Future Leaders Fellowships: Round 11, business and non-academic

To host a Future Leaders Fellowship project your organisation must be a:

• UK registered business of any size
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• agri-tech centre
• eligible research organisation

Research organisations eligible to receive UKRI funding cannot apply to host a fellowship through this application form. Fellowship applications for these organisations must be made through the UKRI funding service. This does not apply to Catapult centres; Catapult centres must apply for this competition through this application form.

Partners: To ensure leadership remains with you as the Fellow, the involvement of partners should be limited to a maximum of six months over the lifetime of the fellowship.

Partners are only permitted when bringing complementary and different skills to the project. Their role should be clearly defined in the application.

To collaborate with the lead, your organisation must be one of the following UK registered:

• business of any size
• academic institution
• charity
• not for profit
• public sector organisation
• research and technology organisation (RTO)

To apply for a Fellowship, you must demonstrate that you have the skills, knowledge and experience required to deliver the proposed project.

Your application must evidence readiness to lead an ambitious programme of research or innovation and include a clear plan for leadership development. This applies regardless of academic qualifications.

You do not need to hold a PhD, and there are no eligibility rules based on the number of years since your PhD. If you do not hold a PhD, you must be able to demonstrate equivalent research or innovation experience or training.

Future Leaders Fellowships are open to researchers and innovators from outside the UK, with the support of an eligible UK‑based host organisation. Researchers and innovators may be eligible for a Global Talent visa under the ‘exceptional promise’ category for future research and innovation leaders.

Future Leaders Fellowships offer flexibility to support outstanding individuals, including those:

• from diverse career backgrounds
• returning from a career break, or returning to research or innovation following time in other roles
• wishing to work part‑time or in job shares to combine the fellowship with personal responsibilities

Fellows may spend up to 50% of their time on other activities that are not funded by the fellowship, where these activities are demonstrated to benefit or be necessary for their career development. Such activities may include business as usual responsibilities, other grant funding, or ongoing contracts. No additional salary may be claimed for non‑FLF activities during the fellowship.

Where a Fellow spends less than 100% of their time on the fellowship, the duration of the award may be extended on a pro‑rata basis, up to the maximum permitted duration, subject to approval.

Applicants interested in applying as a job share should contact fellows@ukri.org.

A fellow can only lead on one application.

Your project must:

• have a grant funding request of between £100,000 and £3 million
• last for 4 years, with an option to extend for a further three years
• not start before October 2027

Any organisation receiving funding must carry out its project work in the UK, intend to exploit the results in the UK, and spend most of the funding within the UK.

International partners and work overseas is allowed with full justification.

Fellows may spend up to 50% of their time on other activities that are not funded by the fellowship, where these activities are demonstrated to benefit or be necessary for their career development. Where a Fellow spends less than 100% of their time on the fellowship, the duration of the award may be extended on a pro‑rata basis, up to the maximum permitted duration, subject to approval.

If the total cost of your application is expected to exceed £1.4 million, email the FLF team to inform us of the expected cost of your proposal. This soft cap has been put in place to help monitor application costs across the scheme. Applicants can exceed this cap if all costs are fully justified and are considered good value for money by the panel. Email the team at fellows@ukri.org using the subject header ‘Application over £1.4 million’, you will receive an automated response acknowledging your email.

The aim of this competition is to:

• provide sustained funding and resources for talented individuals with the potential to become future leaders in research and innovation
• enable individuals to establish an independent research or innovation career
• support the development of leadership capability
• enable the delivery of high quality, impactful and ambitious work aligned with UK strategic priorities

Your project must:

• clearly set out an ambitious programme of work that will deliver meaningful benefits for the UK
• go beyond business as usual and show clear novelty
• include a clear leadership development plan that will accelerate your development as an independent leader
• include explicit host commitments, such as protected time, access to facilities and senior mentorship

Your project can:

• be made up of a single programme of work, or multiple projects led by the Fellow, known as a ‘Portfolio Fellowship’
• be altered once underway to react to changes in the research landscape, capitalise on advance in understanding, or react to changing business needs

Proposals are invited from all areas of research and innovation, including:

• the arts, humanities and social sciences
• the five critical technologies outlined in the UK’s Science and Technology Framework. These are:
  • advanced connectivity technologies (formerly called future telecoms)
  • artificial intelligence
  • engineering biology
  • quantum technologies and
  • semiconductors
• applications that are multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary

Research and innovation are considered in the fullest sense, including business, creative, cultural, service and knowledge-based sectors.

An online briefing will be held on Friday 26 June at 11am: click here to register for a place. A recording and slides will be available afterwards.

If you want help to find a project partner, contact Innovate UK Business Connect.