Opportunity status:
Upcoming
Funders:
, ,, ,, ,
Funding type:
Grant
Total fund:
£4,707,500
Publication date:
30 April 2025
Opening date:
8 September 2025 9:00am UK time
Closing date:
5 November 2025 4:00pm UK time
Apply for funding as a real-world research exemplar to use, evaluate and influence new capabilities within and between trusted research environments.
You must be based at an eligible UK research organisation, and you must meet individual eligibility requirements.
The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be from £365,700 up to £609,500. UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will fund 80% of the FEC.
The duration of this award is a maximum of 12 months.
This is a pre-announcement, and the information may change.
The funding opportunity will open on 8 September 2025. More information will be available on this page then.
This funding opportunity supports research teams from across UKRI research councils remit to partner with trusted research environments (TRE)’s of appropriate maturity to deliver real-world research utilising capabilities introduced through the DARE UK programme.
To lead a project, you must be based at an eligible organisation. .
Who is eligible to apply
To be eligible to apply for this funding opportunity you must:
* show that you will lead the project and be actively engaged in the work
* have the relevant expertise and experience to lead or contribute to cross domain research utilising capabilities currently being developed through the DARE UK programme
* meet individual eligibility requirements
For applicants who do not have a contract of employment for the duration of the proposed project, by submitting an application the research organisation is confirming, if it is successful:
* contracts will be extended beyond the end date of the project
* all necessary support for you and the project will be provided, including mentorship and career development for early career researchers
A research organisation may lead or partner on more than one application and applications may comprise more than one research organisation.
Individuals may be project lead on only one application. However, individuals can act as project co-leads on any number of applications.
Who is not eligible to apply
You are not eligible to apply for this funding opportunity as a project lead if you are based at an international research organisation. This does not include project leads from MRC Unit The Gambia or MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
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 offer during the application and assessment process.
Scope
Phase 1 of the delivered the first versions of essential software capabilities needed for federation, semi-automated disclosure control and management of AI models in, and, between trusted research environments (TREs).
The is funding the continued development and maturation of these capabilities through the of work, as well as supporting the development of an underpinning interoperability layer.
The is funding a pioneering group of UK TREs to evaluate these capabilities in real-world environments and provide dynamic feedback to the TREvolution programme teams.
This current funding opportunity complements the TRE Early Adopter programme by offering pioneering science teams the chance to evaluate these new capabilities from their perspectives as ultimate end-users, and to influence the direction and development of the final versions. The 2024 report offers possible examples of the kinds of aspirational projects this funding opportunity aims to build towards in future Phases of the DARE UK programme.
We invite research teams from across UKRI research councils remit to partner with TREs of appropriate maturity to deliver real-world research utilising new capabilities introduced through the DARE UK programme, these are:
* data federation, enabling a researcher to be able to log in to one TRE and work transparently with approved data held in other remote TREs
* analytics federation, enabling a researcher to be able log in to one TRE and send computational jobs to run in other remote TREs against approved data
* semi-automation of output disclosure checks, including from complex artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) algorithms
The real-world research programmes will serve both as testcases, helping to harden federation capabilities towards production-level maturity, and as showcases, proving the utility of the technology in addressing challenging real-world research questions.
Our assessment criteria for eligible applications will favour existing:
* research projects looking to scale populations beyond datasets available in one TRE (Wales + England, for example)
* research projects looking to enrich original cohorts with additional attributes from other datasets (health + education, for example)
* research projects looking to augment individual-level data with complex reference data (geographical and environmental, for example)
* research projects seeking to assess the disclosure risks around the export of trained AI or ML models from one or more TREs
In all cases we will favour previously funded real-world exemplar projects that can utilise the DARE UK infrastructure to scale their ambitions and deliver greater impact.
In all cases public involvement and engagement (PIE) is mandatory. We recommend that you follow the .
Duration
The duration of this award is up to 12 months.
Projects must start by April 2026
Funding available
The FEC of your project can be from £365,700 up to £609,500.
UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC.