Future Leaders Fellowships: Round 11, business and non-academic

Overview

Future Leaders Fellowships Round 11 provides up to £110 million to support outstanding researchers and innovators who have the potential to become future leaders in research and innovation. Hosted by eligible UK organisations, the programme provides at least four years of funding to help Fellows establish an independent career while delivering ambitious, high-impact programmes that contribute to UK strategic priorities.

The competition supports individuals with strong leadership potential by combining funding with tailored career development, enabling them to build independent research or innovation programmes that generate long-term economic and societal benefit for the UK.

Scope

The aim of this competition is to:

• provide sustained funding and resources for talented individuals with the potential to become future leaders in research and innovation
• enable individuals to establish an independent research or innovation career
• support the development of leadership capability
• enable the delivery of high quality, impactful and ambitious work aligned with UK strategic priorities

Projects must:

• clearly set out an ambitious programme of work that will deliver meaningful benefits for the UK
• go beyond business as usual and demonstrate clear novelty
• include a clear leadership development plan that accelerates the Fellow's development as an independent leader
• include explicit host commitments, such as protected time, access to facilities and senior mentorship

Projects can:

• consist of a single programme of work or multiple projects led by the Fellow as a Portfolio Fellowship
• be adapted during delivery to respond to changes in the research landscape, advances in understanding or changing business needs

Organisations must give due regard to protecting any intellectual property arising from the project and demonstrate credible routes to exploitation that maximise benefit for the UK economy and wider society.

UKRI will take a portfolio approach to funding, supporting a diverse range of technologies, markets, research categories and technological maturities.

Key themes and topics

Applications are welcomed from all areas of research and innovation, including:

• the arts, humanities and social sciences
• the five critical technologies outlined in the UK Science and Technology Framework
• multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research and innovation

Research and innovation are considered broadly and include business, creative, cultural, service and knowledge-based sectors.

The competition supports:

• industrial research projects
• experimental development projects

Projects will not be funded if they:

• are submitted by senior innovators already leading significant programmes or teams where the fellowship would not accelerate leadership development
• support business as usual activities
• are dependent on export performance
• are dependent on the use of domestic inputs as a condition of funding

Project duration

48 to 84 months

Must start on 1 October 2027 or later

Projects begin with a 48-month fellowship with the option to extend for a further 36 months, subject to approval.

Award value

Grant funding request between £100,000 and £3 million

Funding rates

For industrial research projects, purposeful research that builds new knowledge and skills to improve or develop products, processes or services, often through prototypes or system components that validate ideas in realistic settings, funding is available for eligible project costs of:

• up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 60% if you are a medium sized organisation
• up to 50% if you are a large organisation

For experimental development projects, which use existing knowledge to develop new or improved products, processes or services through prototyping, testing and validation, funding is available for eligible project costs of:

• up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 35% if you are a medium sized organisation
• up to 25% if you are a large organisation

Research organisations undertaking non-economic activity can share up to 100% of the total eligible project costs.

Eligibility criteria

• To host a Future Leaders Fellowship project your organisation can be led by a UK registered business of any size, charity, not for profit organisation, public sector organisation, agri-tech centre, Catapult or eligible research organisation
• Subcontractors must be preferably UK-based with fully justified and appropriate costs. Overseas subcontractors are permitted where applicants can demonstrate that suitable UK suppliers are unavailable and provide appropriate justification.
• All funded project work must be carried out within the UK.
• Projects must intend to exploit the results from or in the UK.
• Subsidy control and State aid rules apply.