Resilient economy and security through ecosystem transitions grants

Resilient economy and security through ecosystem transitions grants is sponsored by Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) & Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra). Funding to improve understanding of how ecosystem change affects resilience, security, and prosperity. Research on parasites and their impact on ecosystem health and stability could be relevant.

Resilient economy and security through ecosystem transitions grants – UKRI Funding opportunity: Resilient economy and security through ecosystem transitions grants Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) 13 August 2026 9:00am UK time 22 October 2026 4:00pm UK time Apply for funding for research projects under the NERC-Defra co-funded Resilient Economy and Security through Ecosystem Transitions (RESET) programme Projects will improve understanding on how, when and why ecosystems transition, reorganise or collapse, to sustain functions, strengthen economic prosperity, societal resilience and national security.

You must be based at an eligible UK research organisation to apply. The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £2. 5 million.

We will fund 80% of the FEC. Funding is available for up to three years. You must start by 14 February 2027.

This funding opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility, and organisations who are based overseas. Check if your organisation is eligible . This funding opportunity is open to research groups and individuals.

We: encourage multidisciplinary research and collaborations with other UK organisations welcome applications from individuals at any career stage, subject to NERC eligibility criteria The project lead must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for NERC funding . This includes eligible public sector research establishments and independent research organisations.

Project leads agree to participate in the distributed peer review (DPR) process to assess applications submitted to this funding opportunity. See the ‘How we will assess your application’ section for details. Project leads will be required to nominate team members to participate in this process according to their suitability and availability.

Project leads should not apply to this funding opportunity if they cannot participate in the DPR process. There is no limit to the number of project co-leads per application, but it must be clear from the application what unique contribution each project co-lead will make to the success of the proposed project.

Other ways different organisations can be involved include: project partners: people who will not receive funding directly from the award but will have an integral role in the proposed project. Minor directly incurred costs, such as some travel costs, are acceptable subcontractors: people responsible for providing a service only Defra should not be included as a project partner as they are co-funders of this programme.

Defra’s arm’s length bodies who are approved UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) public sector research establishments are eligible to apply to this funding opportunity provided that they meet the wider UKRI eligibility for funding criteria.

International researchers As NERC is the lead funder for this funding opportunity, international researchers can apply as ‘project co-lead (international)’, subject to the eligibility criteria set out in the NERC eligibility guidance for applicants . You should include all other international collaborators (or UK partners not based at approved organisations) as project partners.

This includes organisations from the business or financial sectors. Who is not eligible to apply You may be involved in no more than two applications submitted to this funding opportunity and the related RESET Hub funding opportunity. Only one of these can be as a project lead.

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. Find out more about NERC’s diversity and inclusion action plan . Demand management is not currently being applied to this funding opportunity.

However, should the level of interest exceed what can be managed within the application assessment process, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) may introduce limits on the number of applications that can be submitted. Further details will be clearly communicated where this is the case.

UKRI encourages organisations to support applicants in preparing well-planned, high-quality applications that are competitive for funding relative to the funding opportunity. Resilient economy and security through ecosystem transitions: strategic research projects This funding opportunity is part of the Resilient Economy and Security through Ecosystem Transitions (RESET) programme.

The programme is co-funded, co-designed and co-delivered by NERC and Defra. It has also received wider UKRI and disciplinary input throughout its development. The RESET programme vision is to generate the knowledge, evidence, tools and approaches needed to anticipate and respond to ecosystem transitions at local to global scales.

RESET will deliver understanding of how ecosystem change affects resilience, security and prosperity, and will support decisions and actions that sustain ecosystem functions, strengthen economic prosperity, societal resilience and national security. The RESET programme will consist of five activities across strategic research, international partnerships, policy-facing research and a programme hub.

These are: programme hub: knowledge synthesis and integration across RESET and agile response to policy (Defra led) strategic research projects: this funding opportunity (NERC led) joint international research projects: UK participation in Biodiversa+2026-27 joint funding opportunity (NERC led) nature security research project: UK security risks and resilience through global ecosystem change (Defra led) ecosystem function and resilience sandboxes (Defra led) This funding opportunity will fund interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research on UK and international ecosystems.

