatly but typically a small or medium sized business might expect to contribute £35,000 a year and a large company in excess of £50,000. Your company may have additional costs such as purchasing capital equipment, which are not covered by this grant.
Key features of a UKRI Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) are that:
All sectors are eligible. You may be eligible if:
The SMART: SCOTLAND grant is a research and development (R&D) grants that aims to support high-risk, highly ambitious projects. If you a small or medium-sized business seeking to develop a new product, process or service, you can apply for a SMART: SCOTLAND grant to support technically focused feasibility studies to help discover if your idea will work in the real world.
The grant can support up to 70% of the eligible costs for a small enterprise and up to 60% of the eligible costs for a medium enterprise. Studies must last between 6 and 18 months, and the maximum grant is £100,000. Feasibility is paid with a third of the grant in an upfront instalment and the rest is quarterly in arrears.
You may be eligible if:
The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is one of seven Research Councils that work together as Research Councils UK (RCUK). Funded by the Government's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS).
BBSRC provide a range of funding opportunities to enable individuals and groups to pursue world-class bioscience research. This includes joint opportunities with other Research Councils and organisations.
The BBSRC Grants Guide covers all aspects of research grant funding, including: eligibility, research equipment and application procedures.
If you can't find what you're looking for please contact:
Research grant submission: jeshelp@rcuk.ac.uk t: 01793 444164
Grant eligibility: eligibility@bbsrc.ukri.org
Remit: remit@bbsrc.ukri.org
UK Research and Innovation is a new body which works in partnership with universities, research organisations, businesses, charities, and government to create the best possible environment for research and innovation to flourish. Operating across the whole of the UK, working with many partners to benefit everyone through knowledge, talent and ideas, with a combined budget of more than £7 billion.
UKRI provides a range of funding opportunities to enable individuals and groups to pursue world-class research and innovation.
Innovate UK is part of UKRI, a non-departmental public body funded by a grant-in-aid from the UK government.
As the UK's innovation agency, Innovate UK works with people, companies and partner organisations to fund business and research collaborations to accelerate innovation and drive business investment into research and development and realise the potential of new ideas that grow the economy, including those from the UK’s world-class research base.
How to Apply:
Contact your local KTP Adviser or Office or call +44 (0) 300 321 4357.
A KTP can last between 12 and 36 months depending on the project and the needs of the business. It is part-funded by a grant. The amount businesses need to contribute is different for SMEs and larger companies.
The KTP programme runs continuously throughout the year.
Find out about the latest Knowledge Transfer Network (KTN) funding calls of relevance to the agriculture and food & drink manufacturing sectors.
The aim of the Medical Research Council (MRC) is to improve human health through world-class medical research, from fundamental science to early clinical trials and preventive medicine. The MRC works in partnership across UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and with the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) and devolved administrations, the NHS, charities and industry.
The Biomedical Catalyst (BMC) is a unique partnership between the MRC and UKRI, providing responsive and effective support to the most innovative life sciences opportunities regardless of scientific approach.
The BMC aims to de-risk innovative science and commercialise ideas arising out of academia and industry helping UK SMEs to develop into competitive and sustainable organisations. This accelerates the progress of novel products to market, facilitates onward investment and bridges “the valley of death”.
MRC supports academically-led feasibility research through the Confidence in Concept which is open to institutions but not individual researchers. Academic-led applications for Early and Late Stage awards are primarily administered through the Developmental Pathway Funding Scheme (DPFS).
Since BMC launched in April 2012, the scheme has awarded more than £250m funding, matched by £150m of private finance, to over 300 projects seeking to develop a wide range of therapies, diagnostics and devices.
This is an ongoing funding opportunity. Application rounds close every March, July and November.
The RSE International Joint Projects aims to facilitate international collaboration between researchers based in Scotland with researchers overseas. Applications for two-year joint projects are invited from Scottish-based researchers to include an overseas Higher Education Institution (HEI), Research Institute (RI) or Cultural Institution of your choice (open to all countries).
