UK Research Funding Directory
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Economic and Social Research Council

ESRC

Funds social and economic research — sociology, economics, politics, psychology, education, criminology and data-intensive social science. Also supports the UK longitudinal studies, doctoral training partnerships and social data infrastructure.

Funding opportunities ↗Main site ↗
Kind of funder
Research council
Where it funds
UK-wide
Indicative award size
£50k – £3m
Approx. annual research spend
£250m
Who can apply
Universities, Research institutes, Charities & NGOs, Public sector
Career stages
PhD / doctoral, Postdoctoral, Early career, Established researcher

Research areas

Social sciencesEconomics & policyEducationMental healthInternational development

Named schemes (10)

  • Economic research on the returns to R&D investment ↗

    Apply for funding to support research that can help develop new measurements of the return on investments in research and development (R&D). You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UKRI funding.

    Open19 Nov 2026up to £308k per award£2.5m total fundpulled from UKRI 2026-09-12

  • Data for metascience sandpit 2027 ↗

    Apply to attend a five-day interactive sandpit to develop novel projects that can address multi-faceted metascience questions related to research and development policy and funding. You will complete an expression of interest form to apply for the sandpit. We expect to fund up to £2 million at 80% full economic cost (FEC).

    Open24 Nov 2026£2m total fundpulled from UKRI 2026-10-27

  • Future data services: transforming discovery and access (invite only) ↗

    Apply for funding to transform discovery and access to data provided by ESRC’s social science data service infrastructures. You must be invited to apply for this funding opportunity You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for ESRC funding.

    Open3 Dec 2026£22m total fundpulled from UKRI 2026-10-29

  • What Works Centre for a climate resilient UK ↗

    Apply for funding to establish and lead a What Works Centre for a climate resilient UK to transform how the UK adapts to climate change. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for Economic and Social Research (ESRC) funding.

    Open15 Dec 2026pulled from UKRI 2026-10-01

  • Wearables and observables: Understanding home learning environment ↗

    Apply for funding to develop, test and validate innovative approaches for measuring and understanding children's home learning environments and their influence on learning, development, school readiness and educational outcomes. Open to UKRI-eligible UK research organisations.

    Upcoming19 Jan 2027£3.6m total fundpulled from UKRI 2026-11-04

  • Pre-announcement: Future Data Services: Joining up the data service workforce ↗

    Apply for Future Data Services funding to bring together communities of practitioners to exchange knowledge, improve working practices and deliver better data services for researchers.

    Upcoming13 Apr 2027£2m total fundpulled from UKRI 2026-10-05

  • ESRC applicant-led: explore awards ↗

    Apply for funding to advance knowledge through ambitious, curiosity-driven social science. Explore awards support individuals or small teams to pursue bold, novel ideas within ESRC’s remit that advance knowledge. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for ESRC funding.

    OpenCheck funder site for current roundpulled from UKRI 2026-11-05

  • ESRC applicant-led: grow awards ↗

    Apply for funding to make a step-change in your career. Grow awards support individual researchers at key career points to develop capabilities or pivot direction, strengthening the UK’s social science research base. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for ESRC funding.

    OpenCheck funder site for current roundpulled from UKRI 2026-11-05

  • ESRC Research Grant (open call) ↗

    Open competition for social science research from £350k to £1m, with no thematic restriction and no fixed deadline.

    Rolling / recurringCheck funder site for current round£350k – £1m per awardchecked 2026-05-01

  • Pre-announcement: ESRC applicant-led: challenge awards ↗

    Apply for funding to bring people, expertise and ideas together in ambitious, larger-scale programmes. Challenge awards tackle major research, economic and societal challenges, generating impactful knowledge and innovation. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for ESRC funding.

    UpcomingCheck funder site for current roundpulled from UKRI 2026-09-12