It will generate new understanding of: how, when and why ecosystems transition, reorganise or collapse, and how those transitions affect ecosystem functions and resilience how these changes affect economic prosperity, national security, and wider societal outcomes, and how transitions can be managed to minimise risks to people and society The research projects awarded by this funding opportunity are expected to generate evidence, methods and models that can be drawn upon by the hub and other activities within the RESET programme.

Synthesised evidence, tools and case studies generated by the programme will be used to inform UK and international action on biodiversity. Ecosystems in the UK and around the world are undergoing change at unprecedented rates as climate change and other anthropogenic drivers are altering their biotic and abiotic composition.

Population declines, extinctions, species introductions, shifting trophic interactions, and changes in species composition and ranges are leading to the emergence of ‘novel ecosystems’, with no historical analogues.

Novel ecosystems may be defined as “a system of abiotic, biotic and social components (and their interactions) that, by virtue of human influence, differ from those that prevailed historically, having an inherent tendency to self-organize, and manifest novel qualities without intensive human management” ( Hobbs et al 2013 ).

When ecosystems change there can be both positive and negative consequences for ecosystem functions, assets, and services. Changes in species composition and shifts in abiotic conditions can lead to disruption of stable emergent properties, ecosystem function, and overall ecosystem resilience.

As the pace of environmental change increases, ecosystems may no longer maintain crucial functions and services on which we depend such as water purification, nutrient cycling or carbon sequestration. Such changes could be slow or rapid, and result in subtly different or radically altered states or systems. Economic growth and security depend on sustainable and resilient ecosystems.

Unexpected and unmanaged change within these ecosystems causes transitions to novel states putting these dependencies at risk. Understanding and predicting likely transitions, and emergence of novel ecosystems is key to informing near-future approaches to management designed to support the resilience required by society. For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, see the ‘Additional information’ section.

Key requirements for research projects The funded projects will be required to work closely with the RESET hub and other parts of the RESET programme throughout the duration of their award. Following award announcements, NERC and Defra will facilitate introductions to help successful applicants work together in support of the programme’s overall objectives.

The RESET hub will be an integrating body that synthesises knowledge across RESET projects and translates it into formats useable by policymakers and businesses.

The hub will: play a convening and community-building role across the programme, aligning concepts, frameworks and terminology undertake research synthesis, drawing together findings from across the programme engage private sector and other external stakeholders undertake rapid research for government To ensure full integration of funded projects into the wider RESET programme, it is anticipated the hub will deliver an outward facing agenda through three primary roles: convening and community building: aligning concepts, frameworks and terminology and facilitating knowledge sharing within and beyond the RESET programme.

This is likely to take place through communities of practice, expert working groups, workshops and symposia knowledge centre: synthesising learning and knowledge across the programme, producing whole-system insights, conducting horizon scanning, and supporting integrative research to support the translation and uptake of new knowledge by a range of stakeholders including policy, business, finance, land managers and the wider public rapid response policy centre: short term projects for government to inform policy.

For example, through evidence reviews, expert elicitation workshops, policy-facing products and communication, and policy sandboxes that test tools, methods and approaches While the majority of research must be within NERC remit, the funders strongly encourage the participation of wider disciplines beyond environmental science including biological and social sciences, economics, arts and humanities represented by remits across UKRI including Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to help address these complex challenges.

Your project should address one or more of the three themes listed below. Within each theme, the funders have identified a number of knowledge gaps that could be addressed. Projects should consider but are not limited to these.

In addition, there is no expectation that all knowledge gaps would be addressed in the same project.

Theme one: predicting ecosystem change and transitions The knowledge gaps identified for this theme are to: generate new knowledge on the ways in which ecosystems are likely to disassemble, reassemble, reorganise or return to stability in response to anthropogenic pressures, and the timeframes and conditions associated with transitions to novel states improve understanding of how changes in species assemblages (including native and non-native species) alter species interactions, trophic networks, and ecosystem functioning.

