The Research Capital Investment Fund is formula-based funding that supports the long-term sustainability of research. This includes contributions to replace premises or infrastructure, improved use of space, and increased sharing and use of research equipment.
Capital investment is critical in underpinning high-quality research, enabling sustainable development of university infrastructure and growing research capacity and capability.
Research England allocates funds through the Research Capital Investment Fund (RCIF).
The RCIF aims to:
In the financial year 2023 to 2024 Research England distributed £220 million for formula-based research capital. This fund comprised two elements:
This element is distributed in proportion to the sum of Research England quality-related research funding and research income from other (non-research council) sources.
This element is distributed in proportion to research income from research councils, reflecting finance data for the most recent three years.
Research and knowledge exchange funding: recurrent grants and formula capital allocations
In 2020 UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) invested an additional £88 million through RCIF to modernise research laboratories and expand our world-leading facilities to equip scientists working on research challenges such as climate change and COVID-19.
At Research England, we are undertaking a piece of work to better understand the current state of research infrastructure (buildings and capital equipment) across the English higher education sector.
This work, termed COTE, aims to gather valuable evidence from across the English higher education provider (HEP) landscape to highlight the importance of investment into research infrastructure as a fundamental and underpinning element of the wider research ecosystem.
A survey was sent to HEPs in 2024 to gather valuable evidence about the research infrastructure landscape. The survey closed in July and we are now analysing the information returned.
Last updated: 11 November 2024
