Opportunity status:
Open
Funders:
, ,, ,, ,
Funding type:
Fellowship
Total fund:
£22,000,000
Award range:
£500,000 - £2,187,500
Publication date:
22 July 2025
Opening date:
22 July 2025 9:00am UK time
Closing date:
14 October 2025 4:00pm UK time
Last updated: 8 August 2025 -
This opportunity is for established researchers from across UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) remit, without a background in core artificial intelligence (AI) research, who want to build domain relevant AI capability and develop advanced AI approaches to tackle a specific research challenge in their chosen field.
You must be hosted and supported by a UK research organisation eligible for UKRI funding.
The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £2,187,500. UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC. The funding is subject to final budget approvals.
Projects can be up to three years in duration and must start on 1 October 2026.
Who can apply
To lead a project, you must be hosted and supported by an eligible UK organisation. .
Who is eligible to apply
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is leading this funding opportunity on behalf of UKRI, therefore EPSRC standard eligibility rules apply. For full details, visit. Applicants can apply from any research domain across UKRI’s entire remit.
You can apply for a Turing AI pioneer interdisciplinary fellowship if:
* you are an established researcher without a background in core AI research
* you would benefit from the time and flexibility the fellowship will afford you to build domain relevant AI skills and capability
* you have a vision for how the development of advanced AI systems and approaches could enable potentially transformative new avenues in your research and that of your broader community.
Diverse career paths mean that no standardised eligibility criteria will be set. However, the time dedicated to the fellowship must be hosted by an within the UK for the duration of the fellowship.
The fellowship can be held by applicants with a joint position between an eligible organisation and another sector. However, the eligible organisation must function as host organisation for the fellowship and the Turing AI Pioneer Interdisciplinary Fellowships should be the applicant’s main identity.
Applicants should ensure they are aware of and comply with any internal institutional deadlines that may be in place. We recommend you start your application early, liaising with your host organisation who may also be able to provide additional advice and guidance.
Research organisations (ROs)
ROs are permitted to submit a maximum of four outline applications to this funding opportunity as lead organisation, that is the organisation submitting the application through the UKRI Funding Service. This reflects the level of investment available and manages the impact on the community in assessing the large volume of proposals anticipated.
The RO should have a process in place to ensure that no more than four applications are submitted. However, this opportunity is expected to be highly competitive and as such research organisations should not feel obliged to fill their quota. ROs are encouraged to ensure the applicant(s) they support can demonstrate their ability to meet the expectations detailed in the ‘What we are looking for’ section.
ROs are asked to actively use an inclusive approach to selecting and maximising the diversity of the candidates they intend to support. UKRI expects that host organisations consider diversity broadly to include discipline, backgrounds, career paths, thought and approach as well as protected characteristics. See more information on. Research organisations must submit a statement detailing the approach they have taken. Further information is available in the What we are looking for section.
Who is not eligible to apply
Those not eligible to apply are:
* researchers not hosted by an eligible research organisation
* applicants with a background in core AI research. For example, a researcher from a core AI research discipline, or a researcher who has spent most of their career working on development of frontier AI models
International researchers
International researchers can only apply as ‘project co-lead (international)’ as part of an application making use of the or the .
You should include all other international collaborators, or UK partners not based at approved organisations, as project partners.
Resubmissions
We will not accept uninvited resubmissions of projects that have been submitted to UKRI or any other funder. For this opportunity, UKRI is applying EPSRC resubmission policy irrespective of whatever council applicants usually apply to.