Opportunity status:
Open
Funders:
Funding type:
Grant
Total fund:
£10,000,000
Maximum award:
£10,000,000
Publication date:
21 August 2025
Opening date:
3 September 2025 9:00am UK time
Closing date:
25 September 2025 4:00pm UK time
Apply for funding to host and manage the Infrastructure Centre for the Distributed System of Scientific Collections (DiSSCo) UK programme, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). You will deliver services to store, publish, visualise, and augment data from the UK’s digitised natural science collections.
This is a closed funding opportunity, for application by invitation only.
The full economic cost (FEC) of your proposal can be up to £10 million to cover the ten-year duration of the programme (1 April 2026 to 31 March 2036). AHRC will fund 100% of the FEC.
This is a closed funding opportunity, for application by invitation only, owing to the conditions required for successful delivery of the programme within the time and budget available.
To lead a project, you must be based at an eligible organisation. .
Who is eligible to apply
This is a closed funding opportunity – only those invited to apply are eligible.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
We are for all funding applicants. This funding opportunity is closed, with respect to the organisations able to apply. However, within the organisation, we strongly encourage leadership and participation from a diverse range of people.
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.
Aim
This is a funding opportunity for the team who will partner with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) to deliver the Distributed System of Scientific Collections (DiSSCo) UK research infrastructure programme. This infrastructure will unlock the enormous potential of Natural Science Collections (NCS) to support research on climate change and biodiversity loss, deliver a step change in the capability and capacity of the UK collections sector, and drive economic growth through technological innovation.
The aim of this funding opportunity is to create an Infrastructure Centre to provide the capability for data generated by digitisation of natural science collections to be:
* aggregated from different collections-holding organisations, and stored securely and sustainably
* made freely available in line with FAIR principles, and augmented for a range of research uses
* interfaced with other appropriate platforms and services, which may include DiSSCo EU and the Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF)
Data in scope include, but are not limited to, those created by the digitisation activities funded through the DiSSCo UK natural science collections digitisation of collections funding.
We expect the grant holder to work closely with us to explore and capitalise on the opportunities to expand the benefits of cultural data, and AI in cultural heritage, to the wider sector.
Scope
This funding opportunity is for a single ten-year grant, spanning the duration of the DiSSCo UK programme. To be in scope, you must have:
* capacity to manage and configure the storage, compute, and other surrounding systems offered by the procured public cloud provider
* capacity to develop software to manage and make public the digitised data stored within the cloud provider’s service offerings
* capacity to manage the technical relationship with the procured public cloud provider to achieve DiSSCo UK’s infrastructure goals
* experience and expertise in natural science collections digitisation, including data collection, analysis and publication
* a position of trusted leadership in relation to the UK’s natural science collection-holding organisations
* a track record of participation and thought leadership in international natural science collections digitisation and data initiatives
This funding will enable the recipient to maintain storage, compute and systems, and to recruit, host and manage new roles dedicated to delivery of the DiSSCo UK research infrastructure centre, and to support other incidental costs (for example, travel and subsistence, training, communications and events).
Costs associated with collections management and digitisation, management of the wider DiSSCo UK research infrastructure programme, and research-related activities are not in scope. Roles supported through this funding opportunity can be constructed so that they allow time for other activities, though the proportion of the role that encompasses out-of-scope activities cannot be funded through this opportunity.
Some activities may be subcontracted, or delivered by a project partner(s), where there is a clear rationale for doing so. It is expected that most of the funded activities will be undertaken by the host organisation.
Deliver digital research infrastructure
The Infrastructure Centre will facilitate publishing of digitised data through new tools, to run alongside the existing infrastructure, towards a more automated data publishing service. It will include new infrastructure to store and publish images, and co-located compute and data for researcher access. It’s key deliverables over the ten years will include:
* Core Data Service – specimen data and metadata storage and management
* Archive Image Service – original digitisation image data and metadata storage
* Derivative Image Service – derivative image data and metadata storage
* Processing Pipeline Service – ingest destination for uploaded data and service which processes the incoming data to store it in the right downstream services (such as the above three) and in some cases run augmentation and additional actions against the data
* Publishing Service – service responsible for publishing the stored specimen data to GBIF
* Integrated Management Service – API and web UI allowing digitisers and curators at institutions to manage their data in DiSSCo UK
* Bulk Image Service – web UI and processing service allowing users to create and download bulk image data packages
Monitoring, evaluation and communication
The Infrastructure Centre will monitor access, downloads and use of the data, including citations, to better understand the usefulness of the data. These data will contribute to better understanding users and their needs, and to articulating the value of the infrastructure for researchers and other end users, contributing to the programme-level impact evaluation.
