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Secure the funding you need to innovate and grow your business with our round-up of the best grant opportunities coming up in the next couple of months. Our curated selection of the latest funding schemes includes grant opportunities for health & care, social impact, sustainability, and digital innovation.
Sustainability:
Reimagining Circularity: NetworkPlus
Grants to build research and innovation capacity in the circular economy.
What is it? The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), in partnership with Defra, is offering up to £13 million to establish NetworkPlus projects that advance circular economy research across the built environment, textiles, or data and metrics sectors. Projects should strengthen collaboration, accelerate innovation, and adopt inter- or transdisciplinary approaches involving industrial partners. The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £5.41 million. EPSRC will fund 80% FEC for up to 36 months.
Who is it for? UK research organisations eligible for EPSRC funding, leading projects that connect academic and industry expertise to drive circular economy solutions.
Deadline: 11th December 2025
National Lottery Climate Action Fund – Our Shared Future
Funding for projects that create meaningful climate action and long-lasting change.
What is it? The Climate Action Fund – Our Shared Future supports large-scale partnership projects that connect climate action to everyday life and empower communities across the UK. Projects should either influence action at a regional, national, or UK level, or use people’s daily activities and interests to drive long-term behavioural change. Grants start at £500,000, with most awards between £1 million and £1.5 million for projects lasting 3 to 5 years. The fund prioritises initiatives that have a clear legacy, can be scaled or repeated, bring in diverse partners, and include voices from communities affected by poverty, discrimination, or disadvantage.
Who is it for? Open exclusively to partnerships – applications must be with at least one other organisation. Ideal for groups working across sectors, regions, or communities to deliver impactful climate action. The fund welcomes projects operating at a regional, national, or UK-wide level, especially those taking varied approaches or engaging different communities over longer timeframes.
Deadline: 17th December 2025
Ofwat: Water Breakthrough Challenge 6 – Catalyst Stream
Funding for innovative projects tackling major challenges in the UK water sector.
What is it? The Water Breakthrough Challenge funds projects that deliver new ways of working, technologies, and collaborations to address the biggest challenges facing the water sector. The Catalyst Stream supports early-stage or small-scale innovations with grants between £150,000 and £2 million, requiring at least 10% match funding from partners.
Who is it for? Open to appointed water companies in England and Wales, working in collaboration with SMEs, innovators, supply-chain partners, community groups, and organisations outside the water sector. Strong collaboration is encouraged, particularly cross-sector partnerships that strengthen innovation and deliver benefits for customers, communities, and the environment.
Deadline: 6th January 2026
Social Impact
Aviva Community Fund
Funding and support for community-led projects
What is it? The Aviva Community Fund provides grants and additional support to local causes across the UK, helping them strengthen communities and achieve long-term impact. Successful projects focus on one of two key areas: Financial Wellbeing, helping people gain financial independence and resilience, or Climate Action, supporting communities to prevent, prepare for, and respond to climate-related challenges. Beyond funding, the programme offers access to volunteers, tools, and resources to build organisational capabilities.
Who is it for? UK-registered charities, social enterprises, and community groups delivering projects that make a tangible difference in their communities in the areas of financial wellbeing or climate action.
Deadline: 15th December 2025
Help the Homeless: Grants for Homeless Charities
Funding to support small UK charities delivering projects for people experiencing homelessness.
What is it? Help the Homeless provides small grants of up to £5,000 to charities working wholly or mostly with homeless people. Funding is restricted to capital projects and cannot be used for running costs, salaries, or IT equipment. Applications should clearly demonstrate how the project benefits homeless individuals and meets the trust’s criteria. Multi-year requests are not considered, and a minimum of two years must pass before reapplying.
Who is it for? Registered charities in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, or Scotland with an annual turnover of less than £500,000, whose work focuses primarily on homelessness.
Deadline: 20th December 2025
Calisen Impact Charity Trust
Funding for community-driven projects that deliver maximum impact with minimal waste.
