BBSRC Funding: Research Grants, Equipment and Awards

The Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) is the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) council for bioscience. It says it invests to push back the frontiers of biology and deliver a healthy, prosperous and sustainable future. Its schemes are searched for by name, often around equipment rounds and fellowships, so this guide sets out the main routes, who can apply and the dates BBSRC has published. Every fact comes from UKRI's own pages, checked on the date shown on this page.

What BBSRC funds

BBSRC supports research in plants, microbes, animals (including humans), and the tools and technology that underpin biological research. It funds work at every scale, from molecules and cells to tissues, whole organisms, populations and landscapes.

The remit has some edges that catch people out. BBSRC says it funds:

• Human biology where it is about understanding normal human function, including physiology, cell biology, genetics and genomics, but not research focused on specific human diseases or abnormal conditions.
• Animal diseases, but not studies mainly using animal models of human disease, or human toxicology.
• Wild species when they are agricultural pests or crop pollinators, or a good model for wider biological processes.
• Managed land where it relates to agriculture.

If your work sits near a boundary, BBSRC works with the other research councils to make sure an application is assessed by the right one, and you can email its remit team before you apply. Disease-focused work usually belongs with the Medical Research Council, covered in our MRC funding guide, and environmental science with NERC, covered in our NERC guide.

Always-open research grants

BBSRC runs two parallel applicant-led schemes with no closing date.

BBSRC gives a worked example: if a project's full economic cost is £2 million, BBSRC funds £1.6 million and the research organisation funds £400,000.

What the grants can pay for

Both schemes fund research projects (including data-intensive and technology development projects), equipment or use of existing facilities, community resources, new facilities or infrastructure, research networks and coordination, and summer schools. BBSRC welcomes multidisciplinary proposals, as long as the main focus is within its remit.

Research can cover plants, microbes, animals and humans, and the tools and technology that underpin biological research, at any scale from molecules and cells to whole organisms, populations and landscapes. If your project sits near the boundary with another research council, BBSRC asks you to email remit@bbsrc.ukri.org before applying. Organisations based overseas and business-based applicants cannot lead a bid, but they can be added as project partners. BBSRC says it is not currently limiting the number of applications per organisation, though UKRI may introduce limits if demand grows beyond what it can assess.

The new investigator award

The new investigator award is designed to help newly employed university lecturers, and researchers and fellows at an equivalent level in research council institutes, secure their first major research funding. The key rule is that you must not have received, or currently hold, competitively won research funding as project lead that included research staff costs. Having been a co-lead on successful grants does not stop you applying. You can only have one new investigator application with BBSRC at a time.

Working with industry

Industry partners can join as project partners, contributing cash or in-kind support such as staff time, equipment, data or materials. Two routes formalise this:

• Industrial Partnership Awards (IPA) are academic-led grants where industry partners contribute in cash at least 10% of the full project costs.
• LINK projects are collaborations between at least one company and one academic partner, with at least 50% of the full project cost coming from industry.

Equipment: ALERT 2026

Mid-range equipment for biosciences research: ALERT 2026 is BBSRC's equipment round. Its rules, when we checked:

• Equipment only. Each application must request a single piece of equipment that will be widely used and well supported, promoting access, collaboration and sharing.
• The full economic cost must be between £200,000 and £1.5 million, including VAT where it applies. BBSRC funds 100% of the FEC.
• The total fund is £13 million.
• Awards last 12 months and must start by 3 August 2027.
• Each research organisation can submit up to three applications. An individual can be project lead on one and co-lead on one other.
• Research technical professionals are eligible as project leads or co-leads, and BBSRC particularly encourages them to apply.
• The round opened on 22 October 2026 and closes at 4pm UK time on 14 January 2027.

Because of the three-per-organisation limit, talk to your research office early. Most institutions run an internal selection before the BBSRC deadline.

Other BBSRC opportunities open now

• Bioinformatics and Biological Resources Fund (26BBR) funds projects to implement, improve or consolidate a bioinformatics or biological resource for the bioscience community. Projects can cost up to £2 million FEC, with BBSRC paying 80% (up to £1.6 million), for up to five years. It closes at 4pm on 19 November 2026.
• International Travel Award Scheme pays up to £3,000 for travel and subsistence to visit international partners, start collaborations or prepare joint proposals. It is for current BBSRC grant holders and BBSRC-supported researchers at BBSRC institutes, stays of up to a month, and you must apply at least eight weeks before you travel.
• BBSRC Brazil pump-priming award (FAPPA) offers up to £35,000 for BBSRC-funded research groups to start working with FAPESP scientists in Brazil.

We do not repeat fellowship details here, because BBSRC's early independence fellowships open and close on their own timetable. We list them on the BBSRC funder page when a round is open.

How to apply

BBSRC's applicant-led schemes run on the UKRI Funding Service. The project lead completes the application, the research office checks it, and the research organisation submits it. You choose which of BBSRC's four research committees you think should assess your work:

• A: animal disease, health and welfare
• B: plants, microbes, food and sustainability
• C: genes, development, and STEM approaches to biology
• D: molecules, cells and industrial biotechnology

BBSRC checks your choice and makes the final decision. It does not accept uninvited resubmissions of projects already submitted to UKRI or any other funder.

BBSRC aims to complete the assessment within nine months of receiving your application. Feedback comes as the expert reviewers' comments, and BBSRC says panel feedback is not provided.

Tips before you apply

• Check the remit first. A strong application in the wrong council wastes months. If in doubt, ask BBSRC's remit team.
• Use the right scheme. If you have never led a grant with research staff costs, the new investigator award is the route designed for you.
• Plan equipment bids with your research office. For ALERT, institutions can only put forward three bids, so internal deadlines come well before 14 January.
• Show who else will use it. Equipment and resource bids are judged on access and sharing, so name the groups and partners who will benefit.
• Write for the assessors. Our guide to how funders assess grant applications covers the basics that apply to research funders too.

You can also browse funding for universities and research organisations, or see grants closing this month from every funder.