Deadline Date: December 21, 2025
The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) through its AI for Science strategy and the AIRR programme, offers computational resources to support AI-centred scientific research in the UK’s priority domains.
The focus areas of the opportunity are offering compute resource aligned with AI for Science priority areas, including material science, nuclear fusion, medical research, engineering biology, quantum technologies, and AI-driven research and scientific discovery, encouraging the formation of broader research teams and partnerships, fostering multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral innovation, contributing to delivering against the government’s five missions: growing the economy, an NHS fit for the future, safer streets, opportunity for all, making Britain a clean energy superpower, and covering activities that fall into the following categories: fundamental research, feasibility studies, industrial research, and experimental development.
This opportunity invites research proposals for the use of computational resources to drive AI-centred scientific research. It represents the first mission-driven scientific research opportunity aligned with the strategic vision set out in the UK Compute Roadmap. By offering access to national-tier systems through the AIRR programme to users across academia, industry and individual research, it aims to shape the scientific landscape in the UK in the age of AI.
The AIRR programme is focused on transformative, large-scale research, particularly projects and programmes that deliver real-world impact and breakthroughs that change lives and grow the economy. Projects are encouraged to develop new AI models and virtual systems that will enable future automated and autonomous scientific discovery, a strategic objective of the AI for Science strategy.
Resources available include an indicative budget of 8,000,000 GPU hours across the two AIRR services. Each application can request between 200,000 and 1,000,000 GPU hours on either of Dawn or Isambard-AI, to be used over a six-month project. This application process is purely for compute resources. No funding is provided.
The opportunity is open to eligible researchers from across the UKRI remit. To be a project lead, applicants must have a contract of longer duration than their proposed project with their organisation. Project leads for academic-led projects must be employees at lecturer or equivalent level.
For more information, visit UKRI.
