Funding opportunities

ADR UK is committed to enabling greater research use of linked administrative data, especially our flagship datasets, to increase cross-cutting research that enhances our understanding of society, informs policy and improve lives. We provide funding opportunities to enable research using new research-ready datasets through competitive open calls such as our ADR UK Research Fellowships, ADR UK PhD Studentships and through our ADR England Community Catalysts. Historically, ADR UK has also funded the creation of linked administrative data - for example, though our Research Ready Data & Access Grants.

Funding offered by other organisations

ADR UK is not the only funder of administrative data research. We also seek out and signpost to research funding opportunities offered by other organisations that can benefit from linked administrative data. See below for a list of funding opportunities that might be of interest to researchers looking to use administrative data.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding opportunities – Always open

Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)

ESRC has a range of applicant-led opportunities which are always open to applications. Applicants must be based at UK research organisation eligible for ESRC funding. Proposals can draw from the wider sciences, but the social sciences must represent more than 50% of the research focus and effort. ESRC will fund 80% of the full economic costs of your project with the research organisation covering the balance.  Check if you’re eligible for funding.

You can explore all the UKRI funding opportunities on the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Finder.

Non-UKRI funding opportunities

These funding opportunities are offered by organisations outside of UKRI. ADR UK is not accountable for the opportunities. ADR UK will remain alert to further opportunities to fund the curation and use of linked administrative datasets for research to improve lives. If you are aware of any opportunities that we could promote, please contact us.

Leverhulme Trust

Scope: The Leverhulme Trust funds fundamental research across all the disciplines (excluding medicine). Key criteria for funding are:​

  • originality and significance​
  • the removal of barriers between traditional disciplines​
  • intellectual curiosity and fresh directions​
  • risk.​

The research should be fundamental and seeking to make a contribution to the academic field. If in doubt, send a paragraph summarizing the proposed research to the Trust to get a view on whether it is in scope.​

Scale: They fund stand-alone research projects up to £500k (but they regularly fund ones under £100k). Projects tend to be around 2-3 years, but can be up to 5 years in duration. ​

​Deadline: Ongoing. The application is a two-stage process. Further information on the scheme can be found here.

Wellcome Trust: Discovery Research​

Scope: The Wellcome Trust funds studies across a breadth of disciplines (including the social science, art and humanities), that lead to new knowledge and insights into life, health and wellbeing. They prioritise research that has the potential to build and shape fields of enquiry, or open new ones, whether through delivering a significant shift in understanding, or the development of accessible new research tools, technologies and methodologies.

Scale: They fund three schemes:

These awards cater broadly for early career, mid-career, established researchers and teams. Early career awards can request salary costs plus up to £400k in research expenses, and are usually up to five years in duration. Career development and Discovery awards can ask for the resources needed for the research programme, and can be up to 8 years in duration. The average size of a Discovery Award is £3.5m.

Deadline: Each scheme runs three times a year with upcoming deadlines published on the individual scheme pages.

Nuffield Foundation: Research, Development and Analysis fund ​ 

Scope: This scheme funds projects to inform the design and operation of social policy and practice within and between the domains of education, welfare and justice. This includes transitions from education to employment, vocational and technical education pathways, people’s journeys through the justice system (especially youth and families), and data linkage as a route to insight. There is also a strategic fund for interdisciplinary approaches to address the most significant themes and developments for UK policy and society.​ If you are thinking of applying, check out the Nuffield funding videos on YouTube

Scale: Typically up to £300k (potentially up to £750k), and usually 6-36 months but projects with shorter or longer time frames can be considered. The strategic fund is more than £750k.​ 

Deadline: Two rounds a year. Deadlines for outline applications under £750k in mid-April and mid-October.

Supporting our flagship datasets users

If you are thinking of applying for and/or are successful in gaining research funding to use ADR UK flagship data, we would be pleased to hear from you to ensure you have the support you need.

Contact us

We also encourage all users of our flagship data to explore our Learning Hub - a one-stop shop for all the information, training and resources that we’re developing.

Visit the Learning Hub

And, if you haven’t already done so,  please do sign up for our news alerts so that you are the first to know about new funding or training opportunities.

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