Funding opportunity

Notification of intent: Transdisciplinary research to tackle antimicrobial resistance

• Opportunity status: Open
• Funders: UK Research and Innovation, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Medical Research Council (MRC), Natural Environment Research Council (NERC), Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)
• Funding type: Grant
• Total fund: £15,000,000
• Award range: £1,500,000 - £3,000,000
• Publication date: 25 March 2025
• Opening date: 25 March 2025 9:00am UK time
• Closing date: 18 June 2025 4:00pm UK time

Apply for funding to undertake ambitious transdisciplinary research to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

You must be  employed by a research organisation eligible to apply for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding.

Your team and research project will bring new perspectives crossing Councils’ remits to understand and provide solutions to tackle AMR.

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £3,000,000. UKRI will fund at 80% of the FEC.

The duration of the award is up to five years.

You must provide a notification of intent (NoI) at the pre-application stage to be eligible to make a full application.

The full funding opportunity will open on 18 June 2025. More information will be available on this page then.

Who can apply

To lead a project, you must be based at an eligible organisation. Check if your organisation is eligible.

Who is eligible to apply

This funding opportunity is open to individuals based at standard eligible organisations, including grant holders for the Transdisciplinary Networks to tackle AMR funding opportunity.

For applicants who do not have a contract of employment for the duration of the proposed project, by submitting an application the research organisation is confirming, if it is successful:

• contracts will be extended beyond the end date of the project
• all necessary support for the project and the applicants will be provided, including mentorship and career development for early career researchers

The project

Given the transdisciplinary nature of the funding opportunity:

• the project lead should be the individual who will act as our main contact and coordinator of the transdisciplinary research project. The project lead’s research organisation will be responsible for all administration relating to the award
• the project lead can be from any discipline
• the project lead must have a record of delivering research
• the intellectual leadership of the project team can be shared with project co-leads
• only project co-leads who are providing a substantial commitment to the project should be included on the application
• a project manager, project management arrangements or both should be included in the project
• the research proposed, and therefore team expertise, must cross the disciplinary remits of at least three UKRI research councils

Early career researchers

For the purposes of this funding opportunity, an academic early career researcher is an current recipient of a transition to independence award such as a UKRI new investigator grant or fellowship. Non-academic early career researchers are those who consider themselves early career and occupy a non-senior role.

There are no eligibility rules based on years of postdoctoral experience. Early career researchers:

• can hold a lecturer appointment, a junior fellowship, or be in another research staff position
• must not have received, or currently be in receipt of, competitively obtained research funding as a project lead (other than current recipients of fellowships and new investigator grants) where such funding includes or included salary costs for one or more additional team members

Early career researchers can also be fellowship award holders, but they will:

• need to check the terms and conditions of their fellowship award relating to involvement in other projects
• seek permission from the funder of the fellowship, if applicable
• indicate research organisation support in the NoI
• not be eligible for salary costs whilst the fellowship is still active

If you are unsure of your eligibility as an early career researcher, email us at UKRI-AMR@ukri.org

You may be the project lead on only one application to this funding opportunity, but may be co-lead on other applications provided you have the capacity to meet these commitments.

Who is not eligible to apply

You are not eligible to apply for this funding opportunity as the project lead if you are based at an international research organisation. This does not include project leads from MRC Unit The Gambia or MRC/UVRI Uganda Research Unit at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical .

International applicants

International researchers can apply as ‘project co-leads (international)’ if they provide expertise not available in the UK and make a major intellectual contribution to the design or conduct of the project. A project co-lead (international) is an individual employed by an international research organisation who otherwise fits the normal definition of a co-lead. The contribution and added value to the research collaboration should be clearly explained and justified in the application, see ‘Applicant and team capability to deliver’.

Read the UKRI project co-lead (international) policy for more information on international involvement.

Project partners

A project partner is defined as a third-party person or organisation who provides specific contributions to the team and project. Project partners could include:

• members of the business community
• policymakers and others in the public, private and third sectors
• practitioners such as clinicians, crop breeders, farmers, veterinarians, landowners
• representatives from civil society, humanitarian and independent non-government organisations
• people with lived experience
• local communities

Organisations that are applicants on the project, including any named applicants’ organisations, cannot also be a project partner.

Project partners are expected to provide contributions to the delivery of the project, either in cash or in kind, and should not therefore be seeking to claim funds from UKRI.

