BBSRC 2025 Transformative Research Technologies (25TRT)

BBSRC 2025 Transformative Research Technologies (25TRT) is sponsored by Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC). This funding opportunity supports the early-stage development of cutting-edge research technologies with transformative potential in the biosciences. Neurotechnology innovations could be highly relevant to this call.

BBSRC 2025 Transformative Research Technologies (25TRT) – UKRI Funding opportunity: BBSRC 2025 Transformative Research Technologies (25TRT) Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) 26 November 2025 9:00am UK time 11 February 2026 4:00pm UK time Last updated: 20 January 2026 - see all updates Apply for funding to pursue early-stage development of cutting-edge research technologies with transformative potential in the biosciences.

You must be a researcher or research technical professional based at a UK research organisation eligible for Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) funding. You can only apply as project lead (PL) on one submitted application. You can be project co-lead (PcL ) on multiple applications.

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £225,000. BBSRC will fund 80% of the FEC. Applications must be between six and 18-months duration.

This funding opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. Check if your organisation is eligible . The 2025 Transformative Research Technologies funding opportunity is open to researchers and research technical professionals (RTPs) normally eligible for funding from BBSRC.

Check if you’re eligible for BBSRC funding . You can only apply as PL on one submitted application. You can be PcL on multiple applications.

The New Investigator Award, Industrial Partnership Award and LINK schemes that feature in BBSRC’s Responsive Mode opportunities do not apply to this funding opportunity. First time PLs should note that, if successful, being the PL on a grant which includes funding for postdoctoral research assistant (PDRA) staff support costs will subsequently make them ineligible for the BBSRC New Investigator Award.

PhD students or student costs should not be included on applications to 2025 Transformative Research Technologies (25TRT). Individuals based at an international organisation are not eligible to be a member of the core team as they are not eligible for this opportunity.

International collaborators can be added as project partners on an application, please see Roles in funding applications: eligibility, responsibilities and costings guidance for more information.

Research technical professionals (RTPs) Building on the Technician Commitment UKRI Action Plan and the UKRI people and teams action plan , we particularly encourage applications from RTPs and research software engineers (RSEs) as either PLs or PcL. A RTP can be listed as a project lead or PcL, provided that their level of responsibilities and duties is appropriate to a person with substantial research experience.

If you are unsure if you are eligible, contact technology. development@bbsrc. ukri.

org Equality, diversity and inclusion We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers. We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances.

This includes: support for people with caring responsibilities alternative working patterns UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process. Novel technologies continue to revolutionise biosciences research.

The 2025 Transformative Research Technologies (25TRT) funding opportunity aims to enable the next generation of cutting-edge research technologies with the potential for transformative impact in biosciences research. It will support applications for early-stage development of novel techniques and technologies that have the potential to enable transformative step changes in research capability.

The funding opportunity aims to support the development of cutting-edge enabling research technologies, which have the potential for transformative impact and are essential to sustaining the vibrancy of bioscience discovery research in the UK. This includes bioinformatics tools and computational approaches to the biosciences.

These technological developments should offer the potential of a step change in the state-of-the-art for the given field. Awards will support small and short early-stage pilot studies directed towards the development of a new technology with transformative potential for the biosciences.

The research should have the potential to deliver a substantial improvement versus the current state-of-the-art, rather than an incremental improvement, and therefore enable new avenues of bioscience discovery research. Being targeted at early-stage research, the funding opportunity intends to support technology development where little to no preliminary data exists.

The outcome of the project does not necessarily need to be a fully-fledged tool but could be the demonstration of proof-of-concept, or the production of a prototype for further development. For more information on the background of this funding opportunity and on further support later in the lifecycle of technology development, go to the Additional information section. What makes a technology transformative?

Transformative technologies go beyond being just innovative.

They fundamentally change how we approach bioscience by: revolutionising fields: creating breakthroughs in specific areas or having broad applications across bioscience solving challenges: solving longstanding challenges or limitations to discovery in bioscience democratising research: making tools and techniques more accessible and allowing effective utilisation of technology boosting research productivity: streamlining research and accelerating discovery Interdisciplinary collaborations Technology development inherently cuts across the remit boundaries of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) councils and requires collaboration across disciplines and domains to achieve its full potential.

We encourage applications that involve interdisciplinary and collaborative working for this funding opportunity. Your application could adopt a ‘problem owner, solution provider’ approach, whereby a PL and a PcL submit a single application to address a pressing challenge or need within the bioscience community.

This could be through an innovative, cross-disciplinary collaboration, for example between an academic and technical professional. For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, go to the Additional information section. The duration of this award is between six and 18 months.

