Members of the UK Cilia and Centrosome Network have prepared the following briefing on the UKRI funding pause collating publicly available information:n

Background:

UKRI has been given a £38.6 billion four-year budget (2026–2030) by the government [1]. This will be divided into 4-streams (buckets) to align with national priorities. Curiosity driven research across all disciplines is one of the buckets and has the largest share of the funds (£14.5 billion). Health and resilience (biomedical research), within which the bulk of cilia and centrosome research is likely to fall, are a strategic priority area.

The announced changes (and temporary funding pause) impact all career stages within the biomedical sciences community. However, there is every possibility that there may well be more money for curiosity driven research. As this is a fast-evolving situation there is considerable uncertainty. We will aim to update the cilia and centrosome community as soon as more information becomes available.

Summary of main changes:

• There are no MRC or BBSRC grant calls currently open [2]. BBSRC will reopen for calls 'in a few weeks' [3]; MRC 'in early summer' [4].
• Current grants with 'funded offers where the outcome has been announced' are unaffected.
• Grants under review currently will continue through the system, and although applications will still be assessed on their potential for research excellence, the success rate will significantly reduce.
• This pause has been put in place as UKRI transitions to the new investment model to allow for infrastructure updates and budget reallocations.
• The new applicant-led grant schemes are likely to have the same organisation of sections and similar word-count limits to the ones previously available on The Funding Service.
• Funding for doctoral training, fellowships, clinical research and MRC Centres of Research Excellence remains unaffected [4].
• According to the corporate plan announced in November 2025, training is an area that UKRI is likely to prioritise and expand (e.g. ~5,000 doctoral studentships, more fellowships etc.) [5].

UKRI CEO Ian Chapman described this as a "period of transition" to implement a UKRI-wide model by April 2027 in his open letter [6]. It is hoped that after this hiatus, normal UKRI operations will resume by April 2027, and in most cases, much sooner.

Sources:

[1]: https://www.ukri.org/news/ukri-sets-out-how-it-will-invest-record-budget-allocation/

[2]: https://www.researchprofessionalnews.com/rr-news-uk-research-councils-2026-1-ukri-pauses-several-funding-calls-amid-priorities-shake-up/

[3]: https://www.ukri.org/who-we-are/bbsrc/board-and-panel-membership/responsive-mode-research-grants/

[4]: https://www.ukri.org/blog/mrc-funding-update/

[5]: https://www.ukri.org/publications/uk-research-and-innovation-corporate-plan-update-2025-to-2027/ukri-corporate-plan-update-2025-to-2027/

[6]: https://www.ukri.org/news/open-letter-from-ian-chapman-to-research-and-innovation-community/