Economic Research on the Returns to R&D Investment 2026: Up to £308,000 for 24-Month UKRI Projects

Economic Research on the Returns to R&D Investment 2026: Up to £308,000 for 24-Month UKRI Projects

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), through UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), is opening a focused research grant for teams that can improve how governments, funders, businesses, and researchers measure the returns from research and development. The opportunity is aimed at serious empirical work on what R&D produces, for whom, over what time period, and under which funding or policy conditions.

The call has a useful window for a well-prepared research team. It opens on 10 September 2026 at 9:00am UK time and closes on 19 November 2026 at 4:00pm UK time. The project lead must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UKRI funding. International researchers can participate as project co-leads from outside the UK, and overseas organisations can also contribute as project partners.

UKRI lists a total fund of £2.46 million, a target of eight awards, and a maximum full economic cost of £308,000 per project. UKRI will fund 80% of the full economic cost, with the host organisation expected to cover the standard remaining 20%. Awards last 24 months and must start by 1 April 2027. This is a research grant for a defined project, not a personal stipend or an open-ended fellowship.

Key details

What this grant is designed to fund

The central problem is that published estimates of R&D returns vary widely. Some studies examine private profits, others examine productivity, knowledge spillovers, employment, health, welfare, or social value. They may use different definitions, data, time horizons, and assumptions. The result is a large evidence base that does not always give decision-makers a reliable answer to a practical question: what additional benefit is created by a particular pound, dollar, or hour invested in R&D?

UKRI wants research that narrows that uncertainty. The call welcomes quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches, but a proposal must do more than discuss the importance of innovation in general. It should improve measurement, explain mechanisms, compare approaches, or produce evidence that can inform the scale, targeting, or design of future R&D investment.

The official scope suggests several possible directions. A project might distinguish private from social returns, or marginal from average returns. It could examine the returns from public R&D spending under different funding designs, test whether public and private investment are complements or substitutes, or study whether applied research produces different effects from other kinds of development activity. Other relevant questions concern knowledge spillovers across firms, sectors, and borders; the speed at which R&D knowledge becomes obsolete; welfare gains that are not well captured by GDP; and the effects of tax incentives, subsidies, or programme design.

The call also welcomes work that improves methods, such as reconciling published estimates, decomposing returns by sector or technology, or capturing impacts missed by existing datasets. The important boundary is actionability: a proposal that is only theoretical or loosely connected to estimating R&D returns is out of scope.

Who is a good fit

The clearest fit is a UK-based research team with a credible route to data, a strong empirical question, and expertise that covers both analysis and interpretation. Economics is an obvious home, but UKRI explicitly welcomes researchers from all disciplines. A project could draw on economic history, public policy, innovation studies, sociology, business, statistics, computer science, evaluation, or another field if the team can show why its methods answer an important measurement problem.

The project lead must be based at an eligible UK research organisation. The opportunity allows an international researcher to apply as a project co-lead (international), and international researchers can also join as project partners. That makes the call suitable for comparative work, cross-border spillover analysis, or projects that require expertise and data access in more than one country.

The strongest applicant profile is not defined by a particular job title. It is defined by the ability to deliver the proposed work within 24 months. Reviewers will want evidence that the team has used the relevant methods, can manage the necessary data, understands the policy context, and can turn findings into outputs that people outside the immediate research group can use. Confirm the host organisation’s eligibility and internal costing route early: the lead research organisation must submit the application.

What the funding covers

The maximum is £308,000 full economic cost for a 24-month project. UKRI will fund 80% of that cost. The official page does not describe the opportunity as a fixed cash prize, and applicants should not treat £308,000 as an automatic award amount. It is the upper project-cost limit; the budget should be built from the people, data, software, facilities, travel, and other resources actually needed to answer the question.

The grant can support the staff and research resources required to deliver the work. UKRI asks applicants to justify project staff, significant travel for fieldwork or collaboration, equipment costing more than £25,000, unusually large consumable costs, facilities, infrastructure, and any items costed as exceptions. A budget is persuasive when each major cost is tied to a method, deliverable, risk, or access requirement.

The programme has an international cohort dimension. Funded researchers will be encouraged to engage with awards supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and Coefficient Giving. UKRI award holders will be invited to workshops in Washington, DC, in October 2027 and October 2028, and London in spring 2028 and spring 2029. No extra funding is provided, so budget for travel and three nights of Washington accommodation as advised by UKRI.

The award encourages open research practice through the Pop-Up Journal platform, with content expected to be open by default and data and code made replication-ready in a public repository. Include a realistic plan for documentation, access, privacy, licensing, and release.

What the application contains

Applications are submitted through the new UKRI Funding Service. The project lead creates or uses an account, selects the organisation, completes the online questions, checks the application in read-only view, and sends it to the research office. Only the lead research organisation can submit the completed and checked application to UKRI. Je-S is not the route for this call.

The application includes a 550-word plain-English summary. UKRI may publish that summary, so it should explain the context, problem, aims, and potential benefits without confidential information. The main questions include a 500-word Vision section and a 2,500-word Approach section. The approach must explain the framework, specific methods, reasons for choosing them, delivery risks, the research environment, user benefit, and the path from outputs to impact.