Use this understanding to identify implications for maintaining ecosystem function, resilience and transition pathways under plausible future conditions improve understanding of cross-boundary and cross-system effects of ecosystem change and transitions.

For example, interactions across terrestrial, freshwater and coastal systems develop new indicators, models and monitoring approaches to detect and predict changes in ecosystem function and resilience.

This includes approaches and metrics to predict ecosystem changes in response to increasing environmental and anthropogenic stress, early warning signals of transition to novel states, and to understand the potential robustness of these approaches in the real world for the ecosystems studied, generate evidence on the usability, uncertainty and limitations of ecosystem function indicators, including how they could inform planning by Government, businesses, finance and wider society Theme two: understanding ecosystem change through cascading risks The knowledge gaps identified for this theme are to: develop new understanding of how changes in ecosystem functions can propagate through ecosystem services, social and economic systems, and the consequences for security and economy.

This includes improving understanding of how transitions to novel ecosystem states may create or amplify risks to inform nature security risk analysis improve understanding of how uncertainty, lag effects and irreversible ecosystem change (for example, extinction debt, delayed recovery and regime shifts) should be incorporated into current ecological risk assessment and how this evidence could inform mitigation approaches improve understanding of how social, cultural, and governance dynamics shape risk perception, mitigation pathways and resilience, recognising that people’s sense of risk and security is shaped by their social context, and that inclusive, participatory approaches can build resilience Theme three: building ecosystem resilience The knowledge gaps identified for this theme are to: identify and evaluate innovative land use systems and livelihood approaches that could maintain ecosystem assets and functions through transitions.

This includes systems that enable adaptation to, and management of transitions to novel ecosystems develop innovative approaches to management that protect ecosystem function during periods of transition, which recognise ecosystems as dynamic systems and support functional resilience even where species composition changes address how resilience, as an emergent property of ecosystems, changes through transitions, and identify barriers and enablers to the outcome of resilient novel ecosystems characterise how disturbance regimes (for example, wildfires, floods, pests and diseases) may be altered under ecosystem transitions and how these affect the stability and reliability of ecosystem services co-develop and test models, scenarios and evidence products that empower local communities, Indigenous peoples, and wider stakeholders to evaluate and influence future ecosystem pathways under uncertainty, including choices between restoration, adaptation or acceptance of novel states, ensuring transitions are socially acceptable, and provide continued security and growth Your project should examine natural or semi-natural ecosystems in terrestrial, freshwater, or terrestrial-marine transitional environments including coastal seas.

We anticipate supporting a balanced portfolio of projects that collectively address a range of ecosystem types and transition pathways in the UK and overseas. While your project may consider ecosystems in any geographical location, you should provide clear justification for your choice of ecosystem and explain how it is relevant to the research themes and questions.

The funders particularly encourage research on ecosystems that are important to UK resilience, prosperity, national security and global nature security, including ecosystems that provide critical ecosystem functions, support internationally significant biodiversity, underpin supply chains, or are vulnerable to rapid transition and the emergence of novel states.

The UK (including UK Overseas Territories) is well suited as a case study of rapidly changing ecosystems with a long history of land transformation, industrialisation and species introductions, leading to ecosystems along a gradient of transition to potential novel states.

Projects focused outside the UK must demonstrate how they will support sustainable growth and security to the UK (for example, either how knowledge generated could be readily translated in the UK context or how the chosen study region or system has significant impacts on the UK through telecoupling).

Examples of relevant ecosystems include, but are not limited to, the six critical ecosystems identified in the UK Government’s Nature security assessment on global biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and national security . Note the following clarifications on the scope of study systems for this funding opportunity.

Projects are out of scope if they focus primarily on urban built-up areas, intensive farming or aquaculture, intensive commercial forestry plantations, active mining or oil or gas extraction, major infrastructure including major roads or active railway lines or tracts. This does not include the verges or margins which may be bordering these areas.

