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UK grant · UK Research and Innovation, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

BBSRC new investigator award: applicant-led mode (Grant)

Up to £2,000,000 Closes 29 April 2027

Official listing and how to apply

Source: Find a Grant (GOV.UK) · Last checked

Key facts

FunderUK Research and Innovation, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
Amount per awardUp to £2,000,000
Total funding available£999,999,999
Opens1 May 2026
Closes29 April 2027 (170 days left)
Who can applyBusinesses, Public sector and councils, Charities and non-profits
Applicant types listedPublic Sector; Non-profit; Private Sector
Nation or regionNational
StatusOpen
SourceFind a Grant (GOV.UK)
Last checked10 November 2026

About this grant

Summary from the official listing on Find a Grant (GOV.UK):

Apply for funding to support excellent new investigator-led research across the breadth of the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) scientific remit.

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

This scheme is designed to assist newly employed university lecturers, researchers (at a level equivalent to lecturer) in research council institutes, and fellows (at a level equivalent to lecturer) to secure their first major element of research support funding.

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £2 million. Funding is available for up to five years. BBSRC will fund 80% of the FEC.

Eligibility

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

Who is eligible to apply

Researchers who have been project co-leads (previously co-investigators) on successful grant applications are eligible to apply for a new investigator award.

You must not have received, or currently be in receipt of, competitively obtained research or support funding from any source as a project lead (previously principal investigator) where such funding includes or included research and innovation associate (previously postdoctoral research assistant) staff support costs. This includes grants associated with fellowships. If, however, research and innovation associate support has been provided by an institution as part of an internal support agreement or as part of the applicants start up package, this must be declared but would not render the applicant ineligible.

Other grant funding requests where the results are not known at the time of submission, but which are subsequently successful, will also come under this category and therefore details of such requests must be given in the application and their outcome notified to BBSRC immediately they become known.

You may submit only one new investigator application to this BBSRC funding opportunity at a time. You must wait until a decision has been provided on an already submitted new investigator application, before applying with another application as a project lead.

The project lead should be the intellectual leader of the proposed project. Expertise across multiple disciplines may be an important aspect of a project and one which facilitates career development into a new field. Therefore, project co-leads are permitted, but only when they bring expertise to the project which is outside the project lead’s own skill set. Project co-leads may also satisfy the eligibility requirements for the new investigator scheme.

The information provided here is a summary of the core eligibility requirements but is not comprehensive, please see the full new investigator eligibility requirements before applying.

Who is not eligible to apply

Organisations based overseas and business-based applicants are not eligible to apply. Overseas and business-based collaborators can be added as project partners on an application, please see Roles in funding applications: eligibility, responsibilities and costings guidance for more information.

If you are applying via the IPA or LINK scheme, please includ

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