Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council
BBSRC
Funds bioscience underpinning agriculture, food, industrial biotechnology and the fundamental biology of plants, animals and microbes. Supports major institutes such as the John Innes Centre and Rothamsted Research alongside responsive-mode grants and industrial partnership awards.
- Kind of funder
- Research council
- Where it funds
- UK-wide
- Indicative award size
- £100k – £5m
- Approx. annual research spend
- £500m
- Who can apply
- Universities, Research institutes, SMEs, Large businesses
- Career stages
- PhD / doctoral, Postdoctoral, Early career, Established researcher
Research areas
Named schemes (6)
Bioinformatics and Biological Resources Fund (26BBR) ↗
Apply for funding to implement, improve or consolidate bioinformatics or biological resources in support of UK bioscience, helping to drive forwards progress in bioscience research and innovation. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for BBSRC funding.
Upcoming19 Nov 2026up to £2m per award£7m total fundpulled from UKRI 2026-09-16Mid-range equipment for biosciences research: ALERT 2026 ↗
Apply for funding to purchase mid-range equipment for research across BBSRC’s scientific remit through ALERT 2026. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for BBSRC funding. Research technical professionals are eligible as project leads or project co-leads for this funding opportunity.
Upcoming14 Jan 2027£13m total fundpulled from UKRI 2026-10-122026 to 2027 strategic Longer and Larger (sLoLa): full stage ↗
Apply for funding to undertake a large team-based curiosity-driven bioscience discovery research project. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for BBSRC funding. Full stage submissions are invitation only following assessment of an sLoLa outline application.
Open9 Feb 2027pulled from UKRI 2026-11-062026 to 2027 strategic Longer and Larger (sLoLa): full stage ↗
Apply for funding to undertake a large team-based curiosity-driven bioscience discovery research project. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for BBSRC funding. Full stage submissions are invitation only following assessment of an sLoLa outline application.
Upcoming9 Feb 2027pulled from UKRI 2026-11-03BBSRC responsive mode research grant ↗
Investigator-led bioscience research grants, including a route for industrial partnership awards where a company contributes cash and in-kind support.
Rolling / recurringCheck funder site for current round£150k – £3m per awardchecked 2026-05-01International Travel Award Scheme for the Biological Sciences ↗
Apply for funding to visit international partners to initiate collaborations, prepare joint funding proposals, visit overseas facilities or attend European consortia-building events. Stays may be of up to one month in duration. You must be a current BBSRC-supported researcher to apply for funding.
OpenCheck funder site for current roundup to £3k per awardpulled from UKRI 2026-10-22