UK international ocean drilling programme site survey (Grant)
Natural Environment Research Council
What it funds
Apply for funding for a ship borne and virtual site survey investigation to support development of applications for scientific ocean drilling expeditions.You must be:based at a UK research organisation eligible for Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) fundingin a role that meets the individual eligibility requirementsThe full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £500,000 for ship borne investigations and £187,500 for virtual investigations. NERC will fund 80% of the FEC.Your p
Who can apply
Before applying for funding, check the following:NERC eligibility guidance for applicantseligibility of your organisationTo lead a project, you must be based at an eligible organisation. Check if your organisation is eligible.Who is eligible to applyThis funding opportunity is open to research groups and individuals. We:encourage multidisciplinary research and collaborations with other UK organisationswelcome applications from individuals at any career stage, subject to NERC eligibility criteriaWho is not eligible to applyYou may be involved in no more than two applications submitted to this funding opportunity. Only one of these can be as project lead.Project partners are encouraged but they fund their own involvement. We will only fund minor incidental expenses, such as some travel costs, if needed for project partners.You should include all other international collaborators (or UK partners not based at approved organisations) as project partners. This includes organisations from the business or financial sectors.Equality, diversity and inclusionWe are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of rese
How to apply
Click https://funding-service.ukri.org/OPP1077/apply/1105 to apply on the UKRI Funding Service.We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.Watch our recording on how to apply for an opportunity in the Funding Service (YouTube).To applySelect ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.Confirm you are the project lead.Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a passwo
Last checked against the official source: 3 Jul 2026. Scheme parameters are set by the funder and can change — verify before applying, or let us do it for you.
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