Opportunity status:
Upcoming
Funders:
UK Research and Innovation
Co-funders:
U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Funding type:
Grant
Total fund:
£10,000,000
Maximum award:
£1,575,000
Publication date:
20 May 2026
Opening date:
To be confirmed
Closing date:
To be confirmed
Apply for funding to deliver collaborative research projects with partners from the US, Canada or both to improve understanding of and resilience to wildfire occurrence and impacts in the wildland-urban interface.
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding.
The full economic cost (FEC) of the UK component can be up to £1.58 million. Matched equivalent resources are anticipated from participating funders (NSF, NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR) for US and Canada applicants.
The UK component of your project must start by 12 February 2027 and last for 36 months.
This is a pre-announcement and the information may change.
The funding opportunity is expected to open in late June 2026 (date to be confirmed). More information will be available on this page then.
Projects must be one of the following collaboration configurations:
* UK-US-Canada
* UK-US
* UK-Canada
One collaborative application should be submitted by the UK project lead to UKRI, detailing both the UK and US, Canada, or both, contributions to the project.
Each project must contain a project lead from the UK and at least one project lead from the US, Canada or both. The role of UK project lead is for system administrative purposes and does not reflect how you construct your international team. It is expected that project teams will incorporate researchers from a range of disciplines in order to fully address the aims of the programme.
Who is eligible to apply
UK eligibility (UKRI)
This opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. .
Applicants based at a UK research organisation may be involved in no more than two applications submitted to this funding opportunity. Only one of these can be as project lead.
This is a UKRI funding opportunity administered by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC).
Before applying for funding, check the .
This funding opportunity is open to research groups and individuals. We encourage interdisciplinary and intersectoral research and collaborations with other organisations.
We welcome applications from individuals at any career stage, subject to NERC eligibility criteria.
US eligibility (NSF)
NSF is interested in supporting convergent wildland fire research in the wildland-urban interface (WUI) as described under NSF’s. NSF welcomes proposals from US academic institutions, as well as non-profit or non-academic organisations, for-profit organisations and state or local governments on behalf of all qualified scientists, engineers, and educators. Information on principal investigator and organisation eligibility may be found within the under the section for .
Canada eligibility (NSERC, SSHRC, CIHR)
This funding opportunity is open to Canadian university researchers in the natural sciences, engineering, social sciences, humanities and health fields. If you are a Canadian university researcher eligible to receive, or funds, you can apply independently or as a team. If you apply as a team, your co-applicants must also meet NSERC, SSHRC or CIHR eligibility requirements. Collaborators and partner organisations from outside academia (industry, public, not-for-profit) are permitted.
Other international researchers
Under the a project co-lead (international) (previously co-investigator) can be based in a Norwegian institution. Read more about this in the .
All other international collaborators should be included (or UK partners not based at approved organisations) as project partners. This includes organisations from the business or financial sectors.
UK component project partners must fund their own involvement. UKRI will only fund minor incidental expenses, such as some travel costs, if needed for project partners.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
We are 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
UKRI can during the application and assessment process.
Aim
Wildfires are becoming more frequent, severe, and unpredictable, exposing gaps in how we understand, prepare for, and respond to these events. To address this global challenge a new holistic interdisciplinary, intersectoral and convergent approach is needed. The challenge also requires a proactive and scalable perspective that recognises the variety and connectedness of components of wildfire and wildland fire across all systems. Innovative research is needed to develop new frameworks that better explain current fire behaviour, assess emerging risks and impacts, and guide more effective prevention, mitigation and adaptation strategies.
Scope
The Enhancing Resilience to Wildfires in the Wildland-Urban Interface programme is an investment of up to £10 million (£8 million at 80% FEC) from UKRI with anticipated matched equivalent resources from participating agencies (NSF, NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR) for Canadian and US applicants.
The wildland-urban interface (WUI) is also known as the rural-urban interface (RUI), often used interchangeably to refer to zones where natural and human environments meet. For consistency, the term wildland-urban interface (WUI) will be used.
This research programme will fund essential interdisciplinary research on the WUI to:
* catalyse new and existing collaborations and strengthen capacity amongst researchers across various jurisdictions in the UK, and the US, Canada or both
* enhance resilience to wildfire risk (for example, environmental, structural, health and community) at the local, regional and national scale
The programme will achieve this through the follow three aims:
* aim one: enhance knowledge and understanding of the risk and vulnerabilities of wildfire occurrence, intensity, behaviour and spread within the WUI under evolving and future fire regime scenarios
* aim two: investigate impacts (for example, environmental, social, cultural, human health, economic, or built environment) of wildfire occurrence in the WUI
* aim three: develop interventions and solutions for adaptation, mitigation, and recovery to wildfire in the WUI
Applications are required to demonstrate how they will advance knowledge and produce solutions focused outcomes against the programme aims. Applications must address at least two of the programme aims listed above, of which one of these must be aim three.
Projects must include the UK and at least one other partner country from the US, Canada or both. Each partner country will support the eligible costs of their own researchers.
Duration
The duration of this award must be 36 months.
The UK component of your project must start by 12 February 2027.
Funding available
Each country involved in this trilateral programme will support its own researchers and associated costs.
The FEC of the UK component of your project can be up to £1.58 million. UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC with the following exceptions:
* justified equipment is funded at 80% FEC. Any requests for equipment over £25,000 must be fully justified as part of your application. You are reminded that funding for equipment is subject to consideration by NERC, based on the justification of resources and budget availability
* eligible costs for project co-leads (international) (PcL (I)) from Norway would be funded at 100% FEC. Read more about this in the
Matched equivalent resources are anticipated from participating funders (NSF, NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR) for US and Canada applicants. We will publish full details on funding available when the funding opportunity opens.
We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.
We will publish full details on how to apply when the funding opportunity opens.
Assessment process
We will assess your application using the following process.
Panel
Applications will go to a panel of independent, international experts who will make a funding recommendation.
Participating funders will make the final funding decision.
For more information on how we prioritise applications for funding please visit .
Feedback
We will give feedback with the outcome of your application.
Principles of assessment
We support the and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.
Find out about the .
Full details of the assessment process will be given when the full funding opportunity is launched
Get help with your application
If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this page
The helpdesk is committed to helping users of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service as effectively and as quickly as possible. In order to manage cases at peak volume times, the helpdesk will triage and prioritise those queries with an imminent opportunity deadline or a technical issue. Enquiries raised where information is available on the Funding finder opportunity page and should be understood early in the application process (for example, regarding eligibility, content or remit of a funding opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.
Contact details
For help and advice on costings and writing your application please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.
For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please contact
Any queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the Funding Service should be directed to the helpdesk.