ARIA (Advanced Research and Invention Agency) Opportunities is sponsored by ARIA. Funding for breakthrough R&D in underexplored areas to catalyse new paths to prosperity for the UK and the world.

We fund teams to pursue research at the edge of the possible. Discover how we fund and how to apply, and learn what happens post-award. We welcome applications for funding from across the ecosystem – discover the process of applying for ARIA funding and find key resources.

Programmes (£10m–100m total) Our programmes are designed to advance complex, large-scale ideas which require coordinated investment and management across disciplines and institutions. To build a programme, each Programme Director directs the review, selection, and funding of a portfolio of projects which work in tandem to drive breakthroughs.

Opportunity seeds (up to £500k per project) With smaller budgets and less structure than programmes, seeds support individual research teams to uncover new pathways that could inspire future programmes or might justify additional support as a standalone project. ARIA funds and supports research teams, known as Creators, to achieve breakthroughs.

They could be anyone, from individuals doing their own research and PhD students at a university, to startups and large organisations. Our programmes deliberately reach across disciplines, sectors and institutions – we welcome applications from across the R&D ecosystem, including individuals, universities, research institutions, small, medium and large companies, charities and public sector research organisations.

We do our best to maximise the chance of breakthroughs by aligning the research we fund with viable paths to deployment and minimising barriers to scale.

This means: We fund the best ideas and talent, across professional backgrounds, types of organisations and geographies We do not retain IP rights to the work we fund We generally do not require match funding We do not take any equity ourselves and place a cap on the equity that organisations we fund can hold in spinouts commercialising ARIA-funded IP We take an active role in managing projects and foster connectivity between them Concept papers are designed to make the solicitation process as efficient as possible for applicants.

By soliciting short concept papers (no more than three pages), ARIA reviewers are able to gauge the feasibility and relevance of the proposed project and give an initial indication of whether we think a full proposal would be competitive. We will provide feedback to encourage or not encourage submission of a full proposal, but proposals can be submitted regardless of the concept paper feedback received.

Most but not all ARIA programme calls include a concept paper. Opportunity seed calls don't include concept papers.

This step requires you to submit a detailed proposal including: project & technical information to help us gain a detailed understanding of your proposal: information about the team to help us learn more about who will be doing the research, their expertise, and why you/the team are motivated to solve the problem; administrative information to help ensure we are funding R&D responsibly; information relating to budgets, IP, potential conflicts of interest, etc. Each application is scored against selection criteria, detailed in the solicitation.

Project review and selection process All proposals are evaluated against the criteria outlined in our call documents, and we expect proposals to spike against our criteria and have different strengths and weaknesses. Final selection is based on an assessment of the programme portfolio as a whole, its alignment with the overall programme goals and objectives and the diversity of applicants across the programme.

Expert technical reviewers (both internal and external to ARIA) evaluate proposals to provide independent views and inform decision-making. Programme Directors make robust selection decisions in service of their programme’s objectives, ensuring they justify their selection recommendations internally for consistency and fairness prior to final selection.

Agreements are finalised and awards are made At this stage you will be notified if you have or have not been selected for an award subject to due diligence and negotiation. If you have been selected for an award (subject to negotiations) we expect an initial call to take place between ARIA’s Programme Director and your lead researcher within 10 working days of being notified.

We expect contract/grant signature to be no later than 6 weeks from successful/unsuccessful notifications. Discover our funding calls Who can apply for funding? Scientific and technological breakthroughs often rely on a mix of academic and industrial capabilities that can be hard to find in a single organisation, so our programmes will deliberately reach across disciplines, sectors and institutions.

We are keen to explore structures not typical in academic research, such as supporting early career researchers as project leads or funding large (>80%) proportions of senior academics’ time so that they can focus fully on their ARIA project. Applicants may submit multiple proposals to a funding call, provided each represents a distinct project, though they can be complementary.

Each submission will be evaluated independently based on the call’s criteria, with no disadvantage to the applicant. Applying for an opportunity seed does not prevent you from applying to other ARIA funding calls or programmes. What screening, compliance and due diligence does ARIA require?

There are some eligibility restrictions. All proposals pass through an initial screening and compliance review. At this stage we carry out some checks to verify your identity, review any national security risks and check for any conflicts of interest (ARIA staff and/or their family members are ineligible to apply for any ARIA funding.

Any entity in which an ARIA staff member and/or their family member is a Board Director or a person of significant control (as defined by gov.uk website) is also ineligible to apply). Non-compliant or non-eligible proposals will be rejected at this stage. If you are successfully selected for an award of funding we’ll then conduct some further due diligence, as part of this we may ask for some additional information.

