Funding opportunity: AI supported research using UKRI social science data (invite only)
Opportunity status: Open Funders: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), UK Research and Innovation Funding type: Grant Total fund: £875,000 Maximum award: £230,000 Publication date: 18 August 2026 Opening date: 24 August 2026 9:00am UK time Closing date: 14 October 2026 4:00pm UK time
[Start application]
About the opportunity
Apply for funding to deliver innovative AI supported research using UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) social science data.
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UKRI funding.
This funding opportunity is invite only. Project leads must have participated in the AI supported research using UKRI social science data sandpit held in Manchester on 23 to 24 June 2026 to be eligible to apply.
The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £230,000. UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC.
Projects must start before 31 March 2027 and can be up to 12 months in duration.
Who can apply
Who is eligible to apply
You can only apply for this funding opportunity as a project lead if you participated in the AI supported research using UKRI social science data sandpit, held in Manchester on 23 to 24 June 2026 and have been invited to do so.
Project leads can only lead one application but can be included on other applications as project co‑leads or in other roles, as long as this meets UKRI’s FTE policies. Project teams should be built to deliver the proposed work. Others can be included in the project team, including mentors from the sandpit and data owners for infrastructure delivery associated with the proposal. Teams can include collaborators that were not present at the sandpit. Project co‑leads do not have to have attended the sandpit.
This opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. [Check if your organisation is eligible]
Who is not eligible to apply
Mentors and data owners representing the following investments are not eligible to lead applications for this funding opportunity:
- British Election Study
- ESRC Centre for Longitudinal Studies
- Understanding Society
- ADR UK and SDR UK data services
Applicants from non‑UK organisations are not eligible to submit a proposal.
International researchers
As ESRC is a lead funder for this funding opportunity, international researchers can apply as ‘project co‑lead (international)’. You should include all other international collaborators (or UK partners not based at approved organisations) as project partners.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity 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 disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.
What we're looking for
Demand management
Demand management is being applied to this funding opportunity.
About the opportunity
This funding opportunity is seeking to fund innovative and impact‑focused AI supported research using data from ESRC data infrastructures, Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK) and Smart Data Research UK (SDR UK).
You are expected to draw from the experience and discussions during the sandpit to develop AI supported research proposals that take into account the limitations and obstacles related to using AI tools and methods within social science data infrastructures.
You have the flexibility to focus on any subject area or topic providing that it falls within ESRC’s remit and uses the referenced data infrastructures in scope of this funding opportunity.
For the purposes of this funding opportunity, AI is understood as a set of computational methods that learn from data to identify patterns, generate predictions or produce new outputs. This includes, but is not limited to, techniques such as machine learning, natural language processing and other data driven modelling approaches.
We will fund applications that meet the following objectives:
- deliver impactful and innovative AI‑supported research using data from relevant ESRC and UKRI data infrastructures
- demonstrate where AI‑supported research can add value over and above more traditional analytical approaches
- provide insights on opportunities and challenges faced for AI‑supported research using data from the specified ESRC and UKRI data infrastructures
We are looking to fund social science research that exploits AI functionality to enhance analytical capability. This may involve working with complex or large datasets, identifying relationships that are difficult to detect using traditional methods or increasing the efficiency and scalability of analytical processes.
Scope
The following data infrastructures will be made available for this funding opportunity, based on the necessary data access requirements being completed prior to the project start date. In order for projects to be within scope for this funding opportunity, they must utilise at least one of the following data infrastructures.
ESRC surveys
ESRC is the largest public funder of social and economic research data in the UK. The infrastructures it supports manage data across a broad range of themes and cover its collection, creation, curation and delivery.
The following data collections will be represented at the sandpit and are accessed through the UK Data Service:
- British Election Study
- ESRC Centre for Longitudinal Studies
- Understanding Society
Administrative Data Research UK (ADR UK)
ADR UK is made up of four national partnerships (ADR England, ADR Northern Ireland, ADR Scotland and ADR Wales), and the Office for National Statistics (ONS), which ensures data provided by UK government bodies is accessed by researchers in a safe and secure form with minimal risk to data holders or the public. Only synthetic forms of ADR UK data could feasibly be used for this opportunity.
ADR Wales will be represented at the sandpit to discuss usage of synthetic data.