Duration
The maximum duration of this award is up to ten years, and this grant will end by 31 March 2036. There will be a gateway review in 2027/28, and likely two additional reviews at late at later stages in the programme, with continued funding conditional on approval. In the event of programme funding being discontinued, we will work with the grant holder to manage continued service provision where possible. Beyond the end of the ten-year programme grant, we will work with the grant holder to develop a sustainable funding model for the infrastructure.
Please note that the planned start date of 1 April 2026 is subject to business case approvals, and the actual earliest start date could be later.
Funding available
The FEC of your proposal can be up to £10 million (100% FEC).
Supporting skills and talent
Where applicable, we encourage you to follow the principles of the and the .
Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)
UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.
As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.
We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.
The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.
If you are applying to this opportunity as part of a consortium, only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.
This funding opportunity is by invitation only. When received, please click on the invitation link to start your application.
1. Confirm you are the project lead.
2. Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password. If your organisation is not listed, email
Please allow at least 10 working days for your organisation to be added to the Funding Service. We strongly suggest that if you are asking UKRI to add your organisation to the Funding Service to enable you to apply to this opportunity, you also create an organisation Administration Account. This will be needed to allow the acceptance and management of any grant that might be offered to you.
3. Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.
4. Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.
5. Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
6. Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.
Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.
When including images, you must:
* provide a descriptive caption or legend for each image immediately underneath it in the text box (this must be outside the image and counts towards your word limit)
* insert each new image on a new line
* use files smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format
Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words. The following are not permitted, and your application may be rejected if you include:
* sentences or paragraphs of text
* tables
* excessive quantities of images
A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column.
Watch our .
For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:
* * *
References
References should be included within the word count of the appropriate question section. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.
Hyperlinks can be used in reference information. When including references, you should consider how your references will be viewed and used by the assessors, ensuring that:
* references are easily identifiable by the assessors
* references are formatted as appropriate to your research
* persistent identifiers are used where possible
General use of hyperlinks
Applications should be self-contained. You should only use hyperlinks to link directly to reference information. You must not include links to web resources to extend your application. Assessors are not required to access links to conduct assessment or recommend a funding decision.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI)
Use of generative AI tools to prepare funding applications is permitted, however, caution should be applied.
For more information see our .
Deadline
AHRC must receive your application by 25 September 2025 at 4:00pm UK time.
You will not be able to apply after this time.
Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.
Following the submission of your application to the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and applications will not be returned for amendment. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.
Personal data
Processing personal data
AHRC, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications.
We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read .
Sensitive information
If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email
Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].
Typical examples of confidential information include:
* individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave)
* declaration of interest
* additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section
* conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection
* the application is an invited resubmission
For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read .
Institutional matched funding
There is no requirement for matched funding from the institution(s) hosting the project lead, project co-leads or other staff employed on the application, beyond any 20% FEC contribution. UKRI advises reviewers and panel members not to consider the level of matched host institution funding as a factor on which to base funding recommendations. Any project partners are expected to contribute to the project, either with cash or in-kind contributions.
Publication of outcomes
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the .
Summary
Word limit: 550
In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.
We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information. Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example:
* opinion-formers
* policymakers
* the public
* the wider research community
Guidance for writing a summary
Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:
* the capability you will deliver
* the ways the new capability will enhance existing collections digitisation and data infrastructure
* the opportunities created for end users in collections-holding organisations, and more widely
* the timeline and key milestones for development and delivery of the infrastructure, and the most significant risks to its successful delivery
Core team
List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:
* project lead (PL)
* project co-lead (UK) (PcL)
* specialist
* professional enabling staff
* technician
Only list one individual as project lead.
UKRI has introduced a new addition to the ‘Specialist’ role type. Public contributors such as people with lived experience can now be added to an application.