Other than the restrictions highlighted above we will not apply any specific constraints. Instead we’ll consider each potential recipient based on the complexity of the scope, value of the potential funding and any associated risks. Do I need consent to apply for ARIA funding?

Ideally you should have your organisation’s consent prior to submission of your proposal. We realise this isn’t always possible, so we don’t require it at concept paper stage. As part of the full proposal application, if you wish to conduct the research at your organisation we will require confirmation of your organisation’s consent.

If your application is successful and you wish to conduct the research at your organisation, we will need their consent to formally agree the funding. Does ARIA fund projects outside of the UK? Unless otherwise stated in each funding call, our primary focus is on funding those who are based in the UK.

For the vast majority of applicants, we therefore require the majority of the project work to be conducted in the UK (i.e. >50% of project costs and personnel time). We can award funding to applicants whose projects will primarily take place outside of the UK if we believe it can boost the net impact of a programme.

In these instances, you must outline in proposals any proposed plans or commitments in the UK that will contribute to the programme within the project's duration. If you are selected for an award subject to negotiation, these plans will form part of those negotiations and any resultant contract/grant.

Where you intend to create a subsidiary in the UK, the subsidiary does not necessarily need to be in place prior to the commencement of any funding. You must however outline a credible plan for achieving this within the project’s duration. If you are successfully selected for an award, subject to negotiations, this plan will form part of those negotiations and any resultant contract/grant.

Can I submit a joint application to ARIA? For joint applications, applicants should designate a lead applicant (and organisation, if applicable) to submit the application, listing all other collaborators (e.g. researchers outside your university or company) as proposed subcontractors or sub-grantees to the project.

If successful, ARIA will fund the lead organisation, which will then be responsible for entering into agreements with third-party collaborators and distributing funds to them as needed. How should I estimate costs for an ARIA application?

You are encouraged to include the estimated costs for everything you require to deliver the proposed project, however there are some restrictions on what you can include, guidance on this can be found in our Eligible Expenditure Guidance . Throughout the solicitation process we only ask for the level of information we need at each stage of the process.

This means the amount of information required can range from a high level figure at the outset of a funding call, through to a full cost breakdown if you are shortlisted for the final stages. At concept paper stage we will require you to estimate of the high level cost of the project (a short table included in the call documents). At the full proposal stage we will ask you to complete a detailed cost breakdown which can be found here .

Upon agreement of the scope of work and before the contract is signed, the cost breakdown must be finalised and agreed with ARIA. Since we aim to attract applicants from diverse sectors, our cost sheets are designed to be generic and are not tailored to specific types of institutions such as universities or companies.

When filling out the cost sheets, third-party collaborators should be identified as subcontractors or sub-grantees in the cost sheet, with only the lead applicant's indirect costs included under indirect costs. How you contract with these organisations is up to you, whether through collaboration agreements, service contracts, partnership agreements, or other arrangements. Is my ARIA application confidential?

Subject to the conditions of each call, ARIA will treat your proposal confidentially. You should provide enough information to allow us to evaluate your proposal, but you should not submit potentially patentable information before a patent application is filed or commercially sensitive information.

If there is information that would support your application, but that you do not wish to disclose because you believe it may be patentable or commercially sensitive, please make this clear in your application. We may enter into an NDA where you have been shortlisted and you want to discuss potentially patentable or commercially sensitive information. Which funding agreements does ARIA use?

Where the activity being funded is considered basic research (experimental or theoretical work undertaken primarily to acquire new knowledge of the underlying foundations of phenomena and observable facts, without any particular application or use in view/TRLs 1-3) and you are an Enterprise, ARIA will provide funding via a Basic Research Grant Agreement.

Where the activity being funded is considered to be more technologically mature but still research and development (TRLs 3-6) and you are an Enterprise, ARIA will provide funding via a Research Agreement. Where the activity being funded is between TRLs 1-6 and you are not an Enterprise (e.g. a university or individual), ARIA will provide funding via a Standard Grant Agreement or Research Grant Agreement to an individual.

This framework of agreements has been developed to ensure compliance with the Subsidy Control Act. Standard Grant Agreement [PDF] Basic Grant Agreement [PDF] Individual Grant Agreement [PDF] A step-by-step guide to applying for ARIA funding If you are disabled or have a long-term health condition, ARIA can offer support Find out more about the post-award experience.