The FEC of your project can be up to £225,000. BBSRC will fund 80% of the FEC. For example, if the FEC of your project is equal to £225,000, BBSRC will fund £180,000 and your research organisation will be expected to fund £45,000.

The total indicative budget for this funding opportunity is £3 million. Applications are expected to focus on one or more of the following: transformative technology development that has the potential to result in innovative and disruptive new technological capabilities applicable to the biosciences.

This includes technologies with potential broad utility across primarily biological research communities, as well as technologies that may only have utility within one research community capitalising on new advances in non-biological research that aim to establish proof-of-concept with a clear trajectory towards a new bioscience research technology in the short term innovation that has the potential to deliver a step change in current technological capabilities.

This could be aspects such as accuracy, precision, resolution, throughput, or breadth of application to facilitate new research discoveries bioinformatics tools.

These are specialised software designed to enable large scale or rapid visualisation, analysis, exploration and investigation of biological data computational methods, such as modelling techniques to predict and interpret biological systems, as well as AI and statistical techniques to analyse and understand complex biological datasets.

These data can encompass a broad range of types including genetic, structure, function, interactions, and environment We recognise that the potential application of some technologies may extend beyond BBSRC’s remit. Where applicable, please explain how the primary focus of your application falls within BBSRC remit. Applications with a predominant focus outside of BBSRC remit will be rejected prior to assessment.

If you are unsure about whether your planned research would be appropriate for this funding opportunity, send an outline (no more than two sides of A4) of what you plan to do to technology. development@bbsrc. ukri.

org and BBSRC staff will be happy to advise you. Types of projects which are ineligible for support by 25TRT include: platform technologies that are generically applicable to multiple research domains outside of bioscience research applications with a focus on answering a research question, instead of developing cutting edge technology to do so.

These applications could be better suited to BBSRC’s standard research grant improvements of technologies where previous proof-of-concept has already been demonstrated, including applications with existing technologies already in use for comparable areas of bioscience.

These applications would also be better suited for BBSRC’s standard research grant medical or clinical devices (being developed for end-point clinical utility rather than basic research purposes) and healthcare technologies (including biomedical engineering for diagnostic or therapeutic application) large scale infrastructure, or direct application of off-the-shelf technology to research community databases and data infrastructures.

These applications could be better suited to the Bioinformatics and Biological Resources (BBR) Fund technologies for translational applications.

The focus of this funding opportunity is on technologies for the discovery research community applications that exceed the cost or duration limits described for this funding opportunity applications that have already been peer reviewed or are currently undergoing peer review by another research council or funding body Please see the guidance for unsuccessful applicants and resubmissions for more information on submitting substantially revised applications.

Supporting skills and talent BBSRC continues to highlight the inclusion of vital technical staff on applications and ensure equity in the assessment of non-hypothesis-driven applications on their potential for advancing bioscience research. BBSRC recognises the talent for innovation, expert knowledge and technical competence that RTPs possess.

They are co-creators in technology development, and they must be empowered and recognised at all stages and by all stakeholders. Therefore, BBSRC particularly supports the provision of relevant training and upskilling opportunities, beneficial to the success of the proposed project, to be costed in 25TRT applications.

The potential for staff development and training (including post-docs, technical and support staff) will also be assessed by the panel. We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment .

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.

As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks. See further guidance and information about TR&I , including where you can find additional support.

We anticipate that this funding opportunity may receive a high level of interest. Prospective applicants are invited to consider carefully whether their application is within the remit and scope of the funding opportunity and should clearly articulate how the proposed project addresses 25TRT scope. If in doubt, applicants are strongly advised to contact BBSRC to discuss their proposed project.

As an individual, you can only apply as PL on one submitted application. You can still be a member of a consortium on a different application, provided you do not take a leading role as PL. However, as such applications will be in direct competition this is not recommended unless the applications are in very different areas.

We encourage research organisations to consider the scope and eligibility of potential applications to the funding opportunity and prioritise appropriately, prior to submission. In the case of exceptional demand, we reserve the right to ask research organisations to undertake further internal prioritisation.

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service, so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system. The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.

Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI. Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page: Confirm you are the project lead. Please allow at least 10 working days for your organisation to be added to the Funding Service.

We strongly suggest that if you are asking UKRI to add your organisation to the Funding Service to enable you to apply to this opportunity, you also create an organisation Administration Account. This will be needed to allow the acceptance and management of any grant that might be offered to you. Answer questions directly in the text boxes.

You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.

Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office. Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.

Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI. Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

When including images, you must: provide a descriptive caption or legend for each image immediately underneath it in the text box (this must be outside the image and counts towards your word limit) insert each new image on a new line use files smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words.

The following are not permitted, and your application will be rejected if you include: sentences or paragraphs of text excessive quantities of images A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column.

For more guidance on the Funding Service, see: how applicants use the Funding Service how research offices use the Funding Service how reviewers use the Funding Service References should be included within the word count of the appropriate question section. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application. Hyperlinks can be used in reference information.

When including references, you should consider how your references will be viewed and used by the assessors, ensuring that: references are easily identifiable by the assessors references are formatted as appropriate to your research persistent identifiers are used where possible General use of hyperlinks Applications should be self-contained. You should only use hyperlinks to link directly to reference information.

You must not include links to web resources to extend your application. Assessors are not required to access links to conduct assessment or recommend a funding decision. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) Use of generative AI tools to prepare funding applications is permitted, however, caution should be applied.

For more information see our policy on the use of generative AI in application and assessment . BBSRC must receive your application by 11 February 2026 at 4:00pm UK time. You will not be able to apply after this time.

Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines. Following the submission of your application to this funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and submitted applications will not be amended. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.

BBSRC, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications. We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice .

If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email technology. development@bbsrc. ukri.

org Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].

Typical examples of confidential information include: individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave) additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection the application is an invited resubmission For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice .

Institutional Matched Funding There is no requirement for matched funding from the institutions hosting the project lead, project co-leads or other staff employed on the application, beyond the standard 20% FEC. Expert reviewers and panels assessing UKRI funding applications must not consider levels of institutional matched funding as a factor on which to base recommendations.

Direct and in-kind contributions from third party project partners are encouraged. This policy does not remove the need for support from host organisations who must provide the necessary research environment and infrastructure for award-specific activities funded by UKRI. For example, research facilities, training and development of staff.

BBSRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at Awarded research grants . If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research . In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.

We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information.

Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example: the wider research community Guidance for writing a summary Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of: the challenge the project addresses potential applications and benefits List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following: project co-lead (UK) (PcL) professional enabling staff research and innovation associate Only list one individual as project lead.

UKRI has introduced a new addition to the ‘Specialist’ role type. Public contributors such as people with lived experience can now be added to an application. Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications .

What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Explain how your proposed work: has the potential to enable a step-change in the state-of-the-art for the given field is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the field(s) or area(s) has the potential to advance current understanding, or generate new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field or area is timely given current trends, context, and needs impacts world-leading research, society, the economy, or the environment References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service. Area of research / technology type What is the area of research of your proposed project?

Please provide five key words which describe the type of technology and area of application of your proposed project. This is for administrative purposes to help the initial application processing. How are you going to deliver your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Explain how you have designed your approach so that it: is innovative, and uses or explores unconventional or novel concepts, methodologies or approaches is effective and appropriate to achieve your objectives is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed uses a clearly written and transparent methodology (if applicable) summarises any previous or preliminary work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed, if applicable will maximise translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts describes how your, and if applicable your team’s, research environment (in terms of the place and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant, for example in a Gantt chart. Further details are provided in the Funding Service. Applicant and team capability to deliver Why are you the right individual or team to successfully deliver the proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have: the relevant experience (appropriate to career stage) and diversity to deliver the proposed work made appropriate provision for research and technical staff development and training the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work the necessary technical capabilities to deliver the proposed project the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

Further details are provided in the Funding Service. The word limit for this section is 1,650 words: 1,150 words to be used for Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) modules (including references) and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.

Use the R4RI format to showcase the range of relevant skills you and, if relevant, your team (project and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on) have and how this will help deliver the proposed work. You can include individuals’ specific achievements but only choose past contributions that best evidence their ability to deliver this work. Complete this section using the R4RI module headings listed.

Use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI .

You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings: contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies, or knowledge the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships contributions to the wider research and innovation community contributions to broader research or innovation users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit Provide any further details relevant to your application.

This section is optional and can be up to 500 words. You should not use it to describe additional skills, experiences, or outputs, but you can use it to describe any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them). Complete this as a narrative.

Do not format it like a CV. References may be included within this section. The roles in funding applications policy has descriptions of the different project roles.

Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI) What are the ethical and RRI considerations, implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.

