This pilot funding opportunity aims to support researchers to collaborate on novel, exploratory and high-risk ideas, building the foundations for future research and innovation. Applications close: 10 June 2026.
Opportunity status: Open
Funders: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Funding type: Grant
Total fund:£3,000,000
Award range:£50,000 – £150,000
This funding opportunity will be open to researchers based in UK research organisations, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) institutes, NHS bodies, independent research organisations, public sector research establishments and Catapult centres. UKRI encourage:
- applications from diverse groups of researchers
- applications from those who have not previously held ESRC grants
- applications from individuals at any career stage, subject to ESRC eligibility
Connect gives researchers the opportunity to come together to shape new fields of research, laying the groundwork for future strategic research and innovation. By combining innovative forms of collaboration with the exploration of new ideas across and beyond the social sciences, these awards are designed to stimulate early-stage ideas that could grow into transformative collaborations and programmes in the future.
The funders are looking for applications that bring researchers together, forming new collaborations across disciplines or bringing together different fields of research to develop high-risk, exploratory or unconventional research ideas and approaches.
The size and length of awards will give researchers from different backgrounds the space to test the potential of emerging research fields and new areas of inquiry. Applications should outline how new collaborations and shared research agendas will be developed.
Applications should also set out how you will test new areas of inquiry that could support future strategic research, for example, by applying ideas or methodologies from one field to another to stimulate new insights and challenge existing assumptions.