However, where there are specific circumstances where project partners require funding for minor directly incurred costs such as travel and subsistence, this will usually be paid at 80% FEC unless otherwise stated by us. These costs will be subject to review.

Each project partner must provide a statement of support. If your application involves industry partners, they must provide information if the relationship falls within the industry collaboration framework.

Who cannot be included as a team project partner

Any individual included in your application core team cannot also be a project partner. Any organisation that employs a member of the application core team cannot be a project partner organisation, this includes other departments within the same organisation.

If you are collaborating with someone in your organisation, consider including them in the core team as project co-lead, or specialist. They cannot be a project partner.

Project subcontractor

A project subcontractor is defined as a third-party individual who is not employed as staff on the grant, who is subcontracted by a participating organisation to deliver a specific piece of work. Subcontractors will be allowed in line with UKRI terms and conditions for research grants.

Project partner and subcontractor entitlement to project outputs and intellectual property entitlement to the outputs of a project or intellectual property will be determined between the parties involved, however any access to project outputs or intellectual property must be in line with any relevant Subsidy Control regulation.

Under UKRI terms and conditions for research grants you must ensure at all times that the grant funding awarded to you is compliant with the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Any entitlements will need to be set out in a formal collaboration agreement if a grant is awarded, as per FEC Grant condition RGC 12.1.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.

We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:

• career breaks
• support for people with caring responsibilities
• flexible working
• alternative working patterns

UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.

What we're looking for

Aim

This funding opportunity is phase two of a UKRI flagship programme investment to better prepare for the slow-moving pandemic of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as part of the UKRI Tackling Infections strategic theme. It follows phase one of the UKRI AMR flagship programme which funded eight transdisciplinary networks.

Phase two aligns with the AMR National Action Plan (NAP) and the Quadripartite One Health Action Plan in containing, controlling and mitigating silent pandemic of AMR by supporting focused, larger scale transdisciplinary research projects. The funded research will provide key insights and deliver informed interventions to address antimicrobial resistance. Receipt of phase one funding is not a requirement to apply for this funding opportunity.

Through this funding opportunity, we want to fund transdisciplinary AMR projects across a broad range of areas. Funded projects are expected to become national or international focal points for AMR research and innovation. They should build transdisciplinary and integrative research capability through the co-creation of applications that bring different disciplines and stakeholders together and attracting new expertise to the field. They will produce outputs that have positive and tangible impacts towards tackling AMR. As a group of funded projects, they will work collectively to share learning and expertise where appropriate.

Scope

This flagship initiative is an opportunity to better understand, detect, and disrupt the emergence of AMR in animals, humans, and plants using One Health and Planetary Health approaches. It aims to reduce, replace, optimise, improve access to and innovate the use of antimicrobials by supporting transdisciplinary research that will improve our understanding of and provide new opportunities to prevent and combat AMR.

Resistance by all microbes is within the scope of this funding opportunity, including:

• bacteria
• viruses
• fungi and oomycetes
• protozoa and helminth

Resistance within and between all reservoirs of AMR are within the scope of this funding opportunity, including:

• humans
• animals (includes aquaculture, companion, farmed and wild)
• plants (including trees)
• natural environments including, for example, soil, water, waterways
• human-made environments, such as health and care facilities, veterinary facilities, farm buildings, abattoirs, glasshouses and vertical farms, sewage systems and waste streams
• the food chain

Applications that are not pathogen, disease, or host specific, for example, developing new modelling approaches, pathway design, analytics and data requirements are also in scope. Such projects should be well characterised and demonstrate applicability beyond the study system. Applications may also explore the role of culture, human behaviour, history, linguistics and communication, and other humanities and social sciences in understanding, detecting and disrupting AMR.

You are encouraged to consider aligning your project to the following potential areas of thematic interest, although these do not represent an exhaustive list:

• research beyond bacteria, tackling the increasing challenges of anti-fungal, antiviral and antiparasitic resistance
• development and evaluation of alternative cost-effective countermeasures for infection and residue control, beyond standard antimicrobials, for example spanning: behavioural interventions within and beyond, for example, health care and veterinary settings, wastewater treatment, novel materials science, phages, immunomodulators, crop protection strategies
• understand the impacts of climate change on AMR and its transmission
• understanding different pathways of AMR transmission and developing and evaluating methods of disruption to these pathways to reduce reliance on antimicrobials, particularly air-borne transmission and circulation (both urban and indoor) and trade (for example, transportation of livestock and food products)
• understanding how cultural, social, historical and economical determinants interact with biological factors to produce both drivers and potential solutions of AMR
• developing innovative new tools, technologies and methods for rapid and large scale diagnostics for detection and surveillance of AMR. New technologies could include the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning (ML). Applications utilising AI or ML must demonstrate novelty in the creation or developments of the tool itself
• AMR as it relates to poverty, health equity and access
• adopting a One Health and Planetary Health approaches

Work undertaken both within and beyond the UK is permitted and international partners are encouraged.

