Pre-announcement: Restricted call: Doctoral Focal Award: UKRI Venture Doctorates (anticipated internal deadline mid-June)

The Research Strategy Office has circulated information about the forthcoming UKRI Venture Doctorates call (see the information below). If you are interested in collaborating on this call please:

• Fill out the School Expression of Interest Form

• Consider attending the coordinating  meeting organized by colleagues from the School of Biological Sciences and the School of Physical Sciences. It will take place online, on Thursday, 4 June at 3pm. The Teams links can be found below.

More information about the internal selection process will be forthcoming from the RSO.

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Microsoft Teams meeting

Join: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/387240101922541?p=1VXQNeA09LmN53qKF4

Meeting ID: 387 240 101 922 541

Passcode: wu2kC9mq

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The Research Strategy Office has been made aware of the following upcoming funding call from UKRI. This will be handled according to the University’s restricted call procedure and we will circulate full details of how to apply to the internal selection process once the call has been announced on the UKRI website.

We have been in touch with UKRI over this call and they have confirmed that cap of one application as lead will apply from the EoI stage (funder deadline 16^th July). The timeframe for internal selection will therefore be very tight.

New funding opportunity coming soon: Doctoral Focal Award: UKRI Venture Doctorates

As announced in the autumn budget 2025, UKRI is providing a funding opportunity to launch in late May/early June for new doctoral focal awards which combine training in research with deep experiential learning in entrepreneurship and venture creation.  Students will be expected to make a contribution to new knowledge and developing a new business. 

We are looking to support a small number of large-scale venture doctoral focal awards. Applications must support a minimum of 50 students, across up to 5 annual cohorts.  

Applications must be led by research organisations eligible for standard UKRI funding. Businesses, social enterprises, and other organisations which do not fall under UKRI standard eligibility can participate as collaborating partners and receive funding (co-leading delivery and hosting project co-leads or other named individual roles or as project partners or subcontractors). You are encouraged to engage with other organisations to ensure delivery of a truly integrated programme which combines academically rigorous research with deep, experiential learning in entrepreneurship and venture creation.  

Your organisation can only lead on one submitted application but can collaborate on any number of applications.  UKRI has up to £25 million available. We expect to fund up to 3 awards. 

As a non-full economic cost award, UKRI will fund 100% of eligible costs listed in the opportunity. Estates and indirect costs will not be funded.   

Depending on the organisations involved in each consortium, the activities they are undertaking, and the nature of their involvement, part of the funding awarded through this opportunity may constitute a subsidy. Any awards made will be subject to subsidy control considerations, and this may affect the level of funding or the conditions. UKRI will work with applicants to ensure that, if successful, any awards made comply with the Subsidy Control Act 2022.     

Applications must:  

• deliver doctoral training that strengthens links between research, innovation and enterprise and supports venture creation 

• clearly support at least one of the eight high-growth sectors in the UK government’s Industrial Strategy, as well as UKRI’s mission to advance knowledge, improve lives and drive growth 

• move beyond classroom-based commercialisation training, with spin-out creation being the intended commercial output from the outset 

• be shaped by real-world commercial opportunity 

• demonstrate a strong capability and track record in academic quality, venture support and attracting investment, entrepreneurship training and commercialisation 

• demonstrate the capacity to support cohort-based delivery at scale 

More detail will be included in the full funding opportunity. 

Venture Doctorate funding opportunity timetable