Establishing a UK Ultra-high Field NMR National Research Facility (Invite Only)

Establishing a UK Ultra-high Field NMR National Research Facility (Invite Only)

This page is a historical reference, not an open call. The official Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) opportunity page marks “Establishing a UK Ultra-high Field NMR National Research Facility (invite only)” as Closed. The call opened on 12 May 2026 and EPSRC had to receive applications by 7 July 2026 at 4:00pm UK time. The page says applicants could not apply after that time. It does not announce a later cycle, replacement deadline, or general expression-of-interest route.

The archive keeps 2026-07-07 in the deadline field because that is the real closing date of the completed round. historicalReference = true tells the site that the date belongs to a closed cycle rather than presenting it as a missed live listing. Anyone looking for a future national NMR facility call should verify a new UKRI or EPSRC announcement rather than treating this page as an application route.

The closed call was aimed at creating a shared national service, not funding a single laboratory experiment or an ordinary equipment purchase. EPSRC sought one host-led facility able to provide expert access to high and ultra-high field solid-state and solution-state NMR, connect users to the wider UK NMR community, and operate with a credible long-term service and cost-recovery model.

At a glance: key details

What the closed call was designed to fund

EPSRC described a facility that would give the UK research community cost-effective and efficient access to a range of high and ultra-high field NMR spectrometers, configurations, and probes. The minimum capability included solid-state and solution-state instruments with field strengths including at least 850MHz and wide-bore capability. The purpose was not simply to own a powerful magnet; it was to provide a functioning national service with technical expertise, fair access, data tools, and support for users with different levels of experience.

The scope covered chemical, material, biomedical, and life sciences applications. The official requirements mention inorganic materials, organic polymers, drug discovery, and complex biological systems as examples rather than an exhaustive list. A successful proposal would also have needed to show how it complemented the broader UK NMR infrastructure and how demand would be triaged to the most appropriate nationally available instrument.

A large part of the opportunity concerned infrastructure governance and operational quality:

• a fair and transparent process for prioritising, allocating, and scheduling instrument time
• access routes for users inside and outside the host, academic and industrial users, and new and experienced users
• face-to-face, hands-on, virtual, and site-safety training
• expert help with experimental design, feasibility, and instrument selection
• sample preparation, receipt, handling, and storage for remote users
• remote pulse-sequence development, data storage, processing, and analysis tools
• a data service expected to integrate with the Physical Sciences Data Infrastructure (PSDI) and BioFAIR
• KPIs and service-level agreements covering use, service performance, impact, and improvement

The facility was also expected to work towards maximum instrument utilisation, with an aim of 24/7 operation through extended hours, remote operation, or programmed operation. That expectation came with obligations around staff workload, out-of-hours support, maintenance, safety, environmental sustainability, and continuity of service. Applicants therefore needed to describe an operating system, not merely a scientific case for expensive hardware.

Eligibility and strategic fit

The official eligibility gate was narrow. Only invited applicants could apply, and the applicant had to be based at a UK research organisation eligible for EPSRC funding. EPSRC standard eligibility rules applied. The UKRI-RCN Money Follows Cooperation Agreement did not apply, and the team could not include an international project co-lead. Only the lead research organisation could submit the application.

Those rules made this a facility-lead opportunity for an organisation with the ability to host and operate a national platform. A plausible proposal team would have needed evidence of:

• access to suitable NMR infrastructure and technical staff
• a named director with an international reputation in NMR spectroscopy
• a nominated technical or operational director able to lead service delivery
• experience building user communities across disciplines and institutions
• research-office and finance capacity for a bespoke, non-standard funding profile
• institutional commitments covering cost-recovery shortfalls, staff development, data retention, external access, and facility support

The call followed UKRI investment in two ultra-high field 1.2GHz NMR systems and was intended to establish a national facility around that wider capability. It also required a clear transition plan from the current UK High-Field Solid-State NMR National Research Facility, whose end date the page gives as 4 January 2027, to a fully operational service beginning on 5 January 2027. That transition requirement was central to continuity planning and would have mattered to any invited team preparing a proposal.

Because the round was invite-only, public visibility of the page did not mean that a new organisation could enter the competition. The official page gives no indication that the invitation condition was later relaxed.

Funding available and cost-recovery requirements

EPSRC listed a maximum total fund and maximum award of £7,250,000. It expected to fund one five-year project. The page says the expected full economic cost was approximately £12.1 million, based on a minimum overall cost-recovery target of 40%. EPSRC reserved the right to adjust the award and its expenditure profile in response to UKRI budget allocations.

The facility was expected to become more self-sustaining over the grant. The official minimum recovery targets for recurrent resource costs were:

• year one: 30%
• year two: 35%
• year three: 40%
• year four: 45%
• year five: 50%

These targets were not a promise that UKRI would cover any gap. Applicants had to identify non-UKRI sources of funding to underwrite the plan if the recovery targets were not met, with that support documented in letters. The proposal also had to explain charges for different user types and access routes, and how charged use would coexist with free-at-the-point-of-access use without undermining fair allocation.

The permitted cost logic was equally specific. Funding could include software, technique, and instrument development needed to provide internationally relevant ultra-high field solid-state and solution-state NMR experiments, along with technical effort supporting a diverse user community. No costs for research effort were provided, and equipment over £25,000 including VAT was not available through this opportunity. Core-team and public-engagement costs were to be costed at normal minimum 80% FEC, while other running costs were expected under Directly Incurred – Exceptions and adjusted for the recovery plan.

