Opportunities from UKRI Funding Finder Opportunities

Full Job Description

Opportunity status: Open

Funders:

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

Funding type: Grant

Total fund: £6,200,000

Award range: £500,000 - £1,500,000

Publication date: 18 August 2026

Opening date:

7 September 2026 9:00am UK time

Closing date:

25 November 2026 4:00pm UK time

Last updated: 28 August 2026 - see all updates

Apply for funding to strengthen conservation and heritage science infrastructure by building sustainable national capability, improving access to nationally significant facilities and addressing unmet user demand.

Projects should expand collaboration with industry, to accelerate technology development, commercialisation and knowledge exchange.

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £1.5 million, with £300,000 allocated to cascading funding.

Projects must start 1 April 2027 and may last up to 24 months, ending by 31 March 2029.

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for AHRC funding.

Eligibility

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

Equality, Diversity And Inclusion

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:

• career breaks

• support for people with caring responsibilities

flexible working

• alternative working patterns

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.

Demand Management

Demand management is not being applied to this funding opportunity.

Aim

Unlocking Advanced Capability is the next phase of the Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) Programme, building on infrastructure establishment (Tranche 1) to target capability enhancement. It supports UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s mission to advance knowledge, improve lives and drive economic growth.

This investment will strengthen the UK’s conservation and heritage science ecosystem by funding equipment and facilities, and supporting collaborative projects that:

• build sustainable national capability for research and innovation

• expand access to nationally significant facilities

• address unmet user demand

It will also stimulate innovation through enhanced collaboration with industry, including small and medium-sized enterprise (SME)s, enabling knowledge exchange, technology development and pathways to commercialisation.

Projects should deliver long-term capability improvements, strengthen resilience across the sector and create opportunities for wider impact, spillover benefits and UK leadership in heritage science and conservation.

This investment will:

• strengthen the UK’s conservation and heritage science infrastructure

• support collaborative projects that build sustainable national capability

• improve access to nationally significant facilities and address unmet user needs

• foster innovation through partnerships with industry, including SMEs, enabling knowledge exchange, technology development and commercialisation

• deliver long-term capability, increase sector resilience, create opportunities for wider impact and spillover benefits, and enhance the UK’s leadership in conservation and heritage science

Scope

The RICHeS Programme is designed to maximise the research, development and innovation potential of UK conservation and heritage science by delivering a generational step change in the sector’s effectiveness, efficiency and excellence. Specifically, it will:

• catalyse the development of an informed, collaborative and innovative UK heritage science community

• ensure that the heritage science sector has the capability and the capacity to meet user demand and deliver world-class scientific excellence

• ensure that heritage science equipment, expertise, resources and research data are findable and accessible to users, available to external stakeholders, and capable of being leveraged by a range of partners

For this funding opportunity, RICHeS is looking for projects that can:

• demonstrate they meet the aims above

• evidence collaboration across a coherent group of relevant partners, including connections with private-sector SMEs to increase knowledge exchange

• clearly evidence need or unmet demand, and the capacity to respond to future sector and societal needs

We are particularly interested in consortium applications focused on:

• potential for innovation and spill over into sectors on environmental sustainability, health, or risk management of heritage assets

• bioarchaeology and genomics

• embedding and extending of AI and computational methods that drive efficiency and streamline processes

Core components must include:

• hosting facilities, advanced capability: Grants to nationally significant facilities up to £1.2 million to expand access and analytical capability including improvements to physical infrastructure and enabling AI or technical innovations

• innovation funding: Projects may outline a dedicated allocation (up to £300,000) of cascaded funding to support collaborative innovation with industry partners, including SMEs. This activity must be directly related to capitalisable activity to enhance your infrastructure (such as, technically, via efficiencies, via bespoke alterations or automations)

In developing a consortium bid, you may wish to consider how:

• you and your research partners have identified current user demand for your facilities offer, the evidence for the scale and nature of unmet demand, and how investment will help you manage that demand

• you and your research partners can build or extend connections with industry to increase knowledge exchange, particularly with organisations outside the heritage and conservation sector

• your facilities, expertise and research will benefit stakeholders, including the wider heritage sector, other areas of science, and the general public

• you and your research partners will develop and innovate to support the economic sustainability of your facility

• you will utilise the cascading funding for innovation opportunity to leverage innovation to improve capability, efficiency, automation or technical development

• you will, if successful, establish an appropriate consortium agreement setting out governance, roles and responsibilities, and management of shared resources

Your institution will form part of a national infrastructure for heritage science and conservation research, supported by the RICHeS Infrastructure Headquarters (RICHeS IHQ) and a Digital Research Service, the Heritage Science Data Service (HSDS).

Successful award holders are expected to work to provide access for conservation and heritage science users and work with the HSDS to ensure FAIR access to and deposition of data. UK users of your facilities will be able to bid for funding, via the RICHeS Access Fund, to support the costs associated with accessing the infrastructure.