Mixed landscapes comprising agricultural systems and natural or semi-natural elements, for example, woodlands, hedgerows, rivers and ponds are in scope where the ecosystem change on that landscape is the study focus rather than the management of the agricultural practices. Ecosystems in coastal seas that are strongly influenced by and interact with terrestrial and freshwater ecosystems are within the scope of this funding opportunity.

For this funding opportunity, coastal seas are defined as within three nautical miles of shoreline. You must contact NERC Marine Planning to discuss your requirements to access facilities for research on coastal seas in advance of funding opportunity closing date.

See details in ‘Ship-time and marine facilities’ section Projects whose primary purpose is to develop operational nature security risk taxonomies, policy-facing early warning frameworks, government decision-support tools (mainly expected to be delivered though the Defra commissioned Nature Security activity), or applied ecosystem assessment toolkits (mainly expected to be delivered through the Defra commissioned Ecosystem Function and Resilience Sandboxes) are out of scope, unless these are clearly positioned as research outputs that provide underpinning evidence or methods for use by the wider RESET programme.

A Programme Executive Board (PEB) composed of the programme funders will interact regularly with the award holders, provide advice and receive reports. This will include monitoring the outcomes and impacts from the projects and ensuring programme wide oversight is maintained throughout the duration of the awards. The research projects will be required to provide reporting updates to the PEB on a regular basis.

The research projects will be required to engage with the hub, Nature Security, and Ecosystem Function and Resilience projects, as well relevant activities external to the RESET programme. There will be mid-term review to decide if project deliverables and milestones are being achieved and if funding should continue for the awards. The duration of this award is a maximum of three years.

Project must start by 14 February 2027. The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £2. 5 million.

We will fund 80% of the FEC with the following exceptions; eligible costs for international project co-lead involvement would be funded at 100% and follow the UKRI project co-lead (international) policy . The total costs claimed for the project co-lead (international) contribution to a project must not exceed 30% of the overall cost of the project, calculated at 100% full economic cost (FEC).

Applicants who include project co-leads (international) must fully justify the associated costs within the resource and costs section of the application. This funding opportunity sources its funds from the NERC and Defra budgets. We will fund costs for NERC non-ship marine facilities and equipment as part of this funding opportunity.

These costs need to be included in the application and will count towards the funding limit. You can apply to use a facility or resource in your funding application.

You should discuss your application with the facility or service at least two months before you submit your application, to: ensure the details of the proposed work are feasible receive confirmation that they can provide the services required within the timeframe of the funding You should ensure you have prior agreement from the facility before submitting to the funding opportunity and indicate this within your application.

The facility will provide a technical assessment that includes the calculated cost of providing the service. NERC services and facilities must be costed within the limits of the funding. You should not submit the technical assessment with the application, but you must confirm you have received it.

Please check the relevant section of the NERC facilities and resources page for the latest information on how to apply for these services including whether a technical assessment is needed. High Performance Computing (HPC) The UK Compute Roadmap was published in July 2025 detailing plans to evolve the UK compute landscape, and UKRI is working with Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to deliver this.

Given the evolving nature of UKRI’s HPC portfolio, if you require (HPC) services, please refer to the HPC section of the NERC facilities and resources for the latest information on how to apply. Additional provisions available to UK researchers include: supercomputers (EuroHPC JU) Ship-time and marine facilities Applications may require non-ship marine facilities.

If you wish to use NERC’s marine facilities, then you must complete an online ‘ship-time and marine equipment (SME) or autonomous deployment (ADF) application form’ available from Marine Facilities Planning . Include the SME or ADF number on the ‘Facilities’ section of your application. SMEs or ADFs must be submitted to and approved by NERC Marine Planning by the time your funding application is submitted.