What is it? The Calisen Impact Charity Trust provides targeted grants of up to £10,000 to charities working in five priority areas: Youth Empowerment, Children’s Play & Safe Spaces; Hospice & Palliative Care; Community-Based Social Benefit Projects; Community-Led Environmental Action; and Net-Zero & Energy Efficiency Projects. Grants support initiatives that strengthen communities, improve wellbeing, enhance local environments, and drive carbon reduction.
Who is it for? UK Registered charities. Applicants must not be faith-based organisations focused primarily on religious activities, and cannot have received funding from Calisen Impact in the last 12 months. Eligible projects include, for example, youth programmes, hospice initiatives, community services, environmental restoration, and energy efficiency installations such as solar panels or heat pumps.
Deadline: 30th December 2025
Emerging Technology
National Materials Innovation Programme: Feasibility Studies
Funding to accelerate advanced materials innovations across high-growth sectors in the UK.
What is it? Innovate UK invites UK-registered businesses to apply for grants between £50,000 and £100,000, within a total fund of up to £2 million, to carry out feasibility studies across six high-growth themes and one strategic opportunity theme (such as net-zero energy, future healthcare materials, next-gen electronics, metamaterials/metasurfaces). Projects must start by 1 May 2026 and last no more than 9 months.
Who is it for? UK-registered businesses (any size) leading projects, with possibility for collaborators including academic institutions, charities, not-for-profits, public sector organisations, research & technology organisations.
Deadline: 17th December 2025
DRIVE35 Scale-Up – Feasibility Studies Two
Funding for feasibility studies into UK manufacturing of zero-emission vehicle technologies.
What is it? This competition offers UK-registered businesses the opportunity to apply for a share of up to £5 million to conduct feasibility studies focused on the development and scale-up of innovative zero-emission vehicle technologies. The DRIVE35 programme, led by the Department for Business and Trade, aims to transform the UK automotive industry by supporting R&D, commercialisation, and capital investment in electric vehicles, batteries, and associated supply chains.
Who is it for? UK-registered businesses. Projects must relate to zero-emission vehicle technologies and contribute to the goals of the DRIVE35 programme.
Deadline: 17th December 2025
CAM Pathfinder: Demonstrate
Funding for UK organisations developing Connected and Automated Mobility (CAM) solutions.
What is it? CAM Pathfinder: Demonstrate programme offers UK-registered organisations the opportunity to access a share of up to £20 million to develop and showcase CAM technologies and services. Projects should advance products and enabling services to a stage where they can be demonstrated and validated in representative environments, actively engage with potential customers or operators, and demonstrate clear commercial opportunities in the UK or internationally.
Who is it for? UK-registered businesses of any size can lead projects, either alone or collaboratively. Collaborative partners can include businesses, academic institutions, charities, not-for-profits, public sector organisations, or research and technology organisations (RTOs) directly involved in CAM development.
Deadline: 17th December 2025
EU EIC – Advanced Innovation Challenges
Funding and support for high-risk deep tech innovations with transformative potential.
What is it? The EIC Advanced Innovation Challenges aim to accelerate high-risk, demand-driven deep tech projects in areas with extensive research but limited commercial uptake. Funding is delivered in two stages: Stage 1 provides a lump sum of €300,000 to develop and validate solutions, while Stage 2 offers up to €2.5 million to further develop, test, and scale innovations in real-world settings. Projects also benefit from coaching, mentoring, and networking opportunities to increase market adoption. Focus areas for this pilot include Physical AI for next-generation robotics and New Approach Methodologies to replace or reduce animal testing in biomedical research and product safety.
Who is it for? Start-ups, SMEs, and research organisations (including universities, research and technology organisations, individual inventors, and Principal Investigators) developing breakthrough deep tech solutions with strong commercialisation potential. Must be established in a Member State or an Associated Country (‘mono-beneficiary’) if a startup, SME or research performing organisation
Deadline: 26th February 2026
Health and Wellbeing
Better Access to Wheelchairs and Mobility Aids: Small Grants
Funding to improve access to quality wheelchairs and mobility equipment.