What the assessors are looking for in your response Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated: the relevant ethical and RRI considerations, including both the research or topic area itself and the design and delivery of the project the wider implications of the proposed work, and how you will maximise the positive societal, environmental, and economic benefits arising from the project, while minimising unintended negative impacts, such as research misuse or accidental harm how you will manage these considerations throughout the lifecycle of the project If you are collecting or using data you should identify: any legal and ethical considerations of collecting, releasing and storing the data (including consent, confidentiality, anonymisation, security and other ethical considerations and, in particular, strategies to not preclude further reuse of data) formal information standards that your proposed work will comply with Additional sub-questions (to be answered only if appropriate) relating to research involving: genetically modified organisms You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

Further details are provided in the Funding Service. Please refer to the UKRI position statement on funding ethical research and Responsible innovation for more information around our expectations on ethical and responsible research and innovation. Genetic and biological risk Does your proposed research involve any genetic or biological risk?

What the assessors are looking for in your response In respect of animals, plants or microbes, are you proposing to: use genetic modification as an experimental tool, like studying gene function in a genetically modified organism release genetically modified organisms ultimately develop commercial and industrial genetically modified outcomes If yes, provide the name of any required approving body and state if approval is already in place.

If it is not, provide an indicative timeframe for obtaining the required approval. Identify the organism or organisms as a plant, animal or microbe and specify the species and which of the three categories the research relates to. Identify the genetic and biological risks resulting from the proposed research, their implications, and any mitigation you plan on taking.

Assessors will want to know you have considered the risks and their implications to justify that any identified risks do not outweigh any benefits of the proposed research. If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

Research involving the use of animals Does your proposed research involve the use of vertebrate animals or other organisms covered by the Animals Scientific Procedures Act? What the assessors are looking for in your response If you are proposing research that requires using animals, download and complete the Research involving the use of animals template (DOCX, 52.

5KB) , which contains all the questions relating to research using vertebrate animals or other Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 regulated organisms. Save it as a PDF. The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.

If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service. Conducting research with animals overseas Will any of the proposed animal research be conducted overseas?

What the assessors are looking for in your response If you are proposing to conduct overseas research, it must be conducted in accordance with welfare standards consistent with those in the UK, as in Responsibility in the use of animals in bioscience research . Ensure all named applicants in the UK and overseas are aware of this requirement.

If your application proposes animal research to be conducted overseas, you must provide a statement in the text box. Depending on the species involved, you may also need to upload a completed template for each species listed.

Provide a statement to confirm that: all named applicants are aware of the requirements and have agreed to abide by them this overseas research will be conducted in accordance with welfare standards consistent with the principles of UK legislation the expectation set out in Responsibility in the use of animals in bioscience research will be applied and maintained appropriate national and institutional approvals are in place Overseas studies proposing to use non-human primates, cats, dogs, equines or pigs will be assessed during NC3Rs review of research applications.

Provide the required information by completing the template from the question ‘Research involving the use of animals’. For studies involving other species, such as: xenopus laevis and xenopus tropicalis Select, download, and complete the relevant Word checklist or checklists by exploring NC3Rs checklist for the use of animals overseas . Save your completed template as a PDF and upload to the Funding Service.

If you use more than one checklist template, save it as a single PDF. The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply. If conducting research with animals overseas does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

Research involving human participation Will the project involve the use of human subjects or their personal information? What the assessors are looking for in your response If you are proposing research that requires the involvement of human subjects, provide the name of any required approving body and whether approval is already in place. Justify the number and the diversity of the participants involved, as well as any procedures.

Provide details of any areas of substantial or moderate severity of impact. If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service. Research involving human tissues or biological samples Does your proposed research involve the use of human tissues, or biological samples?

What the assessors are looking for in your response If you are proposing work that involves human tissues or biological samples, provide the name of any required approving body and whether approval is already in place. Justify the use of human tissue or biological samples specifying the nature and quantity of the material to be used and its source.

If this does not apply to your proposed work, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service. Resources and cost justification What will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Justify the application’s more costly resources, in particular: significant travel for field work or collaboration (but not regular travel between collaborating organisations or to conferences) any equipment that will cost more than £25,000 any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities all facilities and infrastructure costs all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’ You can request costs associated with reasonable adjustments where they increase as a direct result of working on the project.

For further information see Disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders . Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line-by-line breakdown of all project resources.

Overall, they want you to demonstrate how the resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work: are comprehensive, appropriate, and justified represent the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes maximise potential outcomes and impacts Add details about any project partners’ contributions. If there are no project partners, you can indicate this on the Funding Service.

A project partner is a collaborating organisation who will have an integral role in the proposed research. This may include direct contributions for example cash, donated equipment and resources, or staff seconded to the project, or indirect and in-kind contributions for example use of project partner’s equipment, datasets, or