R&D funding roundup – August 2025

A roundup of recent funding opportunities for researchers, companies and creative practitioners.

Innovate UK innovation loans: Round 22: Loans of between £100,000 and £5 million for highly innovative late stage research and development (R&D) projects with the best potential for the future. There must be a clear route to commercialisation and economic impact (closes 27 August 2025).

XR Labs Fund: An opportunity for researchers and technicians at UK universities to apply for grants of up to £25,000 to develop extended reality (XR) prototypes, with a particular focus on virtual production technologies and convergent media (closes 11 September 2025).

Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (round 3): UK registered academic institutions, research and technology organisations or Catapults can apply for a share of up to £9 million to fund innovation projects with businesses or not for profit organisations (closes 17 September 2025).

Smart Data Research UK Fellowships: Fellowship opportunities for researchers to undertake innovative, impact-focused research using smart data. Projects should address a significant real-world challenge which is relevant to the UK and be aligned to at least one of Smart Data Research UK’s four thematic pillars: Productivity and prosperity for all; Health and wellbeing; Digital society; Sustainability (closes 23 September 2025).

Immersive Arts Funding: The next round of Immersive Arts funding for artists based in Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England to expand the limits of their practice through funding, training, research and events (closes 29 September 2025).

UKRI Turing AI Pioneer Interdisciplinary Fellowships: outline applications: An opportunity for established researchers from across UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) remit, without a background in core artificial intelligence (AI) research, who want to build domain relevant AI capability and develop advanced AI approaches to tackle a specific research challenge in their chosen field (closes 14 October 2025).

UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships: round 10, business and non-academic: A share of up to £100 million for UK registered organisations undertaking ambitious research and innovation projects in any sector, and tailored support to develop careers for future leaders (closes 5 November 2025).

UK Games Fund Prototype Fund: EoIs for Round 18: Grants of up to £30k are available for established companies with a game development project at an early stage who have been invited to apply following submission of their expression of interest. (no end date specified but successful projects must be able to start in October 2025).

UK Games Fund Content Fund: EoIs: Commercial games-for-entertainment content grants of between £50k and £150k are available to UK registered SMEs with PAYE employees engaged in games development work in the UK. (open – no end date). 

AHRC responsive mode: Catalyst awards: Awards to support researchers without prior experience of leading a significant research project to accelerate their trajectory as independent researchers, to unlock their potential, build leadership and convenor experience (open – no end date).

AHRC responsive mode: Curiosity awards: Flexible awards to fund fundamental research that leads to new research agendas, networking activity and idea generation, which enables the development of further research opportunities and new research agendas (open – no end date).

British Film Council Film Festival XR Showcase Travel Grants: Grants to help Short and Feature filmmakers, and XR creatives, travel to international events where their work is being screened (open – no end date).

Creative Growth Finance Fund: Scale-up loans for UK businesses in the Creative Industries (open – no end date).

Creative UK: Creative Enterprise Business Builder: Grants of up to £2.5k to support companies who work in moving image for storytelling, spanning film television, games, animation and immersive industries (open – no end date).

Daphne Jackson Fellowship Grants: Fellowships for those looking to return to a research career after a break of two or more years for family, health or caring reasons. The aim is to give participants the confidence and skills they need to make a successful return to research (open – no end date).

Knowledge Transfer Partnerships: Funding to help businesses to partner with an academic organisation, research organisation or a Catapult, or to employ a graduate with the skills and knowledge that can help the business to innovate and grow (open – no end date).

BFI Doc Society Features Fund: Support of up to a maximum of £150,000 per feature documentary film or immersive non-fiction project in the form of grants (open call – no end date).

Arts Council National Lottery Project Grants: Grants of between £1,000 and £100,000 to support individual practitioners, community and cultural organisations working on arts, libraries and museums projects. Priority is currently given to Supporting Grassroots Music, Museum Unlocking Collections and Universal Library Offers projects (open call – no end date). 

BFI Doc Society Research and Development Fund: Funding to support and nurture independent non-fiction films and immersive projects by UK filmmakers: prioritising expansive, director-led storytelling. The fund backs ambitious, independent feature documentary films and immersive projects intended for theatrical release, from both emerging talent and more established directors (annual, rolling call opened on 1 April for the year ahead).

Creative Enterprise Business Builder: Grants of up to £2,500 from Creative UK to support companies who work in moving images for storytelling, spanning film television, games, animation and immersive industries (open call – no end date).

Coming soon

Pre-announcement: Local Innovation Partnerships Fund: This programme earmarks at least £30 million for each of ten regions across the UK, including one in each of the devolved nations. A competition will run for all other parts of the UK to bid for support to grow their innovation ecosystems (more information to be confirmed).

Pre-announcement: artificial intelligence humanities sandpits: Canada, UK and US: AHRC and SSHRC plan to invite expressions of interest to attend a humanities-led, interdisciplinary research sandpit putting humanities insights and methodologies at the heart of artificial intelligence (AI) tech design (expressions of interest open in August 2025).

Published on 11 August 2025