RICHeS Advanced Capabilities in Conservation and Heritage Science 2026–2027: £500,000–£1.5 Million UKRI Infrastructure Grants

RICHeS Advanced Capabilities in Conservation and Heritage Science 2026–2027: £500,000–£1.5 Million UKRI Infrastructure Grants

The Unlocking Advanced Capabilities in Conservation and Heritage Science call is a new capital-focused funding opportunity from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Research Infrastructure for Conservation and Heritage Science (RICHeS) programme. It is intended for UK-led consortia that can improve the country’s conservation and heritage science infrastructure, make nationally significant facilities easier to use, and work with industry on new applications and services.

This is not a personal fellowship or a general research grant. It is a substantial infrastructure award for a partnership with a clear national case. A successful proposal needs to show what capability will be built or upgraded, which users need it, why existing facilities do not already meet that need, how industry and smaller businesses will participate, and how the capability will remain useful after the initial grant period.

The call opened on 7 September 2026 and closes on 25 November 2026 at 4:00pm UK time. Projects must start by 1 April 2027 and can last for up to 24 months, ending by 31 March 2029. The opportunity page says the total fund is £6.2 million, with individual projects carrying a full economic cost between £500,000 and £1.5 million.

Key details

What the grant is designed to fund

RICHeS describes this call as the next phase after establishing national infrastructure through its first tranche. The new investment is meant to enhance capability rather than simply repeat an existing facility. The official RICHeS call identifies four connected areas: strategic capital investment in equipment and facilities, collaborative innovation with industry, sustainable access models, and new approaches or technologies that address unmet demand.

The capital part can support the development, upgrade, or equipping of nationally significant facilities and capability platforms. UKRI’s opportunity page states that up to £1.2 million may be allocated to this component. The proposal should therefore explain the capability in operational terms: what it will do, what users will be able to access, which technical or scientific bottleneck it addresses, and how the equipment or facility will be maintained and used.

The second component is cascading funding for innovation, up to £300,000. This is intended for collaborative innovation activities with industry partners, including small and medium-sized enterprises. It can support knowledge exchange, co-development, and new applications of conservation and heritage science capability. The two components are complementary. A proposal that asks for equipment without a credible user and innovation route will be weaker than one that connects the investment to a demonstrable national service and a realistic set of industry collaborations.

The overall project full economic cost must be between £500,000 and £1.5 million. The RICHeS call says the proposal must include both complementary components, so applicants should not treat the cascading budget as an optional afterthought. Read the Funding Service questions carefully and confirm the allowable cost treatment with the research office before setting internal budgets.

Who this opportunity fits

The lead applicant must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for AHRC funding. The call is looking for consortium applications, not isolated proposals from a single investigator. The partnership should be coherent: the organisations need identifiable roles in developing the capability, supplying expertise, managing access, supporting users, or translating the work into broader sector benefits.

The wider partnership can include research organisations, heritage organisations, and companies. Meaningful engagement with private-sector SMEs is specifically encouraged because the funder wants the investment to support knowledge exchange, technology development, and future commercial or practical use. An SME should not appear only as a logo in a support letter. Its contribution should be connected to a defined problem, user group, technical pathway, or adoption route.

All funded activity must be undertaken in the UK. International expertise may still be relevant to a team’s knowledge, but the proposed funded work and infrastructure should be planned within that geographic rule. Check the standard AHRC eligibility rules for every named organisation, particularly where a museum, independent heritage body, company, or non-standard research partner is involved.

This call is best suited to an institution or partnership that already understands the users of a facility or method and can show evidence of demand. It is less suitable for an individual researcher seeking funds for a standalone research question, a department seeking routine equipment, or a project whose main output is a new academic study without a durable capability benefit.

What the project must achieve

The central test is additional national capability. RICHeS wants proposals that strengthen and extend its distributed infrastructure network, expand access to nationally significant facilities, and address unmet user needs. The call also asks applicants to avoid unnecessary duplication of established facilities, capabilities, or techniques.

A convincing project narrative should answer five practical questions. First, what can users not currently do, or not do at a sufficient scale, cost, speed, or level of quality? Second, what infrastructure or capability will the consortium add or improve? Third, who will use it and how will they gain access? Fourth, what will industry partners help develop or adopt? Fifth, what will remain in place after the award ends?

