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EPSRC has opened the explainable AI strand of its Next Generation Artificial Intelligence programme, a 12,050,000 pound call for speculative, high-risk fundamental research that makes AI systems explainable rather than merely accurate.
The call names five research directions: output reasoning, where the system articulates why it produced a given output; mechanistic interpretability, which seeks to understand the internal computations of a model; process examination, which audits how a decision was reached; imposed explainability, which builds explanation into architecture by construction rather than recovering it after the fact; and uncertainty quantification, which characterises what a model does not know.
The framing is unusually explicit that incremental improvement is not fundable: applications must demonstrate potential for transformative outcomes, and EPSRC uses the phrase speculative and high-risk fundamental research with the potential to deliver high reward. Awards run up to 24 months with a fixed project start of 1 February 2027, and the maximum request is 602,500 pounds at full economic cost with UKRI funding 80 percent.
Early and mid-career researchers are particularly welcomed, and joint leadership is permitted with a designated administrative lead. The deadline is 20 October 2026 at 4:00pm UK time, with an information webinar having been held on 8 September 2026.
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Or search similar grants →According to the current listing, eligibility includes: Applicants must be based at UK research organisations eligible for UKRI funding and must meet UKRI individual eligibility requirements. EPSRC particularly welcomes early and mid-career researchers, and joint leadership arrangements are permitted provided one applicant is designated the administrative lead. There is a hard cap of two applications per individual across the call, of which only one may be as project lead, so researchers should decide early whether to lead or to join a colleague's bid. International researchers may participate only as project co-leads and only under specific existing UKRI cooperation agreements; there is no general route for an overseas institution to receive funds directly. Projects run up to 24 months with a fixed start date of 1 February 2027, which removes scheduling flexibility and means staff recruitment must be planned against that date. The host organisation must absorb 20 percent of full economic cost. Applications are made through the UKRI Funding Service by 20 October 2026 at 4:00pm UK time, and institutional internal deadlines will fall earlier. Reviewers are instructed to look for transformative rather than incremental ambition, so a proposal that reads as a solid extension of existing interpretability work is likely to be scored down regardless of technical quality. Confirm the full requirements in the official notice before applying.
The current listing shows each project may request up to 602,500 pounds at full economic cost, of which UKRI pays 80 percent, equating to a maximum UKRI contribution of 482,000 pounds and leaving the host organisation to cover the remaining 20 percent. At roughly 1.31 US dollars to the pound that is about 790,000 US dollars of total project cost and about 632,000 US dollars of actual UKRI cash, which is why amount_min is set to the UKRI-funded portion and amount_max to the full economic cost ceiling. The total fund is 12,050,000 pounds, roughly 15.8 million US dollars, so at the maximum award size the call supports on the order of twenty projects. UKRI does not publish a floor and explicitly welcomes smaller requests, so a well-argued 200,000 pound project is not disadvantaged by size alone. The 20 percent institutional contribution is a real budgeting constraint that catches applicants who plan to the headline number rather than to the UKRI contribution. Verify award ceilings, matching requirements, and allowable costs in the official notice.
Applications for UKRI EPSRC Next Generation Artificial Intelligence: Explainable AI for Output Reasoning, Mechanistic Interpretability and Uncertainty Quantification are due October 20, 2026. Build your timeline backwards from this date to cover registrations, approvals, and final submission checks.
UKRI EPSRC Next Generation Artificial Intelligence: Explainable AI for Output Reasoning, Mechanistic Interpretability and Uncertainty Quantification is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). Verify program details on the funder's official page before applying.
Start from the official opportunity page linked in this listing — it carries the sponsor's submission instructions.
UKRI has opened a 12,050,000 pound call for speculative, high-risk research aimed at a step change in the sustainability of future AI systems, covering innovation across the whole AI stack rather than any single layer. In scope are energy-efficient algorithms, hardware-software co-design, and AI systems designed to operate under real resource constraints, alongside work that addresses the environmental, social and economic sustainability impacts running through the AI value chain. The framing is notable for treating sustainability as broader than energy per training run: proposals are expected to engage with impacts across the value chain rather than optimising a single benchmark metric. As with the companion explainable AI call, UKRI states it is funding speculative and high-risk research with the potential to deliver high rewards, so incremental efficiency gains over existing baselines are unlikely to compete. Awards run up to 24 months with a fixed start of 1 February 2027 and a ceiling of 602,500 pounds full economic cost at 80 percent UKRI funding. Eligible roles explicitly include research technical professionals, which opens the call to systems and infrastructure specialists who are often excluded from conventional research grants. The deadline is 10 November 2026 at 4:00pm UK time, with a webinar held on 16 September 2026.
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