EPSRC Responsive Mode: Standard and Programme Grants

"EPSRC responsive mode" means the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council's open schemes, where researchers choose the question and apply at any time. Since November 2023 these schemes have had no closing dates: EPSRC batches applications and sends them to regular panels. This guide covers the main schemes, who can apply, how assessment works and where businesses and charities fit in. Every figure comes from EPSRC's opportunity pages on the UKRI website, checked on the date shown on this page.

What EPSRC funds

EPSRC is one of the nine councils of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). It funds research in engineering, information and communications technology (ICT), mathematical sciences and physical sciences. Its responsive mode panels follow the same split: Engineering, ICT, Mathematical Sciences and Physical Sciences.

Responsive mode is EPSRC's applicant-led funding. Alongside it, EPSRC runs targeted calls with fixed themes and deadlines, such as the EPSRC and Defra reimagining circularity call. Those targeted calls have their own rules, so always read the specific page.

The main responsive mode schemes

Scheme	Size	Length	Notes
Standard research grant	No limit	No limit	The core scheme for any project in remit
New investigator award	No limit	Typically 1 to 3 years	For early career researchers moving to independence
Network grant	Set by the project	No longer than 3 years	Builds new interdisciplinary research communities
Programme grant	Set by the project	Up to 6 years	Large, flexible programmes; outline stage first

EPSRC pays 80% of the full economic cost (FEC) on all of these, with the research organisation covering the rest. Equipment of up to £400,000 per item can be included on standard and programme grants, and you should keep quotes for any item over £138,000 in case EPSRC asks for them before releasing funds.

Standard research grants

EPSRC says there is no limit on the value of a standard research grant or the length of the project: you should ask for what you need to deliver the research. Awards worth over £3 million FEC have a fixed start date. The opportunity is open with no closing date. Because of how the UKRI Funding Service works, a closing date about 28 months from publication appears in the system, but EPSRC says that is a systems requirement, not a deadline. See the EPSRC standard research grant listing on GrantMatch.

New investigator awards

New investigator awards help early career researchers make the move to independence: to set out their own research vision, build their own group and lead a project team. EPSRC says awards are typically one to three years, though there is no set limit on length or value.

You are not eligible if you have been the project lead, or equivalent, on any single grant or funded project worth over £175,000 FEC, or if you have supervised postdoctoral staff for more than 12 months in total. If you hold or have held a postdoctoral or early career fellowship, its value can exceed £175,000 without affecting eligibility, as long as you meet the other rules. Applications that do not fit the aim of supporting the move to independence will be rejected. A statement of support from your research organisation is an important part of the application. The EPSRC new investigator award listing is on GrantMatch.

Network grants

Network grants support interaction between researchers and relevant science, technology and industrial groups, to develop new interdisciplinary research communities. EPSRC expects them to lead to new collaborative research applications, and says some may develop into virtual centres of excellence. They should last no longer than three years. See the EPSRC network grant listing.

Programme grants

Programme grants are EPSRC's route for large, ambitious programmes that tackle bigger, more open-ended challenges in a joined-up way, over up to six years. There are two stages. An outline proposal is reviewed and scored by an internal EPSRC staff panel, observed by an external member of the community, and the best are invited to submit a full proposal. Like the other schemes, the outline stage has no published closing dates and is batched internally.

Every programme grant must set up an independent advisory board, or equivalent, which meets at least once a year, has at least 50% independent members and has an independent chair.

To keep its portfolio balanced, EPSRC paused programme grant applications from 1 December 2025, for at least 12 months, in three areas: energy and decarbonisation, manufacturing and circular economy, and quantum technologies. It suggests standard research grants and other routes for those areas in the meantime.

Who can apply

The project lead must be at a research organisation eligible for UKRI funding, which usually means a university or an approved research institute. So a charity, CIC or small business cannot lead a responsive mode application.

You can still take part. UKRI applications can include project partners: organisations with an integral role in the research, giving cash or in-kind support such as staff time, expertise or access to facilities. EPSRC says direct and in-kind contributions from third party project partners are encouraged. For a business, a partner role can give early access to research in your field, and for a charity it can bring evidence and expertise into your work.

If your business wants to fund its own innovation project rather than join a university one, Innovate UK, another part of UKRI, is the usual route. Our Innovate UK grants guide explains how its competitions work.

How assessment works

For standard research grants, the vision and approach are written as one document of no more than six sides of A4 in 11-point Arial or similar, with margins of at least 2cm, plus an optional extra page for a diagrammatic workplan. Team capability is written in the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format.

The application then goes to expert reviewers, who assess it independently against the published criteria. When it reaches the panel stage, it is batched and sent to the most suitable responsive mode panel. EPSRC says its panels are expected to run quarterly. EPSRC does not accept uninvited resubmissions of projects already submitted to UKRI or any other funder, so it pays to get the application right first time.

Our guide on how funders assess grant applications covers the general principles, and how much to ask for in a grant helps when there is no upper limit and you have to justify every cost.

Matched funding and costs

UKRI is clear that there is no requirement for matched funding from the host organisation beyond the standard 20% of FEC, and that reviewers and panels must not take institutional matched funding into account. Contributions from project partners are welcome, but they are not a condition of funding.

Finding EPSRC opportunities

Because responsive mode has no deadlines, the main things to watch are targeted calls with fixed dates and changes to scheme rules, like the programme grant pause. We list live EPSRC opportunities on the EPSRC funder page, and you can browse all funding for universities and research organisations or the grants closing this month across every funder.