The applicant and team capability section has a 1,650-word limit: 1,150 words for Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) modules, including references, and up to 500 words for additions if needed. Use the R4RI headings to show relevant ideas or methods, development of others, wider research-community contributions, and broader users or society. This is not a request for a long conventional CV.

Depending on the project, the Funding Service also asks for ethics and responsible research and innovation information, a 1,000-word resources and cost justification, project partner details, partner support letters, a 500-word data management and sharing response, and a 250-word facilities response where relevant. Partner support letters or emails must be combined into one PDF, be in English or Welsh, and be no more than one A4 page per partner. The application should state “N/A” when it has no project partners rather than attaching irrelevant letters.

What reviewers are likely to look for

The assessment areas are Vision, Approach, applicant and team capability, ethics and responsible research and innovation, resources and cost justification, and data management and sharing. The panel first checks eligibility, then reviewers assess applications independently. ESRC may shortlist applications for panel discussion depending on volume and pre-scores. Applications scoring seven or higher are eligible for funding, and final recommendations come from the ranked list. There is no applicant response stage.

This process rewards a proposal whose claims can be tested. Name the measurement problem, the evidence to be generated, the comparison or identification strategy, and the decision the result could improve. If you combine administrative data, firm-level information, case studies, or interviews, explain what each source can and cannot establish.

Reviewers also need a credible path through the data. Identify access permissions, linkage constraints, confidentiality controls, and output-clearance requirements. If an existing dataset is insufficient, explain what the project will add; for international comparisons, show that the concepts and measures are comparable.

Make policy relevance concrete. “Inform policy” is not an outcome by itself. Name the users, the decision, the estimate or tool they will receive, and when they can engage with the work. Show how the evidence will travel beyond an academic paper without promising effects the research cannot deliver.

A practical preparation plan

Before the call opens, ask the research office to confirm the organisation’s UKRI eligibility, internal deadlines, and costing route. Treat 19 November at 4:00pm UK time as the external deadline, not as the date your internal approvals begin. The Funding Service and institutional checks create work after the narrative is written.

Next, write a one-page project spine: the decision problem, the return concept being measured, the data sources, the core method, the main risk, the expected output, and the policy user. Use that document to test whether the project is truly about returns to R&D rather than a general study of innovation. It should be possible to explain why the result would change how someone allocates, designs, evaluates, or reports R&D investment.

Build the team around delivery gaps. A quantitative lead may need a policy economist, data-access specialist, qualitative researcher, international co-lead, or public-sector partner. Each person should have a defined role in the method, data, interpretation, or route to use.

Prepare the budget alongside the method. Calculate staff time, data access, secure environments, software, participant or partner costs, travel, and dissemination. For Washington workshops, include the travel and three nights of accommodation the call tells applicants to consider. Ask each project partner for a concise letter that confirms its commitment and explains the value it will receive and the contribution it will make.

Common mistakes to avoid

The first mistake is treating the maximum as a promised award. UKRI funds 80% of the full economic cost, and the final budget must be proportionate to the work. A large request without a resource argument will weaken the application.

The second is proposing a topic that mentions R&D but does not estimate or clarify its returns. A study of a new technology, a history of one research programme, or a general innovation survey needs a clear connection to the call’s measurement question or it may be out of scope.

The third is postponing data management. The call expects an account of how data will be managed and shared across the award life cycle, including confidentiality, anonymisation, security, legal limits, and repository or UK Data Service arrangements where relevant. A vague promise to share later is not a plan.

The fourth is leaving the institutional process until the final day. The lead research organisation alone submits the application, and research-office and finance teams check hosting and costs. Build time for their review and a final read-only check in the Funding Service.

Timeline and next steps

The call opens on 10 September 2026 at 9:00am UK time. The deadline is 19 November 2026 at 4:00pm UK time, and UKRI says applications cannot be submitted after that time. The planned award start date is 1 April 2027, with assessment expected to finish by the end of February 2027.

A sensible next step is to contact the research office now, before the opening date, and send a short remit summary to [email protected] if the fit is uncertain. For submission-system questions, UKRI lists [email protected] and the Funding Service helpdesk. Keep the opportunity name and any application reference number in correspondence so questions reach the right team.

Frequently asked questions

Is this a personal fellowship?

No. It is a project grant for research teams. The funding is attached to an eligible UK research organisation and a defined 24-month project, rather than being a personal maintenance payment.

Can a researcher outside the UK lead the project?

The project lead must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UKRI funding. International researchers may apply as project co-lead (international), and overseas organisations may participate as project partners.

Does the project have to use quantitative economics?

No. UKRI welcomes relevant expertise from all disciplines and allows qualitative and mixed-method work where it addresses evidence gaps, mechanisms, context, or a fuller account of social and economic benefits. The proposal still needs a clear, credible connection to measuring R&D returns.

Is institutional matched funding required?

There is no extra competitive matched-funding requirement beyond the standard 20% of full economic cost that the host organisation is expected to cover. Third-party cash or in-kind contributions are encouraged but are not a substitute for a sound project plan.

Official links

• UKRI funding opportunity: Economic research on the returns to R&D investment
• UKRI Funding Service guidance for applicants
• Opportunity contact: [email protected]
• Funding Service helpdesk: [email protected]