Funding Competition: Future Leaders Fellowships (Round 9, Business & Non-Academic) – UK

The aim of this competition is to:

• support ambitious research and innovation to tackle difficult and novel challenges
• support excellence in innovation, across interdisciplinary boundaries and sectors
• develop, retain, and attract the next wave of research and innovation leaders

Working with a host organisation a Future Leaders Fellow will receive at least four years of funding to pursue an ambitious programme of innovation. The fellow will also have access to tailored opportunities and resources to develop their career as a future leader in their field.

The Future Leaders Fellowships programme is open to all early-career innovators and researchers. Applicants working in academia and eligible Independent Research Organisations must apply through the UKRI Funding Service.

Themes

• Proposals are invited from all areas of research and innovation, including:
  • the arts, humanities, and social sciences
  • the seven technology families outlined in the UK’s innovation strategy
  • applications that are multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary
• Research and innovation is considered in its fullest sense including business, creative, cultural, service and knowledge-based sectors.

Project Size

• Your project’s total grant funding request must be between £300,000 and £3 million.

Projects they will not fund

• They are not funding projects that are:
  • submitted by senior innovators
  • led by an applicant who has achieved research or innovation independence, for example, managing their own significant programme of work within a business
• They cannot fund projects that are:
  • dependent on export performance, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it exports a certain quantity of bread to another country
  • dependent on domestic inputs usage, for example, giving a subsidy to a baker on the condition that it uses 50% UK flour in their product

Who can apply?

• Your project
  • Your project must:
    • have a grant funding request of between £300,000 and £3 million
    • last for a minimum of four years, with the option to extend for a further three
    • carry out all its project work in the UK
    • intend to exploit results from or in UK
    • be based at, or have the support of, an eligible non-academic host organisation
  • Projects must always start on the first of the month and this must be stated within your application. Your project can start from 1 September 2025, subject to agreement and authorisation.
  • Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian or Belarusian entity as lead, partner or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian or Belarusian source.
• Lead organisation
  • The application must be started by the fellow as a representative of the host organisation.
  • To host a Future Leaders Fellow your organisation must be a UK registered:
    • business of any size
    • charitable organisation
    • catapult
    • public organisation
    • Agri-tech Centre
    • eligible research organisation
  • Research organisations eligible to receive UKRI funding cannot apply to host a fellowship through this application form. Fellowship applications for these organisations must be made through the UKRI funding service. This does not apply to Catapult centres, Catapult centres must apply for this competition through this application form.
• Fellow Applicants
  • You must demonstrate the necessary skills, knowledge and experience to deliver the proposed project.
  • You do not need to hold a PhD, and there are no eligibility rules based on the number of years since your PhD. If you do not hold a PhD, you must be able to demonstrate equivalent research or innovation experience or training.
  • Fellows are welcome from outside of the UK with the support of an eligible UK based Host Organisation. Researchers and innovators are eligible for a Global Talent visa under the ‘exceptional promise’ category for future research leaders.
  • Future Leaders Fellowships offer flexibility to support outstanding individuals:
    • from diverse career backgrounds
    • returning from a career break or returning to research or innovation following time in other roles
    • wishing to work part-time or in job shares to combine the fellowship with personal responsibilities
• Subcontractors, co-investigators and visiting researchers
  • Subcontractors, co-investigators and visiting researchers are allowed in this competition.
  • Subcontractors can be from anywhere in the UK and you must select them through your usual procurement process.
  • You can use subcontractors from overseas but must make the case in your application as to why you could not use suppliers from the UK.
  • You must provide a detailed rationale, evidence of the potential UK contractors you approached and the reasons why they were unable to work with you. They will not accept a cheaper cost as a sufficient reason to use an overseas subcontractor.
  • Co-Investigators are only permitted when bringing complementary and different skills to the project. Their role should be clearly defined in the application.
  • Co-Investigators must:
    • be from a UK based eligible organisation and hold a contract of employment for their time on the project
    • not be costed or named for full duration, only a limited period of the project
    • have a PhD or comparable research and innovation experience
  • Visiting Researchers are permitted from UK or abroad for a limited period of 12 months over the lifetime of the project.
  • Visiting researchers must:
    • receive the same salary and conditions as staff at the organisation they are employed with
    • claim salary costs only for time on the project
    • only claim expenses for travel for themselves but not their family
• Number of applications
  • A fellow can only lead on one application.

For more information, visit Innovate UK.