Working with business

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Engage with our funded projects

We have over 4000 active projects which businesses can engage with. You can contribute knowledge, expertise and leverage to help accelerate impact.

We are keen to maximise our investment in the UK research base by leveraging enterprise funding and seeing business taking our research outputs forward. Engagement with our funded projects is a rapid way to get new ideas and innovations into your business.

Our online data visualisation tools can help you find existing, active projects which may be of interest, you can also find out if any other businesses are already involved.

Visualising our Portfolio (VoP) is a tool developed by EPSRC to:

  • showcase graphically our research portfolio
  • allow external users to explore details of our funded projects and programmes
  • help you to find connections between business strategy and activities

VoP can be a valuable source of research intelligence, giving you an insight into the research challenges that academics are currently investigating and the programmes that companies are involved in.

You can use our elastic search engine to quickly find research programmes of interest to you, or academics that might be able to help you solve the research challenges in your business. You can also browse our portfolio to get a broad view of what our portfolio looks like and where we have invested our research funding.

Our portfolio managers can also assist you, putting you in touch with academic experts to work with, and give you information regarding key programmes in their area which may be looking for collaborators from business. In addition, Gateway to Research can also provide you with information of some of the outcomes and impacts our research has already realised.

Many of the programmes and projects we have invested in are actively searching for advice, input and investment for business. The solution to some of your future needs may be closer than you think. UK academic research is world-leading, a great source of science, technology and engineering solutions.

Below are details and links to some of our major activities which relate to business, the first of which is tailored exclusively for business engagement.

Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTP)

Each year EPSRC awards four-year Doctoral Training Partnership (DTPs), formally known as DTG or DTA, to institutions based on their research grant income. Universities are keen to engage business in DTP using a process called CASE Conversion.

Centres for Doctoral Training

Centres for Doctoral Training (CDTs) are one of the three main ways EPSRC provides support for Doctoral Training. CDTs are keen to engage with businesses to help support and add value to the doctoral training they provide, encouraging business relevant research projects and giving students an insight into business research.

Business Engagement Team

Our business engagement team are here to help you with business related enquiries that do not relate to a specific portfolio or area of research. They can assist you in understanding our ways of working and strategy, and help you get more involved in EPSRC-funded academic research.

John Baird

Joint Head of Business Engagement
Email: john.baird@epsrc.ukri.org

Adam Luqmani

Joint Head of Business Engagement
Email: adam.luqmani@epsrc.ukri.org
Telephone: 07714 846560

Business Engagement Team

You can contact us with any general enquiries.

Email: user.engagement@epsrc.ukri.org

Portfolio managers

Our portfolio managers have a science and engineering background that can help you navigate through the wealth of information available to assist you to select the most appropriate partners.

They operate in teams, called themes, with each portfolio manager having responsibility for specific areas of research within their theme. The links below will take you to the contact pages of each theme, allowing you to find the portfolio manager closest to your research interests.

Alternatively if your question, enquiry or need is more general you can contact a member of the business engagement team.

Digital economy

The digital economy theme aims to rapidly realise the transformational impact of digital technologies on:

  • community life
  • cultural experiences
  • future society
  • the economy.

Energy

The vision for the Energy theme is for the research we sponsor to help solve some of the most serious challenges facing the UK today and in the future.

Engineering

The vision for Engineering capability is to identify and tackle fundamental engineering.

Partnership for Conflict, Crime and Security Research (PaCCS)

The Partnership for Conflict, Crime and Security Research (PaCCS) brings together security research and other activities that are sensitive to the changing global context and have an impact in the prediction, prevention and reduction of security threats.

Healthcare technologies

The Healthcare Technologies theme supports research across EPSRC’s remit with the aim of accelerating translation to healthcare applications.

Information and communication technologies (ICT)

The vision for ICT capability is to support UK scientists to deliver the very best research and training to meet the future scientific needs across the science base.

Living With Environmental Change (LWEC)

Living With Environment Change is a major interdisciplinary research and policy partnership to tackle environmental change and the societal challenges it poses.

Manufacturing the future

The vision for the Manufacturing the future theme is for the research we sponsor to help solve some of the most serious challenges facing the UK today and in the future.

Mathematical sciences

EPSRC funds research and training in Mathematical sciences to support the health of the discipline and to provide skills and knowledge for future needs.

Physical sciences

The vision for Physical sciences capability is to support UK scientists to deliver the very best research and training to meet the future scientific needs.

Quantum technologies

Quantum technologies are considered to be those that harness quantum physics to gain a functionality or performance which is otherwise unattainable.

Research infrastructure

Researchers across EPSRC’s remit require access to world-leading research infrastructure, equipment and facilities, in order to build a world-class research portfolio.

Last updated: 27 July 2023

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