Funder: UK Research and Innovation
Due Dates: December 1, 2026, 11:59pm UK time (Mandatory intent to submit) | January 19, 2027, 4:00pm UK time (Full application)
Funding Amounts: Up to £14.275 million for 78 months, covering 100% of eligible costs
Summary: Supports cohort-based doctoral training in chemical threat reduction to strengthen sovereign capability and protect UK health and national security.
Key Information: Organisations apply to deliver training, with at least 40 students across three cohorts and studentships restricted to UK-home-fee-eligible students.
Description
UKRI’s Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), with the Ministry of Defence (MOD), Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), and Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra), supports a doctoral focal award in chemical threat reduction. The programme combines original doctoral research, assessable coursework and peer learning with academic, industrial and government collaboration to sustain expertise for responding to and recovering from chemical incidents.
Research spans synthetic and analytical chemistry, biotoxins, attribution science, sensing, autonomous hazard detection, decontamination, experimental and computational toxicology, and pharmacological toxicity prediction. Training should cover hazardous agent handling, analytical and decontamination techniques, attribution methods, toxicology and responsible innovation. Government scientists will help shape research goals and supervision. The award aims to strengthen national resilience, reduce reliance on external suppliers and develop scientific leaders who can train future generations.
