Funding opportunity: High performance compute resources for EPSRC communities

Opportunity status: Open Funders: Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Funding type: Grant Total fund: £26,250,000 Publication date: 25 August 2026 Opening date: 1 September 2026 9:00am UK time Closing date: 27 October 2026 4:00pm UK time

Last updated: 25 September 2026 - see all updates

Apply for funding to provide high-performance compute resource for engineering and physical sciences research communities.

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) funding.

EPSRC will invest in compute resources that deliver either:

• CPU resources that meet an identified need of EPSRC compute user communities
• Enable the EPSRC community to fully exploit GPU architectures

£20,000,000 (100% FEC) capital and £5,000,000 (80% FEC) resource funding is available.

Equipment spend must be incurred in the first quarter of the award. The award can run for up to four years.

Who can apply

This opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility, and organisations who are based overseas. Check if your organisation is eligible

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) individual eligibility rules apply. For full details, visit UKRI’s eligibility page.

Who is eligible to apply

To submit an application to this opportunity, you must contact and meet with the EPSRC Research Infrastructure team to discuss your procurement and ‘Trusted Research & Innovation (TR&I)’ plans.

Email researchinfrastructure@epsrc.ukri.org with the subject ‘OPP1335: Applicant conversation to arrange this meeting’.

You must contact EPSRC to arrange this meeting by 29 September 2026.

Who is not eligible to apply

Applications from those that have not met with the Research Infrastructure team prior to submission will not be considered.

International researchers

The UKRI-RCN Money Follows Cooperation Agreement does not apply to this funding opportunity. As such grants submitted to this funding opportunity cannot include a Norway-based project co-lead (international).

You should include all 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.

Find out more about our resubmissions policy.

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 not currently being applied to this funding opportunity. However, should the level of interest exceed what can be managed within the assessment process, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) may introduce limits on the number of applications that can be submitted. Further details will be clearly communicated where this is the case. UKRI encourages organisations to support applicants in preparing well-planned, high-quality applications that are competitive for funding relative to the funding opportunity.

Aim

The provision of national high-performance computing in the UK is changing. To support the engineering and physical sciences research communities to take advantage of these changes, EPSRC will provide funding for compute hardware through this opportunity.

This funding opportunity aims to support investments in compute hardware that deliver against (at least) one of two outcomes:

• provides CPU resources to meet an identified need of compute user communities within EPSRC remit
• enables the engineering and physical sciences community to fully exploit GPU architectures to conduct world-leading research

Proposals must clearly identify which of these aims they will deliver against and detail how they will do so in their application.

Scope

This funding opportunity has a budget of:

• £20 million for compute hardware to be spent in financial year 2026 to 2027
• £5 million for resource over four years

EPSRC expects multiple awards to be made. The value per award is not fixed. You should request an appropriate capital and resource budget for the work you propose in line with the intended outcomes of the opportunity.

Intended Outcomes

The outcomes associated with the aims of the opportunity are detailed below. You should detail how you will deliver these outcomes.

For applications that propose to provide a CPU resource which meets the needs of compute user communities within EPSRC remit, you must:

1. Explicitly identify the user community or communities that these resources will serve
2. Explain why current CPU provision does not meet the needs of this community
3. Detail a plan for working with other CPU compute resources, user communities, and UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure investments to support users to adapt to changing CPU provision in the compute landscape

For applications that propose to provide a GPU resource that will enable the engineering and physical sciences community to fully exploit GPU architectures to conduct world-leading research, you must:

1. Explicitly identify the user community or communities that they will serve. For example: a. An established compute user community that has traditionally used large amounts of CPU compute and would benefit from some tailored GPU provision to exploit the capabilities of the National Compute Resources. b. A new compute user community whose science has not previously been suited to national compute facilities and who need a boost in dedicated compute to best utilise the National Compute Resources.
2. Explain why current GPU provision does not meet the needs of this community OR explain why this resource will act as a stepping stone in upskilling this community to take full advantage of national GPU based compute resources
3. Detail a plan to ensure this resource is strategically integrated into the UK compute landscape, including a vision for how the identified user community will mature as users of GPU compute over the lifetime of the resource

Integration with the digital research infrastructure landscape

Applications are welcome for both the purchase of hardware to:

• establish a new computing resource
• augment or bolster an existing computing resource

The application should detail how the proposed resource will deliver value for money for the duration of the service, and the approach to environmental sustainability

EPSRC will consider portfolio balancing as part of this funding opportunity. We will ensure that investments made as part of this opportunity:

• are not duplicative of each other
• complement current UK compute provision, including investments made via the UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure Programme

Applications should detail how they will work with and complement other compute investments.

Risk management and security

You must contact EPSRC prior to submission to discuss your organisation’s procurement and commercial plans and any associated risks to delivery, in particular to:

• confirm that they are able to deliver this hardware spend by March 2027
• discuss appropriate contingency planning for quote inflation giving market for compute memory
• highlight any trusted research and innovation issues specific to the work they are proposing, and ensure appropriate risk mitigation is considered at application stage

Applications from those that have not contacted EPSRC regarding these issues will not be accepted.

Hosting organisations will be responsible for the security and resilience of the resource. Applications must include cybersecurity and business continuity plans.

Access models

The proposal must detail how users will access and be allocated time on the resource. Resources can be requested to support this, and should be proportional to the:

• compute capacity being requested
• maturity of the identified user community

You must consider trusted research and innovation in your access models, including:

• the likelihood of the work being carried out on the machine being of dual use, and how this will be identified and managed by and with users
• requirements to handle any research on the machine that is covered by the NSI act

For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, go to the Additional information section.

Duration

The duration of this award is a maximum of four years.

Awards made via this opportunity will have a fixed start date of 31 January 2027.

Funding available

The value per award is not fixed.

EPSRC will fund 80% of the full economic cost (FEC) of resource costs and 100% of the FEC of capital costs.

What we will fund

Costs of compute hardware at 100% FEC will be funded. The compute may comprise of new systems or supplementation or augmentation of existing systems. These funds must be spent by 31 March 2027.

Quotes for equipment do not need to be included in your application, but please retain quotes for equipment costing more than £138,000 as we may ask for these at post-panel stage before releasing funds. For details of how to include equipment in your application see Equipment on research grants.

EPSRC is aware of the challenges in pricing contingency for quotes related to compute. The risk management approach to this will be considered part of the pre-application discussion.

The following costs relating to EPSRC compute provision will be funded at 80% over the duration of the grant:

• staff costs to support the running of the compute and user access
• power costs for the running of the resource
• costs associated with data storage
• conference and workshop costs to support the user community
• small items of equipment under £25,000

What we will not fund

We will not fund costs associated with the running of specific projects on the resources.

Where hardware is purchased to augment or bolster an existing resource, any costs associated with the running of hardware not purchased as part of this opportunity will not be funded.

Supporting skills and talent

We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.

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.

You must contact EPSRC to discuss your approach to TR&I ahead of submitting your application.

Successful applications will be required to completed and TR&I Evaluation Framework with will include:

• mitigations relating to relevant NSI Act areas, including compute hardware and any research that will be carried out at the resource
• Plans for handling research projects on the resource that have potential dual use
• details on how TR&I will be approached in the user access model, and in the broader governance of the resource

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:

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.
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.

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.

Deadline

EPSRC must receive your application by 27 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.

If an application is withdrawn prior to peer review or office rejected due to substantive errors in the application, it cannot be resubmitted to the opportunity.