Successful award holders are expected to support access for conservation and heritage science users and work with the Heritage Science Data Service on FAIR access to and deposition of data. UK users may be able to seek support through the RICHeS Access Fund for costs associated with accessing infrastructure. Funded organisations are expected to participate in that access process, respond to user queries and applications, assess the feasibility of proposed access, facilitate data deposition, and complete work to agreed timescales.

The funder also expects other access routes, such as collaborative research, consultancy, commercial activity, or in-kind contributions. Your plan should distinguish the different routes instead of claiming that every user will be served in the same way. A facility can have an open access route for academic users, a paid consultancy route for organisations needing a defined service, and a co-development route for an SME. Explain how each route will be managed.

What will not be funded

This is a capital funding opportunity. The Funding Finder guidance says that requested capital investment must be capital or capitalisable expenditure. The call will not support original research unrelated to capability development, collection digitisation unless it is essential to developing or testing the capability, general training programmes, studentships, postdoctoral research associates, or events and conferences.

That does not mean people and training are irrelevant. Staff may be needed to operate the capability, enable user access, or manage the funded infrastructure, and the call allows training required for those functions. The distinction is important: training should be justified as necessary to operate the proposed capability or serve its users, not presented as a separate educational programme.

Likewise, a project may need a technical method-development element, but that work must serve the infrastructure goal. If most of the budget would pay for a conventional research study, rewrite the concept or consider a different funding route. Reviewers will be looking for a durable capability and a clear service to the wider community, not a disguised project grant.

How to apply through UKRI

Applications must be made through the new UKRI Funding Service, not the older Je-S system. The organisation must be registered. The project lead starts the application, signs in or creates a Funding Service account, selects the organisation, and answers the opportunity questions in the service. The lead can save responses, work offline, and return to paste or edit them.

The Funding Service allows the applicant to check a read-only version before sending the application to the research office. Build that institutional step into the schedule. The research office checks hosting arrangements and financial eligibility, returns the application if changes are needed, and submits the completed application to UKRI. Only the lead research organisation can submit.

The application includes a plain-English summary of up to 550 words, a vision section of up to 500 words, and an applicant and team capability section of up to 1,650 words. The capability section uses the Résumé for Research and Innovation format: 1,150 words for the R4RI modules and, if needed, up to 500 words of additions. The resources and cost justification section allows up to 3,000 words, while the organisation’s support section allows up to 1,000 words.

Where partners are named, the application must include a single PDF containing their letters or emails of support. Each partner letter may be up to two sides of A4 and should confirm commitment, explain the value and relevance of the work to the partner, and describe the additional value the partner brings. Secure these letters early; waiting for final budget approval before asking partners is a common cause of rushed and vague evidence.

What reviewers are likely to test

Applications will be assessed by a panel that ranks fundable proposals and seeks a complementary portfolio. The stated assessment areas include strategic contribution to the RICHeS network; innovation and advancement of conservation and heritage science capability; access, demand, and user benefit; knowledge exchange and wider impact; collaboration and partnership quality; sustainability and legacy; and portfolio fit.

These criteria reward evidence over aspiration. For demand, use records of unsuccessful access requests, waiting times, facility constraints, user surveys, sector consultations, or documented requests from heritage bodies and companies where available. For capability, give a precise before-and-after description. For collaboration, show why each partner is needed and what it will do. For sustainability, set out staffing, maintenance, access management, cost recovery where relevant, and the institutional commitment after the grant period.

Portfolio fit matters because a technically impressive proposal can still be a poor investment if it duplicates an established service. Map nearby or related RICHeS capabilities and explain the boundary between them. If your project complements an existing platform, state exactly how users will move between the capabilities, how data will be shared, and which demand will be newly served.

The call does not apply demand management, but that is not a reason to submit a generic proposal. It means the opportunity does not impose a preliminary cap on the number of applications from an organisation. The panel still has to rank proposals against the available £6.2 million, so a clear national case remains essential.

A practical preparation plan

Start with a one-page capability brief for internal discussion. Name the user problem, the infrastructure response, the likely users, the partners, the capital requirement, and the two-year delivery milestones. If that brief reads like a normal research project, the concept probably needs reshaping.

