Opportunity status:
Open
Funders:
Funding type:
Grant
Total fund:
£6,000,000
Maximum award:
£481,251
Publication date:
28 August 2025
Opening date:
28 August 2025 9:00am UK time
Closing date:
23 October 2025 4:00pm UK time
Apply for funding to conduct research in nature-based engineering, defined in EPSRC’s Tomorrow’s Engineering Research Challenges report as developing systems and technologies inspired by nature.
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funding. Teams must include two or more researchers from different areas and at least one early career researcher (ECR) and/or postdoctoral research assistant (PDRA).
The Full Economic Cost (FEC) can be up to £481,250, including £75,000 for PDRA/ECR development. EPSRC will fund 80% of FEC. Projects can run up to two years.
Who can apply
To lead a project, you must be based at an eligible organisation. .
EPSRC standard eligibility rules apply. For full details, visit .
Who is eligible to apply
To encourage innovative interdisciplinary research and cross-disciplinary training opportunities for researchers involved, we are looking for teams consisting of two or more researchers representing two or more areas of expertise to apply. We expect at least one of the researchers involved to have engineering background and encourage including a researcher with background in biosciences, environmental sciences, or other complementary discipline appropriate for the project. At least one member of the team must be an early career researcher. See What we are looking for section for more details.
International researchers
As we are a lead funder for this funding opportunity, 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.
New Investigator Award eligibility
Applicants who have applied for this funding opportunity remain eligible to apply for New Investigator Award subject to other eligibility criteria being fulfilled.
Resubmissions
We will not accept uninvited resubmissions of projects that have been submitted to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) or any other funder.