Successful award holders will have terms and conditions that indicate an agreement to participate in the RICHeS Access Fund process (such as, supporting user queries and applications, assessing feasibility of the proposed access, facilitating deposition of data in HSDS, and completing work to agreed timescales). You are expected to familiarise yourself with the RICHeS Access Fund in advance of submitting your application.

You are also expected to enable access through other routes, such as collaborative research projects, consultancy or commercial activity, or in-kind contributions.

You will report regularly to RICHeS IHQ and contribute to quarterly project-level reporting to the RICHeS Programme Board and AHRC. Funded projects are also expected to engage with RICHeS Programme Evaluation activities, run by an external supplier.

For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, go to the ‘Additional information’ section.

Duration

The duration of this award is a maximum of 24 months ending by 31 March 2029. Projects must start by 1 April 2027.

Once your grant has completed, and subject to a successful assurance gateway, you will receive an annual grant to support additional staff capacity. This role is intended to enable ongoing access, user engagement and the effective operation and sustainability of the capability for external users. This role is expected to start on 1 April 2029 and run up to 24 months to the end of March 2031.

You should ensure plans are feasible within the grant window, taking into account risks such as procurement delays and internal process timelines. Substantive extensions are unlikely.

Funding Available

The FEC of your project can be up to £1.5 million. Funding is available through two complementary components designed to strengthen national capability, stimulate innovation and support the long-term sustainability of conservation and heritage science infrastructure.

Capital Investment

Up to £1.2 million is available to develop, upgrade or equip nationally significant facilities and capability platforms. Eligible costs include capital and capitalisable expenditure associated with developing infrastructure and expanding analytical capability. We will fund 100% of FEC for eligible capital costs. Indexation (inflation adjustment) will not be applied to these grants.

Cascading Funding For Innovation

Projects may include a dedicated allocation (up to £300,000) to support collaborative innovation with industry partners, including SMEs. This is intended to accelerate the development, testing or adoption of new technologies, products, services or approaches that enhance capability, improve efficiency, support automation, or create opportunities for commercialisation and wider economic impact for your facility. This must be capitalisable activities and must be allocated within the first year of your project, or no later than the 1 April 2028.

If you are requesting cascading funding for innovation, you must demonstrate how you will undertake appropriate due diligence before awarding any funding to third-party organisations. The lead organisation will be responsible for ensuring that all cascading funding is awarded and managed in accordance with the requirements of the UK Subsidy Control Act 2022 and whether a UKRI Eligible Organisation, non-academic or community partner, meets the following due diligence criteria prior to the release of funds.

AHRC will fund eligible capitalisable costs at 100% of the FEC.

What We Will Fund

This capital investment is intended to support activities that create new capability, for collaboration, innovation and transformation, rather than fund business as usual.

Eligible capital and capitalisable costs during the original two-year grant may include:

• acquisition, delivery and installation of equipment for conservation and heritage science research

• construction, refurbishment or adaptation of facilities and supporting infrastructure feasible for completion within the grant window

• specialist IT equipment, software and other essential digital infrastructure

• staff costs directly associated to equipment installation, commissioning and implementation

• service and maintenance contracts that maximise the operational life and impact of funded equipment

• capitalisable collaborative activities with industry partners (including SMEs) to develop, test or demonstrate new technologies, products or services

For the purposes of this grant, industry partners exclude higher education institutions (HEIs), independent research organisations (IROs) and charitable organisations.

Six months prior to completion of your project, a gateway health check will be completed by AHRC, this is to confirm the follow-on staff funding from 1 April 2029 to 31 March 2031. This will be issued as a separate award and may be used for:

• salary

• employer on-costs, including pension contributions

• estates and overhead

The annual award is £120,000. Please note this is at 80% FEC (£96,000) for the duration of the staffing grant.

What We Will Not Fund

This investment will not support:

• original research unrelated to capability development

• collection digitisation, except where essential to developing or testing the capability

• training programmes, except training required for project staff to operate the capability and support user access

• studentships or postdoctoral research associates

• events or conferences

Please note, named project partners or consortium partners as defined by AHRC, will not be eligible for your cascading funding for innovation, please ensure you read and understand the definition of partner when making your application.

This is a capital funding opportunity. All requested capital investment must be capital or capitalisable expenditure.

Trusted Research And Innovation (Tr&I)

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 you can find additional support.

How to apply

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.

To Apply

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

• Confirm you are the project lead.

• Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password.

• 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.

• Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.

• Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.

• 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 on 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

References

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

General Use Of Hyperlinks

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.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (Ai)

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.

Deadline

AHRC must receive your application by 25 November 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 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.

Processing Personal Data

AHRC as part of 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.

Sensitive Information

If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email riches@ahrc.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.

Institutional Matched Funding

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 the standard 20% FEC. 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 encouraged.

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.

Publication Of Outcomes

AHRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at What AHRC has funded.

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

Summary

Word limit: 550

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

Guidance For Writing A Summary

Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:

• the challenge or opportunity

• what you propose to deliver

• the aims and objectives

• who will benefit

• how access or capability will be improved

• any key partnerships

• the expected impacts and benefits

The summary should clearly explain what is being proposed, who will benefit, and why the investment is important at a national level.

