University Research Fund

URF purpose

  • The URF is to support early and mid-career researchers without prior experience of leading a significant research project to accelerate their trajectory as independent researchers.   
  • URF awards are for projects clearly aimed at securing additional external grant funding. Applications should clearly identify the source of potential and future external funding and demonstrate how the project will strengthen an application to an external funder within 12 months of completion.

Grants will not normally be given for services or equipment facilities that may be better funded by Departments or Faculties, or for projects for which external agencies could reasonably be approached.

Projects must be ‘stand-alone’ i.e. must not be designed to supplement other external funding or reliant on the outcomes of other concurrent projects.

NOTE: Internal funds for Impact are available separately.

Eligibility

  • URF lead applicants should not have held a URF as a project lead within the last 3 years.
  • The URF is restricted to academic staff who are members of academic departments, whose posts are not funded by external contracts and who are REF eligible through AU.
  • Staff who are in the process of moving to a teaching and research contract who have the support of their Head of Department and their Faculty Pro-Vice Chancellor to apply to the URF may also be eligible.
  • URF lead applicants cannot be a current or former project lead on significant research or fellowship grants from any external funder - with the exception of awards that can be classified as doctoral training awards, awards held during or immediately after their PhD, travel grants, public engagement grants, or skills training grants. These criteria do not apply to co-applicants. Please note that potential lead applicants who were a funded project lead before a substantive career break and who are now returning to research funding activity should contact RBI about eligibility. 
  • Resubmissions from previous rounds are not allowed.
  • Researchers may submit only one application as Project Lead, but can be Co-lead on other applications.

Awards

A maximum of £10,000 is available per award. This is an upper limit and not a target. The panel are keen to see value for money in applications and that requests for resources are well justified. All projects should be started and completed within the academic year. The earliest start date should be 1st March and be completed by the 31st of July at the latest.

There is no potential to "roll-over" finance from one financial year to another, so in your project planning you must make sure that your project can be completed (including processing of all expenditure) by the 31st of July at the very latest. If in doubt and there is a risk of slippage from the outset, then please plan a shorter-term project so this can be accommodated within the financial year.

Eligible Costs

Eligible costs include the direct costs of research only, e.g. travel and subsistence, consumables, limited short-term research assistance, and other justifiable directly incurred costs.

Requests for research assistance need to be fully justified. Due to the time restrictions on the funding, if research assistance is requested, for new posts, only short-term casual appointments up to 3 months in duration will be eligible. Normal HR recruitment procedures and lead times still apply, meaning it is unlikely new staff would be able to start on 1st March given the tight timeframe from project outcome to project start date. Where possible, increasing hours for existing staff is encouraged as the most practical and timely route. All time sheeted staff charged to a URF project must not be employed beyond 30th June due to the need to process and complete expenditure before end of the financial year. 

If you plan to include costs for temporary staff on your project, please liaise with the Academic Operations Team while preparing your proposal to check the feasibility and timing of your plans.

The fund will not support Open Access costs, estates, indirect costs, or directly allocated costs (e.g. staff time).

Next deadline

The 2025-2026 call for applications is now open.

The deadline for all applications is 4pm on Thursday the 22nd of January 2026.

How to Apply

Applications should be made by emailing a completed form to drbi@aber.ac.uk by the deadline with the email subject title 'URF-[your Dept]-[your Surname]-[project title]'. Applicants must have the approval from their Head(s) of Department(s), indicated by the Head of Department signature on the application form. Please download the Ffurflen Gais URF Application Form and save as 'URF-[your Dept]-[your Surname]- [project title]'.

For budget purposes, please complete a ‘Standalone’ Budget on Worktribe from the ‘Projects’ drop down tab. (Please do not ‘Create Project’). 

Under the Details tab please select the following options:

  • Title: please use the following naming convention - ‘URF-[your Dept]-[your Surname]’
  • Funder: Prifysgol Aberystwyth / Aberystwyth University.
  • Activity Type: Research. 
  • Editors: please add Elizabeth Rowlands [ear4] and Connor Baker [cob36]

Whilst PI and Co-I time is not an eligible cost, please include PI and Co-I time in the Worktribe Standalone budget to match the hours requested on the application form. 

Please contact your RDO if you require support with your application and Worktribe Standalone Budget well in advance of the deadline.

For further information or queries about the URF contact rdostaff@aber.ac.uk

Final Report

Award holders will be required to submit a final report within 3 months of the project end for consideration by Research Committee

URF Final Report Form