Area of investment and support

Area of investment and support: Research England development fund

The Research England Development (RED) Fund supports institutional-level innovative projects in research and knowledge exchange including collaborations between education providers and between education providers and business.

Budget:
£20 million a year
Partners involved:
Research England

The scope and what we're doing

The Research England Development (RED) Fund commits up to £20 million in annual funding. It supports institutional strategic developmental projects in higher education research and knowledge exchange in line with government and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) priorities.

Its aim is to drive innovation in research and knowledge exchange in higher education.

The fund supports:

  • activities that contribute to government and UKRI policy priorities, with a particular emphasis on delivering innovative and novel approaches
  • collaborations between higher education providers, industry or business partners
  • a risk-sharing approach – due to the innovative nature of projects that the RED fund seeks to support, we expect financial contributions, investments or leverage from appropriate partners and beneficiaries to support these higher risk activities
  • projects that increase the effectiveness or efficiency of research or knowledge exchange for wider societal and economic benefits
  • projects that clearly seek to disseminate key learning points to the sector to enhance positive practice for ‘what works’ and ‘what doesn’t work’
  • activities that are unable to be supported through any other means
  • innovations with a clear plan for sustainability

Opportunities, support and resources available

Funding opportunities

Who to contact

Ask a question about the fund

Email: redevelopmentfund@re.ukri.org

Governance, management and panels

For bids of £501,000 to £5 million, the RED Fund panel is required to make recommendations to the Research England Executive Chair for funding. The RED Fund panel members include:

  • Professor Dame Jessica Corner, Research England Executive Chair and RED Fund Chair
  • Dame Janet Finch, former Vice-Chancellor of Keele University, and Honorary Professor of Sociology, The University of Manchester
  • Faith Wainwright, Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering and former Director of Arup
  • Dr Carol Bell, board member of the Development Bank of Wales and Chair of its Investment Committee
  • Professor Colin Riordan, former Vice-Chancellor of Cardiff University and former Chair of the IDP Connect Strategic Advisory Board

Last updated: 22 February 2024

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