R&D funding roundup – March 2026

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

Innovate UK Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP): 2026 – 2027 Round 1: A share of up to £10 million funding for UK registered academic institutions, research and technology organisations to fund innovation projects with businesses (closes 1 April).

Media Cymru Freelancer Development Fund: Financial assistance for Wales-based screen sector freelancers to access training opportunities relevant to personal career development (closes 5 April).

Belfast City Council: Belfast Stories Community Grants Programme: Small grants of up to £10,000 and five creative project grants of up to £30,000 for Belfast-based community and cultural organisations to deliver projects across a broad range of creative fields that explore cultural identity, heritage and creativity through storytelling (closes 14 April).

Innovate UK AI Champions: Frontier AI Phase 1: A share of £3 million for UK registered SME businesses to deliver feasibility studies for frontier artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML) technologies with a clear route defensible scale-up (closes 29 April).

The Space Digital Commissions: Support and funding of up to £16,000 for arts and cultural organisations based in England, including museums, libraries, community organisations and local councils to develop and deliver a creative digital project such as a video or audio project, or an interactive or immersive experience (closes 30 April).

UKRI Sandpit: AI supported research using UKRI social science data: The UKRI is seeking expressions of interest to attend a two-day in-person sandpit in Manchester on 23 to 24 June 2026. The sandpit will bring together experts from social science data services, data collections, trusted research environments and teams with expertise in artificial intelligence supported research. The focus will be to co-produce high level ideas on AI-supported social science using UKRI-funded data, and to explore the key challenges in this area (closes 12 May).

UKRI Translation: Proof of Concept: Grant for projects of up to £250,000 Full Economic Cost (UKRI will fund 80% FEC) to support and accelerate the development of new or improved technologies, products, processes, and services arising from research activities at eligible UK research organisations (closes 13 May).

UKRI Translation: EPSRC Prosperity Partnerships 2027: Funding to support ambitious, collaborative research programmes founded within the engineering and physical sciences co-created and co-delivered by established business and academic partners to create long-term prosperity for the UK. The funding body will prioritise applications which demonstrate clear strategic alignment to one or more areas of high potential identified within the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy and the associated sector plans (closes 21 May).

Future Leaders Fellowships: round 11: Funding for researchers or innovators to support ambitious research and innovation across UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s remit. Applicants must be based at, or have the support of, a UK organisation eligible for UKRI funding (closes 16 June).

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).

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 Museum Unlocking Collections and Universal Library Offers projects (open call – 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).

Creative UK Creative Growth Finance Fund: Loans of between £100,000 and £1 million for post-revenue businesses operating in the Creative Industries. Businesses must present promising growth potential and have a minimum annual turnover of £300k (open).

Creative UK 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).

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).

VIVERSE Creator Grants: Flexible funding for indie developers, small teams, studios and innovators  interested in exploring immersive, web-based 3D experiences across gaming, interactive storytelling, marketing, or education (open).

Coming soon

XR Network+ Future Fan Experiences R&D Challenge: A research and development challenge led by XR Network+ in partnership with MusicFutures that will provide up to £25,000 of funding to a total of four R&D projects (two academic-led and two industry-led) to develop prototypes that enhance fan experiences across live music, sport and cultural events (opens 13 April 2026).

The CreaTech Frontiers Live and Immersive Innovation Fund: Grants of £25,000 for creatives, technologists, and organisations to deliver projects in Live Performance and Immersive Experiences to support innovation in the rapidly evolving field of creative technology in the West Midlands (opens 14 April). Online briefing and Q&A webinar at 1pm on 14 April.

Published on 29 March 2026