The RSE provides up to a maximum of £6,000 per year and up to a maximum of £12,000 over two years. The collaborating institution is expected to provide the equivalent level of funding per two-year joint project. Funding areas: Arts and Humanities, Career Development, International, Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine (STEMM), Social Sciences.
Eligibility for Scotland-based researchers:
Eligibility for international researchers:
Project eligibility:
Through their Fellowship scheme, BBSRC will invest in researchers who are seeking to conduct their own independent research within a host laboratory. This scheme supports excellent investigator-led research across the breadth of BBSRC's scientific remit.
You must provide strong evidence of working towards this goal, demonstrating an upward trajectory to pursuing independent work within a host organisation, and show high potential to become future research leaders.
Call closes: 2 May 2024, 4pm
Funding to support ambitious research and innovation across UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s remit. You must be an early career researcher or innovator who is either:
UK registered organisations can apply for a share of up to £110 million for ambitious research and innovation projects in any sector, and tailored support to develop careers for future leaders. This funding is from UKRI.
The aim of this competition is to:
The University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Innovations are looking to appoint up to three Innovation Fellows, who will have a track record of innovative research and/or translation, and will develop a novel research and translation programme, incorporating strong pathways likely to produce impact of reach and significance.
The Fellow will be expected to develop an academic career based on a signature technology or distinct societal need/benefit (e.g. commercialisation of research through business engagement or spin-out). There is particular interest for applicants with potential to make a key contribution to interdisciplinary research and innovation in one or more of the three University priority research areas:
Industrial Fellowships are awarded to graduates with the potential to make an outstanding contribution to industry, for research supported by a company, leading to a patent, product or process improvement and a postgraduate award.
With these Industrial Fellowships, companies get the chance to craft a bespoke PhD from the ground up that supports company ambitions as well as employee interests, and forge strong links with leading academics, to share access to expertise, facilities and knowledge.
This long-standing scheme enables the mobility of talented scientists and engineers from industry and academia in order to move between the sectors. These secondments support the researcher's development, foster exchange of knowledge, stimulate longer-term collaborations, and establish personal, scientific and corporate links between sectors.
The Industry Fellowship, part of the Royal Society's Industry programme, aims to enhance knowledge transfer in science and technology between those in industry and those in academia in the UK.
The scheme provides a basic salary for the researcher and a contribution towards research costs.
This scheme, part of the Royal Society's Industry programme, enables scientists employed in industry or academia and/or their postdoctoral researcher to have shorter more dynamic engagements between academia and industry, working on a mutually beneficial and collaborative project.
Collaborations between academia and early-stage companies are particularly encouraged. It is anticipated that the personal and corporate links established by the researcher between the two sectors in the UK will seed longer-term collaborations and contribute to their long-term future development.
This scheme is for outstanding scientists who are in the early stages of their research career and have the potential to become leaders in their field. These long term fellowships provide the opportunity and freedom to build an independent research career in the UK or Republic of Ireland and pursue cutting-edge scientific research.
The Royal Society of Edinburgh Enterprise Fellowships enable promising science and technology researchers to grow into successful entrepreneurs.
Fellowships funded by Scottish Enterprise comprise the bulk of the programme. These awards are designed to encourage and enable the development of a new business based in Scotland around a technological idea developed by the Enterprise Fellow, either individually or with others, and within which the Enterprise Fellow would be expected to play a leading, though not necessarily the leading, role.
RSE Personal Research Fellowships provide eligible applicants with the opportunity to take between three to twelve months to focus on a research project of their choice. The award provides funding for the appointment of a temporary replacement to enable the awardee to take research leave, either in their own institution or elsewhere, whilst remaining in continuous employment with their present employer.
In addition to funding the salary for the replacement member of staff (including on costs), this grant funds research costs for the awardee.
