External Funding Deadlines Calendar
The list below includes upcoming funding deadlines for the major funders / most popular funding schemes – visit Research Professional for more funding opportunities for your specific discipline. When planning your application, please remember that the Research Development team needs at least 6 working weeks notice of your proposal, so that we have adequate time to assist you with your application and complete the institutional approval process - get in touch as early as possible.
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External Funding Deadlines Live Calendar
View the External Funding Deadlines Calendar live in a Research Professional calendar mode (requires login to Research Professional). The calendar provides a brief description of the funding opportunity when selected. Once open, you can view funding opportunities as is in the calendar mode or Subscribe to place all the deadline entries in your own calendar which is automatically updated over time. The Download option can also be used however the deadline entries placed in your own calendar will not be updated automatically with this option.
(Updated 22 October 2025)
| ResDev Notification Date | Closing Date | Primary Funder | Funding Scheme |
| 22-Oct-25 | 03-Dec-25 | Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) | Farming Innovation Programme - Feasibility studies |
| 22-Oct-25 | 03-Dec-25 | Horizon Europe: Excellent Science | HORIZON-MSCA-2025-COFUND-02-01 - MSCA Choose Europe for Science 2025 |
| 23-Oct-25 | 04-Dec-25 | Cancer Research UK (CRUK) | Biology to Prevention Award |
| 23-Oct-25 | 04-Dec-25 | Cancer Research UK (CRUK) | Early detection and diagnosis project award |
| 23-Oct-25 | 04-Dec-25 | Innovate UK | Commercialising Knowledge Assets Fund (CKAF) Winter |
| 24-Oct-25 | 05-Dec-25 | Innovate UK | Call 2025 for Transnational Research Proposals supporting the topics of Quantum Phenomena and Resources and Applied Quantum Science |
| 29-Oct-25 | 10-Dec-25 | Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) | Early career fellowships in cultural and heritage institutions |
| 30-Oct-25 | 11-Dec-25 | Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) | Artificial intelligence (AI) for environmental science phase one |
| 31-Oct-25 | 12-Dec-25 | CARB-X | CARB-X |
| 31-Oct-25 | 12-Dec-25 | Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) | Innovation panel competition |
| 04-Nov-25 | 16-Dec-25 | Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) | Open call for innovation - defence rapid impact innovation |
| 05-Nov-25 | 17-Dec-25 | Innovate UK | CAM Pathfinder: Demonstrate |
| 05-Nov-25 | 17-Dec-25 | Innovate UK | Battery Innovation Concept Development Round 1 |
| 05-Nov-25 | 17-Dec-25 | Innovate UK | CAM Pathfinder: Enable |
| 26-Nov-25 | 07-Jan-26 | The British Academy (BA) | Stein-Arnold Exploration Fund |
| 28-Nov-25 | 09-Jan-26 | Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) | Postdoctoral Fellowships for Research in Japan - Short-term (PE) |
| 29-Nov-25 | 10-Jan-26 | Medical Research Council (MRC) | Molecular and cellular medicine: programme |
| 02-Dec-25 | 13-Jan-26 | Horizon Europe: Excellent Science | ERC-2026-CoG consolidator grants |
| 03-Dec-25 | 14-Jan-26 | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) | BBSRC new investigator award: 2026 round one: applicant-led mode |
| 03-Dec-25 | 14-Jan-26 | Medical Research Council (MRC) | Postdoctoral clinical research training fellowship |
| 03-Dec-25 | 14-Jan-26 | Medical Research Council (MRC) | Clinician scientist fellowship |
| 03-Dec-25 | 14-Jan-26 | Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) | BBSRC standard research grant: 2026 round one: applicant-led mode |
| 04-Dec-25 | 15-Jan-26 | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) | Addressing nuclear fission challenges for a prosperous future |
| 10-Dec-25 | 21-Jan-26 | Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) | Opening up the Environment 2026 |
| 10-Dec-25 | 21-Jan-26 | Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) | Pushing the frontiers of environmental research |
| 10-Dec-25 | 21-Jan-26 | Innovate UK | Eureka GlobalStars Japan 2026 |
| 11-Dec-25 | 22-Jan-26 | NERC Environmental Omics Facility (NEOF) | NEOF Pilot Multiomics Competition |
| 18-Dec-25 | 29-Jan-26 | Leverhulme Trust | Emeritus fellowships |
| 18-Dec-25 | 29-Jan-26 | Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) | Pre-announcement: Design Generators |
| 18-Dec-25 | 29-Jan-26 | Medical Research Council (MRC) | Small molecule High Throughput Screen using AstraZeneca facilities |
| 20-Dec-25 | 31-Jan-26 | Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences | Call for Proposals |
| 23-Dec-25 | 03-Feb-26 | UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) | Local Innovation Partnerships Fund: Earmarked Strand |
| 24-Dec-25 | 04-Feb-26 | Medical Research Council (MRC) | MRC Centre of Research Excellence: round four: outline application |
| 26-Dec-25 | 06-Feb-26 | Cancer Research UK (CRUK) | Therapeutic catalyst |
| 31-Dec-25 | 11-Feb-26 | Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) | AHRC-DFG Research Grants: Round Eight (2025 to 2026) |
| 01-Jan-26 | 12-Feb-26 | UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) | Local Innovation Partnerships Fund: competed strand |
| 06-Jan-26 | 17-Feb-26 | Wellcome | Early-Career Awards |
| 08-Jan-26 | 19-Feb-26 | Diabetes UK | Project grants |
| 08-Jan-26 | 19-Feb-26 | Cancer Research UK (CRUK) | Career development fellowship |
| 08-Jan-26 | 19-Feb-26 | Leverhulme Trust | Early Career Fellowships |
| No deadline | Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) | AHRC Responsive Mode: Collaborate with Researchers in Luxembourg | |
| No deadline | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) | EPSRC programme grants | |
| No deadline | Medical Research Council (MRC) | Collaborate with the functional genomics screening laboratory | |
| Unknown | Cancer Research UK (CRUK) | Data for Children’s and Young People’s Cancer Pilot Award | |
| Unknown | AI for Collective Intelligence | AI4CI Rapid Response Fund | |
| No deadline | Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) | Funding Opportunity for British-German Basic Research Projects in the Engineering and Physical Sciences (UKRI-EPSRC – DFG) | |
| Unknown | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) | Advanced materials: highlight notice | |
| No deadline | Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) | ESRC responsive mode: secondary data analysis | |
| No deadline | Cancer Research UK (CRUK) | Postdoctoral clinical fellows - route 2 | |
| No deadline | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) | Mathematical sciences postdoctoral fellowship | |
| No deadline | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) | QuantIC industrial partnership fund - new venture | |
| No deadline | Innovate UK | DRIVE35 Scale-up Fund | |
| Unknown | Innovate UK | Smart grants | |
| No deadline | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) | Strategic infrastructure outlines | |
| No deadline | Cancer Research UK (CRUK) | Drug development project | |
| No deadline | Scottish Government | Smart Scotland - feasibility and R&D grants | |
| No deadline | Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) | NERC Urgency Funding | |
| No deadline | Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) | Collaborate with researchers in Norway | |
| Unknown | UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) | SDR UK Fellowships | |
| No deadline | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) | Mathematical sciences open and open plus fellowship | |
| No deadline | Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) | AHRC responsive mode: UKRI NSF-SBE lead agency | |
| No deadline | Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) | Funding for farming in protected landscapes | |
| No deadline | Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) | AHRC responsive mode: standard research grant |