BBSRC Follow-on Fund

BBSRC Follow-on Fund Two

Supports United Kingdom teams through follow-on funding to move discovery innovation toward commercialization.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The BBSRC Follow-on Fund is a translation-focused grant programme that bridges BBSRC-funded bioscience discovery research to commercial, economic, or societal application. It runs approximately twice per year; Round 1 of the 2026 cycle opened 27 January 2026 and closed 31 March 2026, with a total round budget of £3,000,000 and award sizes ranging from £100,000 to £800,000 at 80% full economic cost over a maximum of two years. Round 2 of the 2026 cycle is expected to open in autumn 2026 based on established historical cadence.

A hard eligibility gate applies to all Follow-on Fund applications: project leads must demonstrate a direct link to a current or prior BBSRC-funded project. Without that link, the application will not be considered. Only researchers based at UKRI-eligible UK research organisations may lead applications; international researchers cannot serve as leads. Submissions are made via the UKRI Funding Service; the legacy Je-S system has been retired for all BBSRC calls. Applicants must also supply standard supporting documents including an Equality Impact Assessment and, where relevant, an Animal Research Template.

The programme supports both early-stage commercial de-risking (proof of concept, small-scale validation) and later-stage technical milestone projects heading toward licensing, spin-out, or industry partnership. Projects should be scoped to a focused translational outcome within two years and £800,000. The BBSRC Fellow-on Fund contact is fof@bbsrc.ukri.org. Organisations that conducted BBSRC-funded research in agriculture, food, health, or industrial biotechnology and have a clear exploitation pathway are the primary eligible applicant base.