Transdisciplinarity

We define transdisciplinarity as research that transgresses boundaries between disciplinary knowledge or integrates different bodies of knowledge and actively co-creates knowledge between academic and societal partners such as policymakers or business. The project must develop a coordinated and coherent approach to address an interrelated set of questions across a broad area of research and innovation within the scope of this opportunity.

We encourage projects to build an appropriate team that brings together academic researchers and a range of stakeholders from across UKRI’s remit. To be eligible projects must span the remit of three of UKRI’s research councils, using transdisciplinary approaches to bring fresh perspectives to our understanding of antimicrobial resistance. We are looking for innovative and ambitious applications that could not be funded through standard research council opportunities. Applications which do not bring together different disciplines alongside stakeholder involvement will be out of scope.

This initiative is intended to stimulate new and creative ways of approaching and addressing a defined research area to deliver potential solutions, empowering researchers to leverage and build connections with disciplines and institutions outside their core expertise. UKRI is a signatory of the Shared Commitment to public involvement, which asserts that people’s lived experiences should be a key driver for health and social care research, and that excellent public involvement has been shown to improve the quality and impact of health and social care research.

We expect you to work collaboratively with communities, people with lived experience, practitioners and policy makers and other stakeholders (which can include government, industry, charities, NGOs) where research insights are anticipated to feed directly into policy and practice. Partnerships should be equitable and sustainable with all parties committed to the co-creation and implementation of ideas.

For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, go to the ‘Additional information’ section.

Duration

The duration of this award is up to five years.

Funding available

The FEC of your project can be up to £3 million.

UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC.

We expect to fund approximately five to seven projects.

What we will fund

You can request funding for:

• projects that catalyse new transdisciplinary research and innovation through co-creation and design
• transdisciplinary projects that significantly span across three or more research council remits
• international research collaborations where suitable collaborators in the UK do not exist or where this adds significant value
• evidence synthesis and secondary data analysis

You can request funding for costs such as:

• a contribution to the salary of the project lead and co-leads
• salary costs for a project manager
• salary costs for other posts such as research and technical staff
• research consumables
• equipment
• travel costs
• data preservation, data sharing and dissemination costs
• evidence synthesis and secondary data analysis
• knowledge synthesis and dissemination
• estates and indirect costs
• NHS research costs, when they are associated with NHS studies
• public partnerships and related activities, including payments to public contributors and people with lived experience. Refer to MRC guidance on payment for public partners for further information on cost eligibility, processes and guidelines
• professional enabling staff where they are providing project specific support that goes beyond activities included in estates and indirect costs

You can also request costs for work to be undertaken at international organisations by international project co-leads. We will fund 100% of the eligible costs.

The total of such costs requested for international applicants from high-income countries (HIC) (those not on the OECD DAC List of ODA Recipients), India and China must not exceed 30% of the total resources requested. There is no cap on costs requested for international applicants from DAC list countries.

For more information on international costs and what we will and will not fund see costs we fund  and the Collaborate with Researchers in Norway guidance.

What we will not fund

• single discipline research programmes that lack transdisciplinary integration, perspectives or approaches
• applications that do not significantly span the remit of at least three UKRI research councils
• projects where there is an imbalance of the intellectual content and some disciplines appear ‘bolted’ on
• projects that do not embed the
• late-stage development or roll-out evaluation of new interventions including agrochemicals, diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines, and vaccine and diagnostic technology platforms
• projects not related to antimicrobial resistance
• operationalisation of public health and social health measures
• delivery of surveillance or detection systems, although development of new surveillance approaches could be considered as part of a wider proposal

You cannot request funding for costs such as:

• product development costs
• fees or stipends for postgraduate studentships
• publication costs
• funding to use as a ‘bridge’ between grants

Supporting skills and talent

We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)

UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.

As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.