Funding areas: Arts and Humanities, Career Development, Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths and Medicine (STEMM), Social Science.
The Royal Society of Edinburgh
There are currently no open fellowships.PhD and MScR opportunities are available at The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies.
A number of studentships for taught and research postgraduates are offered each year.
PhD and MScR opportunities are available at The Roslin Institute and Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies.
A number of studentships for taught and research postgraduates are offered each year.
AHDB fund a wide variety of PhD students to support the increase of new talent and ideas into our agricultural and horticultural sectors.
Requests for further information should be sent to studentships@ahdb.org.uk indicating to which sector(s) your question is addressed.
Check direct with the funding organisation for information and any updates.
AgriFood Africa Connect brings innovative people and organisations across the UK and Africa together to address key AgriFood challenges in Africa. They build diverse connections across the UK and Africa to drive positive change that aligns with the UK’s Overseas Development Assistance goals.
The goal is to realise sustainable management of the food production systems in Africa in a way that alleviates poverty, enhances economic prosperity and delivers improved well-being.
The Moredun Foundation Award recognises the value of education, collaboration, experience and travel in improving knowledge of farming and livestock industries.
As part of its charitable activities, the Moredun Foundation established an award scheme to provide an opportunity for individuals in the UK to pursue a short term project to broaden their education and experience in areas relating to livestock health and welfare and the agricultural industry.
The Moredun Foundation Award supports personal development and encourages innovative and diverse contributions to our mission to prevent and control infectious diseases of livestock.
The RSE grants funding and awards to recognise excellence and support leading research that benefits Scotland's cultural, economic and social wellbeing.
The Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) is a five year £1.5 billion resource funding stream, announced as part of the 2015 spending review, to ensure that UK research takes a leading role in addressing the problems faced by developing countries.
The GCRF will deploy the UK’s world-class research capability to address the challenges faced by the developing world.
Pathfinder is a fully funded opportunity for entrepreneurs to accelerate their new product or business in only six months. Participants will be taught practical tools and techniques to interrogate their idea, plan for opportunities and optimise for marketplace success.
To help you execute your idea, Pathfinder delegates are coached directly by experts across a range of disciplines including new product development, innovation, business strategy, finance, investment and more. The programme includes a “Dragon’s Den” style pitching session in front of real investors in a safe environment to help to you prepare for just about anything in the commercial world.
The UK government’s Seafood Innovation Fund (SIF) is a research and development (R&D) fund that launched in July 2019.
SIF does not currently have any funding calls open to application. For information on projects which have been funded by SIF, please see the (SIF) website for further details.
The Grand Challenges family of initiatives fosters innovation to solve key global health and development problems. Each initiative is an experiment in the use of challenges to focus innovation on making an impact. Individual challenges address some of the same problems, but from differing perspectives.
The Grand Challenges family of initiatives fosters innovation to solve key health and development problems. See below for Grand Challenges grant opportunities with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation as sole or contributing funder.
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
The are currently no open grant opportunities.
The Wellcome Trust has awarded the University of Edinburgh an Institutional Translational Partnership Award (iTPA) to diversify and intensify the support available to engage Wellcome- and non Wellcome-funded researchers across the medical, life and social sciences.
High potential translational projects will be considered for an award of up to a maximum of £20,000. The funds may be used on a broad range of activities aimed at stimulating future translation of specific early stage research projects. The award will support direct costs only, and be associated with a range of activities including but not limited to:-
Skills development via industry secondments, academic placements or people exchanges, or specialist training.
Some projects that have received funding:-
Edinburgh Innovations, University of Edinburgh’s commercialisation service.
Applications are currently closed but please check Edinburgh Innovations for updates.
New funding calls will be added regularly so please bookmark this page for the latest additions and those with deadlines approaching.
Roslin Innovation Centre
The University of Edinburgh
Easter Bush Campus
Midlothian EH25 9RG
