Funding Opportunities — Index
Funding Opportunities — Index
Top urgent deadlines (next 8 weeks)
- 17 May 2026 — Schmidt Sciences Trustworthy AI ($1m–$5m+) — CLOSED 7 days from publication; document the skip
- 21 May 2026 — McGovern AI for Humanity Prize ($200k) — needs NGO host
- 29 May 2026 — ICURe Discover cohort 2 (£2.5k) — APPLY (low effort, prerequisite for Explore)
- 3 June 2026 — BA-Leverhulme Small Research Grants (£10k) — post-PhD only
- 5 June 2026 — Sovereign AI Strategic Assets (£9m round) — SKIP (decided)
- 16 June 2026 — UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship Round 11 (£1.2–1.5m) — high-effort, low feasibility at PhD stage
- 18 June 2026 — ICURe Explore cohort 2 (£35k) — APPLY (after Discover)
- 8 Jul 2026 — EIC Accelerator cut-off (€2.5m grant) — only post-spin-out
Top watch-list (when these open, apply)
- DSIT AI Assurance Innovation Fund (£11m total) — opens Spring 2026 — strongest fit for RAIDT
- NPL Centre for AI Measurement — first round Spring 2026
- AISI Alignment Project — reopens Summer 2026
- Sovereign AI Larger Programme (£160m) — expected Q3/Q4 2026
- RAi UK Phase 2 — expected 2026–27
UK Public
Strong fit, near-term
- ICURe-Discover — £2.5k, deadline 29 May 2026
- ICURe-Explore — £35k, deadline 18 Jun 2026
- KTP — Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, rolling, up to 67% of project costs
- RAi-UK — Keystone (£2–3.5m), Impact Accelerator, Phase 2 expected
- DSIT-AI-Assurance-Innovation-Fund — £11m, Spring 2026 (watch)
- NPL-Centre-AI-Measurement — first round Spring 2026
Strong fit, larger programmes
- Sovereign-AI-Strategic-Assets — £9m round, 5 Jun 2026 (skipping)
- Sovereign-AI-160m-Larger-Programme — Q4 2026 (watch + assemble consortium)
- AISI-Alignment-Project — Summer 2026 reopen, up to £1m per researcher
- Innovate-UK-BridgeAI — up to £1m, sector-targeted
- UKRI-Future-Leaders-Fellowship — £1.2–1.5m, 16 Jun 2026
- AHRC-BRAID — multiple sub-schemes
- EPSRC-Trustworthy-AI — large hub-style
- Royal-Academy-Engineering — Industrial / Enterprise Fellowships
Other UK
- Other-UK-Research-Council-Grants — ESRC Digital Good, AHRC small, UKRI cross-council
- UK-Regulatory-Sandboxes — MHRA AI Airlock, FCA AI Lab (routes, not direct cash)
- UK-Defence-and-Sector — DASA, NIHR, BA-Leverhulme, Turing programmes
- Portsmouth-Local-Funding — University spin-out support, Solent local
EU & International
- Horizon-Europe-Cluster-4 — Trustworthy AI consortia
- EIC-Accelerator — €2.5m grants, post-spin-out
- Other-EU-Programmes — Cluster 2, DIGITAL Europe, COST, Eurostars
- International-AI-Funds — US (NSF/NIH/DARPA), UAE (MBZUAI), Saudi (HUMAIN)
Foundations / Philanthropy
- Schmidt-Sciences — Trustworthy AI RFP (closed 17 May; annual)
- McGovern-Foundation — AI Fluency, Data Practice Accelerator, AI for Humanity Prize
- Other-Foundations — Mozilla, Omidyar/Humanity AI, Open Society, Wellcome, Nuffield, Knight, Esmée Fairbairn, Tides, Ford
Loans / Equity / Tax
- UK-Loans-and-Equity — Innovate UK Loans, Start Up Loans, EIS/SEIS
- UK-Tax-Incentives — R&D Tax Credits, Patent Box
Accelerators
- Conception-X — PhD spin-out, equity-free, top fit
- Other-Accelerators — EF, Founders Factory, CDL London, CyLon, UnLtd
Use the Funding-Calendar for sortable view
The calendar at 05-Trackers/Funding-Calendar.md lists every opportunity by deadline; this MOC groups them by category.