Nucleus Public Engagement Awards 2026 is sponsored by Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). Nucleus Public Engagement Awards 2026. Funding opportunity from Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).

Nucleus Public Engagement Awards 2026 – UKRI Funding opportunity: Nucleus Public Engagement Awards 2026 Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Award range: £20,000 - £100,000 12 January 2026 9:00am UK time 31 March 2026 4:00pm UK time Apply for funding to engage the public with Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) supported science or raise engagement capacity in STFC communities, or both.

You must work for an organisation that: It is essential that proposals have strong and clear links to the STFC-funded remit and include a subject matter expert in an STFC-funded remit area. The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £125,000 for TRAC organisations. We will fund 80% of the FEC.

Non-TRAC organisations will be funded at 100%, up to £100,000. Your project must be between 24 and 36 months in duration. This funding opportunity is open to organisations based in the UK with standard or non-standard eligibility.

Check if you are eligible for research and innovation funding . STFC can only fund organisations that have audited accounts. If this does not describe your organisation, you must work in partnership with an organisation that can receive the funding on your behalf.

Almost anyone can apply for a Nucleus award, including: STFC scientists, technicians and engineers community interest companies The principal applicant must be eligible to apply on behalf of the organisation that would hold the award. Every application must include an SME in an STFC-funded area of science or technology. While these SMEs often play an active role in delivering the engagement activities, this is not mandatory.

They may act as an adviser on the scientific content. If applicants have any questions about applicant eligibility, please contact the Public Engagement team at stfcpublicengagement@stfc. ac.

uk and we will advise on how you may proceed. This funding opportunity is open to organisations with standard/non-standard eligibility. Check if you are eligible for research and innovation funding .

Who is not eligible to apply Organisations that are not UK-based 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 UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process. It is essential that proposals demonstrate clear links to the STFC-funded remit and include a subject matter expert in an STFC-funded remit area.

STFC Nucleus grant holders undertake high quality programmes of public engagement that inspire and involve target audiences with stories of STFC science, technology and facilities. Grant holders may also use Nucleus awards to increase capacity for STFC focused public engagement in the applying institution or appropriate communities of practice.

Proposed engagement programmes must either: clearly focus on the remit of the STFC-funded science programme clearly and demonstrably align to the science and technology work of STFC’s national and international laboratories and facilities astronomy, solar and planetary science Nucleus awards will not be awarded unless there is a strong and demonstrable link between the proposed activities and STFC science and technology.

Applicants are responsible for confirming that the science within their proposal falls within the STFC remit, in the answer to the ‘Applicant and team capability to deliver’ question. Network and capacity building programmes Nucleus awards may also be used for activities that are dedicated to developing community networks or capacity building in STFC focused public engagement.

This may be the sole purpose of a Nucleus award, or an application may combine engagement activities and networking into a coherent package. Nucleus awards and STFC’s Wonder Initiative The Wonder Initiative is about giving under-served communities an equal voice by listening, understanding, and responding to what people want to know about science and technology.

Wonder marks a long-term commitment by STFC public engagement to move our focus towards audience driven public engagement with under-served communities in the most socio-economically deprived areas of the UK. Financial support through Nucleus awards is an important part of the Wonder Initiative. The target audience for Wonder is defined according to indices of multiple deprivation.

Specifically, STFC is interested in supporting audience driven engagement that works with audiences, particularly those eight to 14 years old and their families and carers, from the 40% most socio-economically deprived areas of the UK. STFC defines the 40% most socio-economically deprived areas of the UK as those areas listed in the bottom two quintiles of the indices of multiple deprivation for the respective part of the UK.

Applicants are explicitly invited to submit Nucleus awards that work with the Wonder target audience. We encourage applications that propose engagement with audiences considered to have low ‘science capital’. Applicants may choose which audiences to engage with and the methods of engagement.

These must be outlined in the proposal. Nucleus awards will not be awarded for the sole purpose of authorship and publication of books and novels, though proposals in which the production of a book is an output of a wider programme will be considered. Linking to the STFC public engagement strategy You should use your proposal to clearly explain how your Nucleus award will further the aims of the STFC public engagement strategy .

Applications that highlight the social, ethical, and economic benefits of research are welcomed. Applicants are encouraged to propose novel or innovative approaches towards engagement as part of their Nucleus award, as long as these are demonstrably well planned and have clearly defined audiences.

STFC focuses heavily on evaluation and you must provide a clear evaluation plan showing details of how the outputs, outcomes and impacts of the Nucleus award will be captured and evaluated. We require applicants to report on the outcomes of their Nucleus award in line with the STFC public engagement evaluation framework , which describes our approach towards effective engagement.

We suggest that you familiarise yourself with the framework and consider how it could be used to evaluate your engagement programme from its inception. You are reminded that evaluation costs can be included within the overall budget. The duration of this award is a minimum of 24 months and a maximum of 36 months.

