ESRC Doctoral Focal Awards

Doctoral Focal Award: Environmental Evidence Synthesis

Supports United Kingdom doctoral researchers in environmental evidence synthesis with dedicated innovation research funding.

The Doctoral Focal Award: Environmental Evidence Synthesis is a joint NERC-ESRC cross-council call designed to build next-generation researchers with advanced skills in evidence synthesis methodologies for environmental information. The total fund is £8,144,000, with up to two awards of up to £4,072,000 each. Each award funds 30 notional studentships delivered over at least six years across three annual intake cohorts, with projects required to start by 1 October 2027. The funding structure is detailed: each notional studentship costs approximately £121,172 per year (comprising £87,220 stipend, £20,952 fees, £11,000 research training support grant, and £2,000 programme management costs), plus an additional £27,000 flexible fund per cohort annually. The call opened 15 April 2026, and the full application deadline is 15 July 2026; the Notification of Intent deadline was 27 May 2026.

Eligible applicants are limited to higher education institutions, research council institutes, eligible independent research organisations, Catapult centres, and public sector research establishments. Only one organisation may serve as project lead per application, though the same organisation may serve as co-lead on a separate application. This is an institutional bid for doctoral training infrastructure — individual researchers do not apply directly. The award funds the institutional capacity to recruit and develop doctoral researchers rather than a specific research project, placing emphasis on supervisory pool quality, training programme design, and evidence-synthesis methodology coverage.

Successful bids will need to demonstrate a compelling and coherent training programme that advances evidence synthesis for environmental decision-making, a track record of doctoral training, and strong links to environmental policy and practice communities. Given the joint NERC-ESRC governance, proposals spanning both natural science and social science dimensions of environmental evidence are well positioned. Competition is expected to be intense, as only two awards will be made from the total pool. Consortia approaches are permitted and may strengthen coverage of methods and disciplines.