Smart Data Research UK (SDR UK)
SDR UK is the UK’s national programme for smart data research and is delivered with a family of data services based at leading UK universities and research organisations. The data services acquire, steward and curate smart datasets for research and analysis.
The following SDR UK data services will be represented at the sandpit:
- Smart Energy Data Service
- Financial Data Service
- Geographic Data Service
- Healthy and Sustainable Places Data Service
- IMAGO Data Service for Imagery
- Smart Data Donation Service
You are required to present all relevant evidence regarding the viability of your proposal. If using any type of sensitive, licensed or otherwise protected data, or requiring services from any data infrastructure referenced in the proposal, you should provide letters of support from these bodies.
Attendance at the sandpit does not guarantee UKRI funding. It is our hope that the sandpit provided a valuable experience for all attendees irrespective of whether funding is secured.
Duration
The duration of projects can be up to 12 months.
Projects must start by 31 March 2027.
Funding available
The FEC of your project can be up to £230,000.
UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC.
It is expected that around four projects will be funded, sharing up to £875,000 of total funding at 100% full economic cost (FEC).
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 TR&I Principles 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.
See further guidance and information about TR&I, including where you can find additional support.
Data requirements
ESRC recognises the importance of data quality and provenance. Data generated, collected or acquired by ESRC‑funded research must be well‑managed by the grant holder to enable their data to be exploited to the maximum potential for further research. See our research data policy for details and further information on data requirements. The requirements of the research data policy are a condition of ESRC research funding.
Where relevant, details on data management and sharing should be provided in the ‘Data management and sharing ’ section. See the importance of managing and sharing data and content for inclusion in a data management plan on the UK Data Service (UKDS) website for further guidance. We expect you to provide a summary of the points provided. The UKDS will be pleased to advise you on the availability of data within the academic community and provide advice on data deposit requirements via datasharing@ukdataservice.ac.uk
Research ethics
We require that the research we support is designed and conducted in such a way that it meets ethical principles and is subject to proper professional and institutional oversight in terms of research governance. We have agreed a Framework for Research Ethics that all submitted proposals must comply with. Read further details about the Framework for Research Ethics and guidance on compliance.
How to apply
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.
Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.
To apply
Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page:
- Confirm you are the project lead.
- Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password.
- 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.
- Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read‑only’ view before sending to your research office.
- Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
- Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.
Please be aware that research office and finance teams undertake checks on hosting arrangements and financial eligibility. The ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with all opportunity requirements lies with the applicant.
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 will 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.
For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:
- how applicants use the Funding Service
- how research offices use the Funding Service
- how reviewers use the Funding Service
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 policy on the use of generative AI in application and assessment.
Deadline
UKRI must receive your application by 14 October 2026 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 this funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and submitted applications will not be amended. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.
Personal data
Processing personal data
ESRC, 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 our privacy notice.
Sensitive information
If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email aisupportedresearch@ukri.org
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 UKRI’s privacy notice.
Institutional matched funding
There is no requirement for matched funding from the institutions hosting the project lead, project co‑leads or other staff employed on the application, beyond the standard 20% FEC. Expert reviewers and panels assessing UKRI funding applications must not consider levels of institutional matched funding as a factor on which to base recommendations. Direct and in‑kind contributions from third party project partners are encouraged.
This policy does not remove the need for support from host organisations who must provide the necessary research environment and infrastructure for award‑specific activities funded by UKRI. For example, research facilities, training and development of staff.
Publication of outcomes
ESRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at What ESRC has funded.
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.
Summary
Word limit: 550
In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.
We may 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:
- context
- the challenge the project addresses
- aims and objectives
- potential applications and benefits
Core team
List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:
- project lead (PL)
- project co‑lead (UK) (PcL)
- project co‑lead (international) (PcL (I))
- specialist
- grant manager
- professional enabling staff
- research and innovation associate
- technician
- visiting researcher
- researcher co‑lead (RcL)
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.
Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.
Application questions
Vision
Word limit: 500
What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Explain how your proposed work:
- is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the field(s) or area(s)
- has the potential to advance current understanding, or generate new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field or area
- is timely given current trends, context, and needs
- impacts world‑leading research, society, the economy, or the environment
References may be included within this section.
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if further details are provided in the service.