The Public Engagement Nucleus Awards scheme falls under the full economic costing framework. Therefore, all costs that contribute to the FEC of the proposal should be included under the cost headings as shown in the ‘ costs we fund ’ section of the STFC guidance for applicants web page. As the Nucleus award scheme has no capital budget, applicants cannot request funds under the equipment heading.

STFC will fund a maximum of £100,000 for each proposal. For those research organisations (ROs) that are subject to Transparent Approach to Costing (TRAC) , this will be 80% of the overall costs (that is a maximum of £125,000 at FEC). For non-TRAC ROs, please add all your costs under the ‘Exceptions’ fund heading.

Other than the restrictions outlined below, there are no set restrictions on the type of costs that may be applied for. For example, contributions to salaries, cost of materials, and travel and subsistence are eligible.

The following costs are ineligible for support through Nucleus awards: applications with a start date earlier than 1 September 2026 projects where the target audiences are not primarily within the UK costs associated with international conferences fees or honoraria to people already in paid employment to visit or give talks at schools, societies and so on where such activities would reasonably be undertaken as part of their normal duties costs for hardware or equipment over the individual value of £25,000 infrastructure funding or costs for building construction and maintenance projects where it is clear that the project would go ahead irrespective of STFC support retrospective funding, including those projects with a start date after the closing date but before the funding decisions are announced For applicants from or for schools, note the following ineligible costs: programmes of formal education school trips to CERN and trips to other laboratories, observatories and science venues unless they are intrinsic to a wider public engagement project projects that only involve a single school 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 may 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 . STFC must receive your application by 31 March 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.

STFC, 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 grantspolicy@stfc. ac. uk 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 for TRAC organisations. 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. STFC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at outcomes .

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 Only list one individual as project lead.

The project lead must be from the organisation that is applying for the award. 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: is of excellent quality and importance within or beyond the field(s) or area(s) has the potential to advance current understanding, generates new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond the field(s) or area(s) is timely given current trends, context and needs promotes wider advocacy, leadership, promotion and championing of public engagement We expect you to demonstrate: a clearly defined rationale for the proposed programme and evidence to support this, including how this links to the aims of the STFC Public Engagement Strategy a programme of high-quality public engagement that the programme inspires and involves target audiences with stories of STFC science, people, technology or facilities that the engagement activities or engagement capacity building activities clearly focus on the STFC science programme remit or align with the work of the STFC national and international laboratories and facilities how your work identifies the potential local, regional and or national impacts, both direct and indirect, and who the beneficiaries might be You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

Further details are provided in the Funding Service. 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 effective and appropriate to achieve your objectives is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed engages with a specific public group or groups, relevant to your project’s objectives, working with partner and intermediary organisations where appropriate will maximise translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts embeds equality, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) embeds detailed and considered evaluation plans to ensure your approach is fit for purpose, relevant and appropriate to your context Within the Approach section we also expect you to: clearly describe the different engagement, capacity building or the developing of community networks activities in STFC focused public engagement planned as part of the project clearly identify target audiences and the appropriateness of the methodology proposed to reach and retain these groups provide evidence of audience demand demonstrate and build upon learning from previous activities and wider sector good practice has been designed so that it will generate local, regional and or national impacts Applicants are expected to upload a single PDF document to provide evidence of audience demand, if applicable.

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. 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) to deliver the proposed work the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others contributed to developing a positive working environment and wider community a suitable delivery environment (in terms of the place and relevance to the project) to contribute to the success of the work The roles in funding applications policy has descriptions of the different project roles.

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: any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities 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 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) specific consideration of children, young people and vulnerable adults , wherever these audiences are included in the project formal information standards that your proposed work will comply with 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.

How will the outputs, outcomes and impacts of the project be captured, evaluated and shared?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Demonstrate that you have: a detailed evaluation plan including methodology described how the evaluation is linked to the STFC public engagement (PE) evaluation framework described how learning from the proposed activity will be captured and shared How will the outputs, outcomes and impacts of the project be captured, evaluated and shared?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Demonstrate that you have: planned for dissemination of the resources, outcomes, outputs, and so on, to relevant audiences considered how wider audiences could benefit through activities such as sharing good practice or sharing learning We expect that projects will focus primarily on audiences based in the UK.

Please show the total estimated number of people who will be reached within each of the following audience groups and express this as a percentage (which must total 100%): secondary school children (up to 16 years old) Please copy and paste the table shown in the Funding Service into the answer field to provide your response in the requested format.