Further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support.

Equitable partnership principles

When undertaking research and innovation activities outside the UK, you must recognise and address the possible impact contextual, societal and cultural difference on the ethical conduct of those activities.

Researchers should also follow principles of equitable partnerships to address inherent power imbalances when working with partners in resource-poor settings.

Applying the principles will encourage equitable access, especially in low and middle income countries (LMICs), while maintaining incentive for innovation. You should consider the principle from the start of the research and development cycle.

Read UKRI’s guidance on research in a global setting.

How to apply

Stage one: Notification of intent

There is a mandatory notification of intent (NoI) stage for this UKRI funding opportunity.

To submit an NoI, fill in this form by 18 June 2025 at 4:00pm UK time. If a full application is submitted without a prior NoI by the stated deadline, it will be rejected.

The NoI form requests details of the proposed research projects team and a summary of the research project application. This information will not be assessed but will be used to inform plans for the assessment panel. Nothing provided as part of the NoI step is considered finalised, therefore additional partners and project co-leads may be added at a later stage, and the application may change significantly as further details are prepared.

You will receive an automated email acknowledgement once you have submitted your NoI.

Feedback will not be given for the NoI, unless we have concerns regarding the fit to the funding opportunity scope and level of transdisciplinarity.

Stage two: full application

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UKRI Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system. We will publish full details on how to apply when the funding opportunity opens.

The full opportunity will open on this page on 18 June 2025 and close on 23 September 2025.

Personal data

Processing personal data

UKRI will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications.

We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice.

Sensitive information

If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email UKRI-AMR@ukri.org

Include in the subject line: the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number.

Typical examples of confidential information include:

• individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave)
• declaration of interest
• additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section
• conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection
• the application is an invited resubmission

For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice.

How we will assess your application

Assessment process

Notification of intent

Information provided as part of the NoI will not be formally assessed.

We will use this information to:

• check eligibility to apply
• anticipate expected submission levels
• inform plans for the assessment panel

Full application

The full criteria for assessment will be published when the full application funding opportunity opens.

Principles of assessment

We support the San Francisco declaration on research assessment and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.

Find out about the UKRI principles of assessment and decision making.

Contact details

Get help with your application

If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this page

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Helpdesk is committed to helping users of the UKRI Funding Service as effectively and as quickly as possible. In order to manage cases at peak volume times, the Helpdesk will triage and prioritise those queries with an imminent opportunity deadline or a technical issue. Enquiries raised where information is available on the Funding Finder opportunity page and should be understood early in the application process (for example, regarding eligibility or content/remit of an opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.

Contact details

For help and advice on costings and writing your proposal please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.

For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please contact UKRI-AMR@ukri.org

Any queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the Funding Service should be directed to the helpdesk.

Email: support@funding-service.ukri.org

Phone: 01793 547490

Our phone lines are open:

• Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm
• Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

To help us process queries quicker, we request that users highlight the council and opportunity name in the subject title of their email query, include the application reference number, and refrain from contacting more than one mailbox at a time.

For further information on submitting an application read How applicants use the Funding Service.

Additional info

Background

This funding opportunity is part of the Tackling Infections strategic theme, one of five strategic themes included in the UKRI strategy 2022 to 2027: transforming tomorrow together.

The funding opportunity follows on from Phase 1: Transdisciplinary Networks to tackle antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

Research and innovation impact

Impact can be defined as the long-term intended or unintended effect research and innovation has on society, economy and the environment, to individuals, organisations, and the wider global population.

Webinar for potential applicants

We will hold a webinar to provide more information about the funding opportunity and a chance to ask questions. Further details will be provided in due course.

Research disruption due to COVID-19

We recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major interruptions and disruptions across our communities. We are committed to ensuring that individual applicants and their wider team, including partners and networks, are not penalised for any disruption to their career, such as:

• breaks and delays
• disruptive working patterns and conditions
• the loss of ongoing work
• role changes that may have been caused by the pandemic

Reviewers and panel members will be advised to consider the unequal impacts that COVID-19 related disruption might have had on the capability to deliver and career development of those individuals included in the application. They will be asked to consider the capability of the applicant and their wider team to deliver the research they are proposing.

Where disruptions have occurred, you can highlight this within your application if you wish, but there is no requirement to detail the specific circumstances that caused the disruption.

Supporting documents

Equality impact assessment (PDF, 172KB)