Service, access, and inclusion requirements

The proposed service had to cover a broad range of user needs. The published minimum capability included multinuclear work, quadrupolar nuclei, cryoprobes for biomolecular solution-state NMR, magic-angle spinning including ultra-fast MAS for solid-state NMR, time-resolved experiments, different sample environments, and dilute or low-gamma nuclei. The facility also needed remote software and data services so external users could prepare pulse sequences, process results, and work with data without every activity requiring a visit to the host site.

Access policy was a substantive part of the bid. The facility had to explain how it would balance host and external users, academic and industrial users, solution-state and solid-state work, user experiments, technique development, maintenance, calibration, charged access, fast-track routes, and free-at-the-point-of-access routes. It needed a transparent quality and prioritisation process, with equality, diversity, and inclusion embedded in the allocation model. The proposal also had to consider access for interdisciplinary researchers and users outside the EPSRC remit.

Training was expected to reach students, doctoral researchers, academic researchers, industrial users, and both novice and expert users. It included equipment use, hands-on instruction, electronic support, site safety, experimental design, feasibility checks, data analysis, and advice on choosing among national instruments. The facility was also expected to support future generations of researchers, including work with Doctoral Focal Awards.

EDI was not a decorative section. The official requirements called for physical adaptations where needed, remote-access solutions, inclusive team practices, and resources to implement the facility’s EDI strategy. The service website had to be accessible and provide capabilities, contact information, access and training procedures, policies, service-level agreements, leadership details, and links to data, ethics, trusted research, EDI, environmental, and health-and-safety plans.

Data governance had to extend beyond the grant. The facility needed a UKRI-compliant data-management plan covering collection, storage, processing, remote access, downloads, intellectual-property-sensitive results, confidentiality, and trusted research and innovation. It also had to collect usage and outcome information, including users, equipment and services used, experiments, and whether users obtained the data they needed.

How applications were submitted for this cycle

The closed call used the new UKRI Funding Service, not the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system. These steps describe the archived process and cannot be used to submit now:

1. The invited project lead selected “Start application” on the UKRI Funding Finder page and confirmed their project-lead status.
2. The lead signed in or created a Funding Service account, selected the organisation, verified the email address, and set a password.
3. The team answered questions in the Funding Service text boxes and uploaded documents where the service required them. Team members and partners could contribute, but the project lead remained responsible for completion.
4. The lead checked the application in read-only view, then sent it to the research office for checking.
5. The research office checked hosting arrangements, finance, and eligibility, made any necessary return for edits, and submitted the completed application to UKRI. Only the lead research organisation could submit.

The application had to be received by 7 July 2026 at 4:00pm UK time. The page warned that submitted applications could not be changed, and that an application withdrawn before peer review or office-rejected for substantive errors could not be resubmitted to this opportunity. Internal institutional deadlines therefore mattered even though the official page listed only the final EPSRC deadline.

The main application attachment combined Vision, Approach, and Management and Governance. UKRI required a single PDF no larger than 8MB, with no more than 14 sides of A4 in the stated format, plus permitted additional pages for a diagrammatic workplan, detailed organogram, and grant payment profile. The application questions also covered the summary, core team, resources and cost justification, data management and sharing, ethics and responsible research and innovation, and related policy matters. Images were optional and had to carry captions; tables and paragraphs of application text could not be inserted as images.

Assessment and delivery expectations

EPSRC listed six assessment areas: vision; approach; management and governance; applicant and team ability to deliver; resources and cost justification; and ethics and responsible research and innovation. The panel would look for a credible service rather than a narrow scientific case. The proposal needed a work plan, milestones, deliverables, risk analysis, organogram, decision rights, maintenance arrangements, staff development, user-growth strategy, impact capture, and a route to long-term sustainability.

The expected interview window was September and October 2026. Applicants would have had a right to reply to initial written assessments before representatives of the applicant team were interviewed by the expert panel. UKRI retained the final funding decision and reserved the right to modify the assessment process and timescale.

The proposal also had to explain how the facility would bridge the end of the current UK High-Field Solid-State NMR National Research Facility on 4 January 2027 and the fixed start date of the new award on 5 January 2027. That meant transition planning, instrument availability, data continuity, staffing, and user communications needed to be addressed before the award began. The facility was expected to operate with routine and preventive maintenance, manufacturer relationships, secure data access, environmental controls, and suitable out-of-hours support.

What a future applicant should verify

There is no next cycle or replacement deadline announced on the verified official opportunity page. The historical page should therefore not be read as an invitation to contact EPSRC for a late application. A future announcement would need to be checked for changes to the funder, invitation rules, funding amount, eligible organisation rules, cost-recovery targets, equipment restrictions, application questions, and transition dates.

If EPSRC publishes a new call, likely evidence to prepare would include institutional eligibility, an invitation or other stated route to apply, a named facility director and technical director, demand evidence, technical capability across solution and solid-state NMR, a user-access and prioritisation policy, an EDI and accessibility plan, a data-management plan, a cost-recovery model, and host letters covering financial and operational commitments. Those are preparation themes drawn from the closed call, not requirements for an unannounced round.

Bottom line

This was a substantial, invite-only EPSRC infrastructure award: one five-year grant of up to £7.25 million to establish a national ultra-high field NMR service. Its value depended on broad access, technical depth, training, data infrastructure, governance, inclusion, high utilisation, and a rising share of recovered recurrent costs. The 2026 application window has closed, and the official page does not announce another round. Keep this entry as an archive of the completed call and verify UKRI directly before treating any later announcement as its successor.

Official links

• Official opportunity page: https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/establishing-a-uk-ultra-high-field-nmr-national-research-facility-invite-only/
• UKRI Funding Service: https://funding-service.ukri.org/
• EPSRC opportunity contacts listed on the official page: [email protected] and [email protected]
• UKRI Funding Service helpdesk: [email protected]; 01793 547490