Next, ask the research office to confirm eligibility, full economic cost rules, internal deadlines, and the route for submitting through the Funding Service. At the same time, identify the people who can provide a credible institutional support statement. The support statement should demonstrate that the host can provide the environment, facilities, management, and long-term commitment needed for the capability to work.

Then build the consortium around delivery rather than prestige. A heritage organisation can bring user knowledge and collections access. A research facility can bring technical expertise. An SME can bring a real adoption or product-development need. A data partner can help with FAIR deposition and discoverability. Each role should connect to a deliverable and a budget line.

Prepare a demand and complementarity dossier before drafting the narrative. Keep short references to user interviews, access logs, sector reports, facility limitations, and comparable services. Reviewers do not have to follow external links to understand the case, so put the essential evidence in the application itself and use hyperlinks only for directly relevant references.

Finally, work backwards from the 25 November deadline. Leave time for partner letters, internal approvals, finance checks, a read-only review in the Funding Service, and corrections after the research office returns the draft. UKRI says submitted applications cannot be changed, so the final review is a real quality-control stage rather than a formality.

Common mistakes to avoid

The first mistake is describing equipment before describing demand. Start with users and unmet need, then show why the proposed equipment or facility is the right response.

The second is treating the £300,000 cascading innovation budget as a vague pot. Explain how innovation activities will be selected, supported, monitored, and connected to the infrastructure. Remember that named project or consortium partners are not eligible for this cascading funding under the call’s rules; read the partner definitions carefully before designing the mechanism.

The third is promising access without an operating model. State who answers enquiries, how feasibility is assessed, how timescales are agreed, how data is deposited, and how user results will be recorded.

The fourth is making the project too academic. Studentships, postdoctoral research associates, and unrelated original research are specifically excluded. Keep the research element tightly connected to building or testing the capability.

The fifth is ignoring the period after March 2029. The call offers a possible further annual award from April 2029 to March 2031, subject to a successful assurance review, but applicants should still explain how the capability will remain viable and accessible. Continuation support is not a substitute for a credible sustainability plan.

Frequently asked questions

Can an individual researcher apply?

No. The opportunity is designed for consortium applications, and the lead organisation must be an AHRC-eligible UK research organisation. Individual researchers can contribute to an eligible team but should not treat this as a personal award.

Does the project need an SME partner?

The call strongly encourages meaningful engagement with private-sector SMEs and expects collaboration across research, heritage, and industry partners. Confirm the final interpretation of partner requirements in the Funding Finder guidance, but a proposal without a credible industry relationship will need to explain carefully how it meets the innovation and knowledge-exchange aims.

Is matched funding required?

UKRI states that there is no requirement for matched funding from the host institutions beyond the standard 20% full economic cost. Third-party partner contributions, including direct or in-kind contributions, are encouraged and should be explained where they add value.

Can the grant fund an academic conference or a general training course?

No. Events and conferences are excluded, and general training programmes are not supported. Training that is required for staff to operate the capability and support user access may be relevant, but it must be justified in that operational context.

When must the project begin?

Projects must start by 1 April 2027. They may run for up to 24 months and must end by 31 March 2029.

Where can applicants ask questions?

Questions about the opportunity can be sent to [email protected]. Questions about costings and institutional submission should first go to the research office. For technical problems with the Funding Service, UKRI lists [email protected] and the Funding Service helpdesk telephone number on the official opportunity page.

Official links and next steps

Read the UKRI Funding Finder page for Unlocking Advanced Capabilities in Conservation and Heritage Science for the authoritative eligibility rules, application questions, assessment criteria, cost guidance, and deadline. The RICHeS call page provides the programme framing, the two funding components, the timeline, and registration for the 30 September 2026 applicant webinar.

The immediate next step is to confirm that your organisation can lead an AHRC-eligible UK consortium. If it can, contact the research office, identify a genuine unmet user need, approach the relevant heritage and SME partners, and draft the capability and access model before polishing the application prose. A strong submission will make it easy for the panel to see what will be built, who will use it, why it belongs in the national network, and how the benefit will continue after the initial award.