What is it? This funding provides grants of £50,000 to £249,999 over one to three years to support organisations improving access to wheelchairs and mobility aids. Projects can include funding for manual and powered wheelchairs, walking aids, maintenance, assessments, staff costs, digital tools, awareness campaigns, or research exploring ways to remove barriers and enhance provision. The programme focuses on local or regional initiatives and prioritises projects benefiting underrepresented groups or deprived areas.
Who is it for? UK-registered charities, community interest companies (CICs), community benefit societies, or other eligible organisations active for at least three years, with a strong focus on supporting disabled people. Deaf and Disabled People’s Organisations (DDPOs) are particularly encouraged to apply.
Deadline: 15th December 2025
Alzheimer’s Research UK: Dementia Frontiers Fund
Funding to support bold, multidisciplinary research projects addressing urgent challenges in dementia.
What is it? The Dementia Frontiers Fund provides seed funding of up to £50,000 from a £6 million funding pool to support large-scale, interdisciplinary research projects. The initiative aims to tackle complex, unresolved questions in dementia that require collaboration across disciplines and borders, fostering innovation and paradigm-shifting breakthroughs with the potential to transform lives worldwide. Eligible projects should address one of the fund’s defined research questions, such as predicting disease progression, understanding contributions of different brain changes, or exploring resilience in high-risk populations. International collaborations are highly encouraged.
Who is it for? Research teams bringing together complementary expertise, particularly those forming new collaborations that integrate diverse and unconventional disciplines in dementia research. Teams can include multiple institutions across countries.
Deadline: 7th January 2026 (Expression of Interest)
Early Action & Prevention within Health and Social Care Services
Funding to strengthen early intervention and prevention in UK health and social care.
What is it? This programme from NIHR’s Health and Social Care Delivery Research (HSDR) arm invites outline applications to fund high‑quality evaluative research that improves how health and social care services intervene early, prevent poor outcomes, reduce inequalities and relieve pressure on services. The funding is aimed at studies of primary, secondary or tertiary prevention, service redesign, data‑driven pathways, and new models of care.
Who is it for? UK‑based research teams and organisations in health or social care delivery, including universities, NHS trusts, local authorities, and other eligible bodies, working on interventions or service changes across health and social care.
Deadline: 21st January 2026
Other
Innovate UK – Innovation Loans: Future Economy (Round 24)
Funding to support late-stage R&D projects with clear commercialisation potential in key future economy sectors.
What is it? Innovate UK is offering loans of £100,000 to £5 million to UK-registered SMEs for highly innovative late-stage research and development projects. Eligible projects must deliver new or significantly improved products, processes, services, or business models, with a clear route to commercialisation and measurable economic impact. Focus areas include Net Zero (energy, industrial processes, agriculture, food, capital-intensive technologies), Health and Wellbeing (ill health, diet, food), and Next Generation Digital and Technology Families (AI, advanced computing, bioinformatics, genomics, robotics, smart machines, advanced materials, quantum, energy and environment technologies). Projects can cover both R&D and commercialisation phases and last up to five years.
Who is it for? UK-registered micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with late-stage R&D projects that demonstrate high innovation, commercial potential, and a credible repayment plan for the loan.
Deadline: 8th January 2026
Can’t find what you’re looking for?
If you can’t see a grant relevant to your industry, our curated grant opportunities finder contains an expansive array of the best national and local funding available across sectors.
Our team of expert consultants can help you identify different funding routes for your organisation that suits your business model and aspirations to grow. Whether you’re looking for bespoke grant funding opportunities, support with writing bids and tenders, or advice on preparing your pitch deck for investors, our experienced team can help you find an approach that’s right for you.
Speak to a member of our team today to start your funding journey.
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