Large grant outlines: February 2026

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is offering funding to support innovative, large-scale and complex projects that tackle big environmental science questions and have the potential to produce world-leading research. The funding opportunity welcomes multi and interdisciplinary research, as long as it is predominantly within NERC's remit, delivered by collaborative teams. Projects can address any area of environmental science, including pure, applied, technology-led or policy-driven research, but must address clearly defined research questions. This is a two-stage funding opportunity; this call is for outline applications, with invited applicants progressing to full application stage in August 2026. The programme particularly encourages the use of novel critical technologies including artificial intelligence, engineering biology, and quantum technologies.