UKRI to accelerate research grant funding decisions

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has pledged to halve the time it takes to review grant applications by targeting a 90-day turnaround for applicant-led bids.

Announcing its latest five-year strategy and delivery plan on 13 July, UKRI said it wanted to “reduce grant processing times by at least 50 per cent by 2031 through both automation and staff expertise, with the research community playing an active role in enabling this change”.

To achieve the goal, research councils supported by the £9 billion a year funder will “use demand management where it is most needed,” explains the strategy document, which envisages plans to “work with our strategic partners to ensure UKRI reduces the proportion of our resources used to assess grants year on year”.

At present, UKRI receives 16,000 applications a year, with applicant-led mode funding processed within a median of 195 days in 2025-26 – a figure that the funder aims to reduce to 90 days by 2030-21. Targeted mode funding calls took a median of 127 days to process in 2025-26, which will fall to 60 days under the proposed timelines.

Under the plan UKRI “will make more use of review stages to understand whether continued support remains the best use of public money,” it says, adding that it will also “explore the use of AI to increase efficiency in processes across the funding lifecycle and as an operational tool”.

“Too much of our brilliant researchers’ and entrepreneurs’ effort is spent writing and assessing a growing number of applications, when it should be focused on delivering outcomes and impact,” explains the strategy.

Work to speed up processing times follows the success of UKRI’s Distributed Peer Review pilot last year, run by the Metascience Unit, in which applicants also acted as assessors. That experiment cut the time from submission deadline to funding decision by between 53 and 65 per cent, explained UKRI, which promised to expand the use of such processes.

The pledge to cut processing times follows growing concern that generative AI has significantly increased both the quality and quantity of applications received by research funders – a trend that experts worry could overwhelm traditional peer review processes.

Introducing the strategy, UKRI’s chief executive Ian Chapman said half the organisation’s budget would “back discover and curiosity-driven research” and the other half would focus on “high-growth sectors that deliver more immediate outcomes, supporting companies to start, scale and ultimately stay in the UK”.

Welcoming the changes, Libby Hackett, chief executive of the Russell Group, said: “A focus on long-term priorities, alongside steps to reduce bureaucracy and accelerate decision-making, should help universities and researchers pursue R&D goals with more confidence and agility.”

“Our universities are poised to work closely with UKRI as the strategy is implemented to address shared challenges and deliver for government’s priorities,” she added.

jack.grove@timeshighereducation.com