Core Team

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

• project lead (PL)

• project co-lead (UK) (PcL)

• project co-lead (international) (PcL (I))

• specialist

• research and innovation associate

Only list one individual as project lead.

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.

Vision

Word limit: 500

What are you hoping to achieve with the proposed infrastructure?

Explain how the proposed infrastructure will:

• deliver measurable scientific, technical, economic, cultural or societal benefits

• be of international importance, (if applicable)

• expand access to nationally significant facilities and address current unmet user demand

• enable high-quality, heritage science research, innovation and professional practice

• meet the strategic aims of RICHeS and AHRC, including through effective collaboration with industry partners, including SMEs

• enhance, benefit and complement the existing RICHeS distributed infrastructure network, avoiding unnecessary duplication of existing capability, facilities or established techniques

• support innovation in heritage science, including through the application of new or emerging techniques

• demonstrate clear and significant benefits beyond the host institution, including for the wider heritage sector, other scientific disciplines, industry, policymakers and the public

• describe credible pathways through which the proposed capability will be accessed, adopted and used by stakeholders to deliver impact

• identify the potential local, regional or national impacts, both direct and indirect, and who the beneficiaries might be.

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.

Approach

Word limit: 2,500

What are your plans to manage and deliver the proposed infrastructure?

We expect you to show how your approach includes:

• a credible management plan covering both the strategic and operational delivery of the proposed infrastructure

• an appropriate legal and organisational model, where applicable

• effective governance arrangements, including roles, responsibilities and decision-making processes

• a feasible project plan, including work packages, milestones, deliverables and timescales, supported by a Gantt chart (or equivalent), with clear identification and management of risks to delivery

• plans for the operation, maintenance and future development of the infrastructure throughout its anticipated lifespan, including future upgrade requirements

• arrangements for access, usage and infrastructure sharing that maximise benefit to the wider research and innovation community

• a description of the research and innovation environment that will support the successful delivery and operation of the infrastructure

• how accessibility, equality, diversity and inclusion, and environmental sustainability have been embedded within the design and delivery of the project

• plans for access and user engagement, including how you will meet your obligations under the RICHeS Access Fund process, including support for users, assessment of access requests, delivery of agreed access activities and facilitation of data deposition in the Heritage Science Data Service (HSDS)

• how you will engage with industry partners, including SMEs, to deliver collaborative activity and maximise opportunities for innovation, knowledge exchange and commercialisation, including your approach to cascading funding for innovation

• plans for operational sustainability and legacy beyond the end of AHRC funding, including how follow-on staffing support will contribute to ongoing access, capability, resilience and long-term sustainability. These could include cost recovery models, securing additional funding, development or expansion after the initial period of funding

• appropriate approaches for data management, intellectual property management and FAIR data practices, including integration with the HSDS

• how the proposed infrastructure will generate benefits and impact beyond the host institution, including for users, stakeholders and wider communities

• credible pathways through which those benefits will be realised, sustained and maximised over time

• how the proposed infrastructure will contribute to local, regional, national and, where relevant, international impact

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.

Applicant And Team Capability To Deliver

Word limit: 1,650

Why are you the right individual or team to deliver and manage the proposed infrastructure?

Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have:

• the relevant experience (appropriate to career stage)

• the right balance of skills and expertise

• the appropriate leadership and management skills and your approach to develop others

• contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community

• appropriate experience with working across sectors, including industry

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

The word limit for this section is 1,650 words: 1,150 words to be used for Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) modules (including references) and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.

Use the R4RI format to showcase the range of relevant skills you, and if relevant, your team (project lead and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on), have and how this will help to deliver the proposed work. You can include individuals’ specific achievements but only choose past contributions that best evidence their ability to deliver this work.

Complete this section using the R4RI module headings listed below. You should use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI. You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings:

• contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies, or knowledge

• the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships

• contributions to the wider research and innovation community

• contributions to broader research or innovation users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit

Provide any further details relevant to your application. This section is optional and can be up to 500 words. You should not use it to describe additional skills, experiences or outputs, but you can use it to describe any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them).

You should complete this section as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.

The roles in funding applications policy has descriptions of the different project roles.

Ethics And Responsible Research And Innovation (Rri)

What are the ethical and RRI considerations, implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.

Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:

• the relevant ethical and RRI considerations, including both the research or topic area itself and the design and delivery of the project

• the wider implications of the proposed work, and how you will maximise the positive societal, environmental, and economic benefits arising from the project, while minimising unintended negative impacts, such as research misuse or accidental harm

• how you will manage these considerations throughout the lifecycle of the project

If you are collecting or using data you should identify:

• any legal and ethical considerations of collecting, releasing or storing the data (including consent, confidentiality, anonymisation, security and other ethical considerations and, in particular, strategies to not preclude further reuse of data)

• formal information standards that your proposed work will comply with

Additional sub-questions (to be answered only if appropriate) relating to research involving:

• animals

• human participants

• genetically modified organisms

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

Please refer to the UKRI position statement on funding ethical research and Responsible innovation for more information around our expectations on ethical and responsible research and innovation.

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