Approach
Word limit: 2,500
How are you going to deliver your proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Explain how you have designed your approach so that it:
- is effective and appropriate to achieve your objectives
- is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed
- uses a clearly written and transparent methodology (if applicable)
- summarises the previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed (if applicable)
- will maximise translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts
Within the Approach section we also expect you to:
- provide a detailed and comprehensive project plan including milestones and timelines
All applicants planning to generate data as part of their grant must complete the separate ‘Data management and sharing’ section.
References may be included within this section.
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if further details are provided in the service.
Applicant and team capability to deliver
Word limit: 1,650
Why are you the right individual or team to successfully deliver the proposed work?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have:
- the relevant experience (appropriate to career stage) to deliver the proposed work
- the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work
- the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others
- contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if further details are provided in the Funding Service.
The word limit for this section is 1,650 words: 1,150 words to be used for Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) modules (including references) and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.
Use the R4RI format to showcase the range of relevant skills you and, if relevant, your team (project and project co‑leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on) have and how this will help deliver the proposed work. You can include individuals’ specific achievements but only choose past contributions that best evidence their ability to deliver this work.
Complete this section using the R4RI module headings listed. Use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI. You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings:
- contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies, or knowledge
- the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships
- contributions to the wider research and innovation community
- contributions to broader research or innovation users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit
Additions
Provide any further details relevant to your application. This section is optional and can be up to 500 words. You should not use it to describe additional skills, experiences, or outputs, but you can use it to describe any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them).
Complete this as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.
References may be included within this section.
The roles in funding applications policy has descriptions of the different project roles.
Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)
What are the ethical and RRI considerations, implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:
- the relevant ethical and RRI considerations, including both the research or topic area itself and the design and delivery of the project
- the wider implications of the proposed work, and how you will maximise the positive societal, environmental, and economic benefits arising from the project, while minimising unintended negative impacts, such as research misuse or accidental harm
- how you will manage these considerations throughout the lifecycle of the project
If you are collecting or using data you should identify:
- any legal and ethical considerations of collecting, releasing and storing the data (including consent, confidentiality, anonymisation, security and other ethical considerations and, in particular, strategies to not preclude further reuse of data)
- formal information standards that your proposed work will comply with
You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if further details are provided in the service.
Please refer to the UKRI position statement on funding ethical research and Responsible innovation for more information around our expectations on ethical and responsible research and innovation.
Animal involvement and “3Rs”
You must complete this section about how your proposed project will involve or impact animals.
If your project does not involve or impact animals, you must confirm this on the next page.
You may be asked about:
- what animals you are involving
- the severity of the procedures you are using
- where the procedures will take place
- welfare standards you aim to meet
- the relevance of your project to the development, validation or dissemination of the 3Rs
You may also need to download, complete, and upload at least one set of additional questions. You will be told how to do this towards the end of this section.
To complete this section and check whether your project is in the scope of the questions, refer to the UKRI policy for research and innovation involving animals.
What counts as an animal
UKRI policy relates to all animals in the Kingdom Animalia, including vertebrates and invertebrates.
Genetically modified organisms and biological risk
You must complete this section if your project will include genetically modified organisms or genetic technologies.
If you project does not involve genetically modified organisms or genetic technologies, you must confirm this on the next page.
You may be asked about:
- the type of organism your project will involve and the procedures your project will include
- the intended use of the organism or genetic technology
- the genetic, biological and environmental risks of your project
For more information, see UKRI’s guidance on genetic technologies.
Human participation in health‑related research
You must complete this section about whether your project will include human participation.
If your project does not involve human participation, you must confirm this on the next page.
You may be asked about:
- what type of human participation your project includes
- the project design for human participation
- the phase of the clinical trial
- whether the project will be in an NHS setting, if so how the project will be registered
- whether diversity and inclusion will be considered
For more information, see UKRI’s guidance for human participants in research.
Resources and cost justification
Word limit: 1,000
What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?
What the assessors are looking for in your response
Justify the application’s more costly resources, in particular:
- project staff
- significant travel for field work or collaboration (but not regular travel between collaborating organisations or to conferences)
- any equipment that will cost more than £25,000
- any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities
- all facilities and infrastructure costs
- all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’
You can request costs associated with reasonable adjustments where they increase as a direct result of working on the project. For further information see Disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders. Where a funding limit is imposed on the opportunity, requested costs for reasonable adjustments may exceed the maximum funding amount.
Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line‑by‑line breakdown of all project resources. Overall, they want you to demonstrate how the