BBSRC new investigator award: 2026 round one: applicant-led mode

The BBSRC New Investigator Award supports excellent investigator-led research across the breadth of Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) scientific remit. This scheme is designed primarily to assist newly employed university lecturers, researchers in research council institutes (at a level equivalent to lecturer), and fellows (at a level equivalent to lecturer) to secure their first major element of research support funding. The award enables researchers who have not previously held research grants as project leads to establish their independent research programmes. Funding is available for research projects including data intensive and technology development projects, equipment or use of existing facilities, community resources, research networks, and summer schools. The research can cover biotechnology or biological research in plants, microbes, animals and humans, and tools and technology underpinning biological research, with investigations supported across all scales from molecules and cells to tissues, whole organisms, populations and landscapes.