Research Infrastructure Renewal
Research Infrastructure Renewal supports environmental science infrastructure teams to renew and enhance shared facilities and assets, strengthening capabilities for the wider research community.
Funder: UK Research and Innovation
Due Dates: September 21, 2026 (Exceptional funding requests) | October 21, 2026, 4:00pm UK time (Full application) | February 1, 2027 (Latest project start) | March 31, 2027 (Capital commitment evidence)
Funding Amounts: £300,000–£1,000,000 per award for three to 12 months; £8 million total fund; 100% full economic cost
Summary: Capital funding to renew, replace and enhance existing shared environmental science infrastructure and facilities.
Key Information: Infrastructure must be UK-based and accessible to the wider environmental science community beyond the host organisation.
Description
UKRI’s Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) supports targeted capital investment in existing environmental science infrastructure. The programme aims to maintain and strengthen nationally important capabilities, replacing ageing or obsolete assets, addressing health, safety and operational risks, and improving performance, reliability, resilience and accessibility.
Funding can support physical, digital and hybrid assets, including laboratories, collections, archives, platforms and software forming part of a capital investment. Installation, integration, testing, commissioning and technical implementation may also qualify where necessary to bring the capability into use. The emphasis is on shared, multi-user and multi-institution capabilities that benefit the wider environmental science community, rather than entirely new facilities or individual research projects.
