UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has pledged to halve the time it takes to review grant applications by targeting a 90-day turnaround for applicant-led bids.
Announcing its latest five-year strategy and delivery plan on 13 July, UKRI said it wanted to “reduce grant processing times by at least 50 per cent by 2031 through both automation and staff expertise, with the research community playing an active role in enabling this change”.
To achieve the goal, research councils supported by the £9 billion a year funder will “use demand management where it is most needed,” explains the strategy document, which envisages plans to “work with our strategic partners to ensure UKRI reduces the proportion of our resources used to assess grants year on year”.
At present, UKRI receives 16,000 applications a year, with applicant-led mode funding processed within a median of 195 days in 2025-26 – a figure that the funder aims to reduce to 90 days by 2030-21. Targeted mode funding calls took a median of 127 days to process in 2025-26, which will fall to 60 days under the proposed timelines.
Under the plan UKRI “will make more use of review stages to understand whether continued support remains the best use of public money,” it says, adding it will also “explore the use of AI to increase efficiency in processes across the funding lifecycle and as an operational tool”.