A PDF of the SME or ADF can be attached as a facility form to your application. If you do not do this, your request may not be included in the NERC Marine Facilities Programme. If you intend on using NERC marine facilities, then see more information on facilities and resources which advises on facility availability from 2025 to 2030.

You should also contact marineplanning@nerc. ukri. org two months prior to the funding opportunity closing date, to allow for talks, approval and costs.

The latest date to contact NERC marine planning to discuss this funding opportunity is 31 August 2026. British Antarctic Survey (BAS) Antarctic logistics support If you require NERC BAS Antarctic logistics support, then you must complete a pre-award operational support planning questionnaire (OSPQ) online. You must email the Antarctic Access Office (AAO) at BAS (email: afibas@bas.

ac. uk ) stating your name, institution and project title. The AAO will then grant you access to the OSPQ portal where you can complete a pre award OSPQ to detail your support requirements.

The deadline for pre-award OSPQs to be submitted is 20 August 2026. You are encouraged to engage with the AAO at an early stage for an initial discussion around the feasibility of your fieldwork plans. Any funding applications that require BAS Antarctic logistic support will not be awarded unless your OSPQ has been approved.

All funding applications wishing to use Antarctic logistics support must add this to the facilities question in your application. You should also be aware of the NERC marine facilities availability 2025 to 2030 . Supporting skills and talent 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 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 your 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. You must adhere to UKRI open research policy and NERC data policy and complete the ‘Data management and sharing’ question. For details of data centres, see the NERC Environmental Data Service .

We will pay the data centre directly on behalf of the programme for archival and curation services, but you should ensure that you request sufficient resource to cover preparation of data for archiving by the research team.

Additional services from the data centres, such as database development or a specialist in project data management during your project, will need to be discussed with the relevant data centre prior to submission, costs for additional services will need to be funded from your grant. Through our funding processes, we seek to make a positive contribution to society and the environment.

This is not just through research outputs and outcomes but through the way in which research is conducted and facilities managed. All NERC grant holders are to adopt responsible research practices as set out in the NERC responsible business statement . Responsible research is defined as reducing harm or enhancing benefit on the environment and society through effective management of research activities and facilities.

Specifically, this covers: equality, diversity and inclusion You should consider the responsible research context of your project, not the host institution as a whole. You should take action to enhance your responsible research approach where practical and reasonable.

There are two stages to apply for this UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding opportunity: There is a non-mandatory notification of intent (NoI) stage for this funding opportunity. To submit an NoI, you should complete the NoI form by 16 September 2026 at 4:00pm UK time. The NoI form requests the basic details of your proposed project team and a brief summary of your research project.

This information will not be assessed but will be used to inform assessment preparations. No content submitted by you as part of the NoI stage is considered final. Therefore, the project lead may change, as can the project co-leads, project partners and wider consortium members be added, and removed at the full submission stage.

Your proposed research project area is permitted to change significantly as your application is prepared and ultimately submitted at the full submission stage. You will receive an automated email acknowledgement once you have submitted your NoI form details. There is no requirement to submit NoI in order to submit your full application.

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UKRI Funding Service, so 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. Watch our recording on how to apply for an opportunity in the Funding Service (YouTube) . Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page: Confirm you are the project lead.

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. Be aware that research office and finance teams undertake checks on hosting arrangements and financial eligibility.

The ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with all funding opportunity requirements lies with you (the applicant). 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 limit 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 . We must receive your application by 22 October 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. 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 returned for amendment.

If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected. NERC, 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 . NERC, as part of UKRI, will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with Defra so that they can participate in the assessment process. Further information on how Defra use personal information .

If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email RESET@nerc. ukri. org Include in the subject line: Resilient Economy and Security through Ecosystems Transitions projects funding opportunity; 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 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 any 20% FEC contribution. Expert reviewers and panel members assessing UKRI funding applications will not consider the level of matched host institution funding as a factor on which to base funding recommendations.

Direct and in-kind contributions from third party project partners are encouraged. The 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.

Any project partners are expected to contribute to the project, either with cash or in-kind contributions.