The facility’s website is the best way to find how to access the facility, but this web page can help you find the facility or resource you need, and check how to use it.
You do not always need EPSRC funding to use EPSRC’s facilities and resources. Some are also available to businesses, organisations and researchers without EPSRC funding.
If you’re applying for EPSRC research funding
Discuss your research proposal with the facility or service you want to use before submitting your application. You usually need confirmation that you can use the facility or resource. You might also need a technical assessment that includes a costing for the value of using the facility or resource, to include in your application.
Check the funding application for more information about including facilities in your application.
Including major national or international facilities in your application
You usually need to apply directly to major UK or international facilities, as well as including them in your funding application.
Including high-performance computing services in your application
You can include computational time from the following services in your EPSRC funding application:
- Archer2 – tier one service (for simulations and calculations that need parallelised processing cores)
If you want to include tier two services in your application, you need to discuss your research proposal with EPSRC before applying.
Discuss your proposal with EPSRC
Email: researchinfrastructure@epsrc.ukri.org
ARCHER2 service
As part of the Comprehensive Spending Review in June 2025, the UK government committed up to £750 million into a new national supercomputer service hosted at The University of Edinburgh. The new national supercomputer will replace the current ARCHER2 supercomputer, with this service currently due to end on 21 November 2026.
UKRI are working on options for the period of transition and further details will be communicated in due course. You are able to continue to apply for time on ARCHER2 or explore use of other UKRI or commercial service provisions, noting these may be different in remit and access process.
Any use of commercial HPC services will require inclusion of full access costs within your application.
Computationally intensive research continues to be of strategic importance to EPSRC and we strongly encourage applicants to submit proposals requiring HPC access. EPSRC will ensure proposals using HPC will not be disadvantaged through peer review during this period of change.
Tier 2 High performance Computing (HPC) Services
UK researchers can apply to use the following tier 2 supercomputing facilities:
- Isambard 3, details on the service are available from Bristol Centre for Supercomputing (BriCS)
- Baskerville
- Bede
- Cirrus
- CSD3
- Jade 2.5
- NI-HPC
Access is managed via the UKRI Access to HPC opportunity.
Euro HPC Supercomputers
UK Researchers are able to use the Euro HPC Supercomputers.
Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (AIRR)
UK researchers undertaking AI-related research can access the Artificial Intelligence Research Resource (AIRR) managed by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT).
The AIRR compute clusters comprise Isambard-AI, operated by University of Bristol, and Dawn operated by University of Cambridge.
AIRR is not listed on the facility list in the UKRI Funding Service. Access to AIRR for researchers is via the Gateway route. Applications via the Gateway route is open year round.
Applying for high-performance computing resources only
EPSRC invites applications for access to HPC services. You do not have to be an EPSRC grant holder to apply. The deadlines for applying are usually every six months.
You can also check other ways to apply for ARCHER2 tier one services.