Eligibility

• The lead applicant (Project Lead, PL) must be an Early Career Researcher (ECR), where ECR is defined as a postdoctoral researcher, application scientist (or similar) or a lecturer/assistant professor within their first three years of appointment. The ECR does not need to have a current role at the host institution, but must have the support of the host institution.
• The PL should not have previously received funding in excess of £100k.

Funding Available

• The maximum award per proposal is £50k. This is the call’s contribution funded at 80% FEC.
• Eligible costs include staff costs, consumables (including items of equipment <£10k), travel and subsistence. Equipment costs >£10k are not eligible.
• The costing must be officially approved by the host University before submission of the application.
• All project funds must be spent by December 2026. It will not be possible to extend past this date.
• A maximum of £800k will be awarded to projects through this call.

Timelines

• Call for full proposal opens – 15 January 2026
• Online information webinar – 15 January 2026, 11:00 – 12:00
• Call for full proposal closes – 23 February 2026, 9:00
• Notification of successful and unsuccessful proposals – By 27 March 2026
• Anticipated start date of successful proposals – Projects should start between 20th April 2026 and 1st June 2026
• Project end – All projects must be completed by 31 December 2026. There will be no extensions to this, due to funding constraints.

Remit

• The application should include mentoring (academic and/or industrial) to support the research and skills development of the PL. This commitment should be confirmed with an official letter of support. UK-HyRES and the Henry Royce Institute can help match potential applicants to mentors if needed.
• A letter of support from the ECR’s line manager or Head of School/Department should be included to confirm support of the time commitment of the ECR as laid out in the costing.
• Match funding is not required, but the strong support of external partners in the field, including through mentorship, is essential.
• The research must be about the production, storage, distribution or use of hydrogen or ammonia.
• Research into fuel cells and the production of grey or blue hydrogen is out of scope of this call.
• Research should not duplicate research already funded by UK-HyRES or the Royce Hydrogen Accelerator (see https://ukhyres.ac.uk for information on current UKHyRES projects).
• Examples of research that could be funded include:

• 1. Improving supply chain resilience and lower cost of producing, handling, storing and using H&ALFs
     • Reduced use of rare earth minerals, novel membranes, novel manufacturing techniques, sealing and permeation reduction, increase efficiency, mixed feedstocks, recycling materials, proton conduction ceramics 
  2. Improving energy consumption and existing catalyst performance for production of chemicals and fuels which use green H&ALFs
     • SAF, marine fuels, chemicals (e.g., ammonia, methanol), carriers (e.g., ammonia, methanol, LOHC, etc.) 
  3. Understanding and improving reliability and durability of materials involved in producing, handling, storing and using H&ALFs
     • Life prediction, materials discovery, accelerated testing methodology and materials selection 
  4. Improve safety and monitoring when producing, storing and handling H&ALFs
     • Low-cost sensors, hydrogen getters, H₂ purity 

• In the call, applicants are encouraged to be realistic in their proposals i.e. only include research that can be conducted in the time available and within the budget requested, be cognisant of risks and have appropriate mitigation in place and be realistic about the achievable impact and the activities needed to realise it. Proposals should be targeted and give sufficient detail that the reviewers have confidence that delivery is achievable.
• All proposals should embed the principles of EDI and sustainability and should include skills development for the ECR PL (and others as applicable, e.g. other ECRs employed through the project).
• Successful applicants will be expected to engage with UK-HyRES and/or Royce Institute activities as applicable.

Review Process

Proposals will be reviewed by 3 individuals: 1 external reviewer, 1 Royce Co-I and 1 UK-HyRes Co-I. A simple scoring system will be used against the review criteria below. A panel will discuss the proposals following review to determine which will be funded.

The PL will be informed of the outcome of the review process 2 – 4 weeks after submission.

Proposals will be reviewed on:

1. 1. 1. Quality and novelty and/or impact (research could be blue sky or translational). Strength of any partnership. This criteria has double weighting;
      2. Plans for ECR mentoring and skills development;
      3. Clear plans for the research and project management. Ability to deliver the research and complete within the time and resources requested;
      4. Ambition to develop the research into larger, longer funding proposals with clear industrial or other relevance or impact or ambition to translate the research through incorporation of a company or other means.

We are committed to protecting your privacy. Personal data submitted within this application will be processed strictly for the review and management of the award, in full accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018. EPSRC-funded projects are managed in strict alignment with the UKRI Standard Terms and Conditions of Grant, ensuring the highest standards of data integrity and security throughout the project lifecycle.