If you are targeting a specific subset of the general public not mentioned above, please use the entry for ‘general public’ and specify here (for example gender specific or special educational needs (SEN) audiences). If appropriate, how will your project engage with the Wonder Initiative audience and what is the anticipated impact?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Please provide details of the following: how communities have helped to shape the application evidence of how the audience would be reached the appropriateness of the activities to the audience the potential impact on the audience The Wonder Initiative aims to connect people from all backgrounds with our science and technology.

Wonder is about giving under-served communities an equal voice by listening, understanding and responding to what people want to know about science and technology. The Wonder Initiative focuses on working with participants from the 40% most socio-economically deprived areas of the UK, in particular eight to 14-year-olds and their families and carers. Which of the STFC programme areas are relevant to your project?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Show the percentage of relevant programme areas and approximate percentages from the following: astronomy, solar and planetary science Please show the percentage of relevant programme areas and approximate percentages (which must total 100%). Please copy and paste the table shown in the Funding Service into the answer field to provide your response in the requested format.

Your organisation’s support Provide details of support from your research organisation. What the assessors are looking for in your response Provide a statement of support from your research organisation detailing how they will support you, as the applicant, and your proposed activities.

This should include details of any matched funding that will be provided to support the activity and any additional support that might add value to the work. Assessors will be looking for a strong statement of support from your organisation. This information should have been approved for submission by an appropriate institutional authority.

You must also include the following details: a significant person’s name, their position and office or department, or all office address or web link 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 facilities. Project partners may be in industry, academia, third sector or government organisations in the UK or overseas, including partners based in the EU.

Add the following project partner details: the organisation name and address (searchable via a drop-down list or enter the organisation’s details manually, as applicable) the project partner contact name and email address the type of contribution (direct or indirect) and its monetary value If a detail is entered incorrectly and you have saved the entry, remove the specific project partner record and re-add it with the correct information.

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made. Project partners: letters (or emails) of support Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the project partners section. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only.

What the assessors are looking for in your response Enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box, or if you do not have any project partners enter ‘N/A’.

Each letter or email you provide should: confirm the partner’s commitment to the project clearly explain the value, relevance, and possible benefits of the work to them describe any additional value that they bring to the project have a page limit of two sides A4 per partner The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.

If you do not have any project partners, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service. Ensure you have prior agreement from project partners so that, if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the project partners section. For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

How we will assess your application We will assess your application using the following process The STFC Public Engagement team will review all submitted applications to ensure that applications meet the stated criteria. All applications that meet the standard will be submitted for assessment by the independent panel of public engagement experts.

We will invite a panel of public engagement experts to use the evidence provided in your application to assess the quality of your application and rank it alongside other applications. After this process, the panel will make a funding recommendation. STFC will make the final funding decision.

For more information on how we prioritise applications for funding please visit: We aim to complete the assessment process within four months of receiving your application. We support the San Francisco declaration on research assessment and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity. Find out about the UKRI principles of assessment and decision making .

Using generative artificial intelligence (AI) in expert review Reviewers and panellists are not permitted to use generative AI tools to develop their assessment, including to correct language, spelling, grammar and formatting. Using these tools can potentially compromise the confidentiality of the ideas that applicants have entrusted to UKRI to safeguard. For more detail see our policy on the use of generative AI .

The assessment areas we will use are: applicant and team capability to deliver resources and cost justification ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI) Find details of assessment questions and criteria under the ‘Application questions’ heading in the ‘How to apply’ section.

Get help with your application If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this page The helpdesk is committed to helping users of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service as effectively and as quickly as possible. In order to manage cases at peak volume times, the helpdesk will triage and prioritise those queries with an imminent opportunity deadline or a technical issue.

Enquiries raised where information is available on the Funding finder opportunity page and should be understood early in the application process (for example, regarding eligibility, content or remit of a funding opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.

For help and advice on costings and writing your application please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process. For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please contact stfcpublicengagement@stfc. ac.

uk Any queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the Funding Service should be directed to the helpdesk. Email: support@funding-service. ukri.

org Our phone lines are open: Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm To help us process queries more efficiently, we request that users highlight the council and opportunity name in the subject title of their email query, include the application reference number, and refrain from contacting more than one mailbox at a time. For further information on submitting an application read How applicants use the Funding Service .

Nucleus Public Engagement Awards 2026 is a single stage funding opportunity as part of the STFC public engagement programme. Research and innovation impact Impact can be defined as the long-term intended or unintended effect research and innovation has on society, economy and the environment; to individuals, organisations, and the wider global population.

Research disruption due to COVID-19 We recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major interruptions and disruptions across our communities.

We are committed to ensuring that individual applicants and their wider team, including partners and networks, are not penalised for any disruption to their career, such as: disruptive working patterns and conditions role changes that may have been caused by the pandemic Reviewers and panel members will be advised to consider the unequal impacts that COVID-19 related disruption might have had on the capability to deliver and career development of those individuals included in the application.

They will be asked to consider the capability of the applicant and their wider team to deliver the research they