Empowering scientists to reach for the edge of the possible

Scroll to get to know ARIA

ARIA is a UK R&D funding agency built to unlock scientific and technological breakthroughs that benefit everyone.

Society’s most important advances have stemmed from those willing to think differently about what might be possible.

The Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) empowers scientists and engineers, from our Programme Directors to the teams we fund, with the resources and freedom to pursue breakthroughs at the edge of the possible.

Many will fail to meet their target, but their efforts will inspire the next generation. Those that do succeed will generate massive social and economic returns.

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The latest from ARIA

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02 April 2026

Universal Fabricators

We are now accepting applications for full proposals

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01 April 2026

Become an Activation Partner

We've launched a £100m call to recruit up to 10 new Activation Partners

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Card with the text "Programme funding: Accelerated Adaption" with a graphic of half a dragonfly on a gradient background
01 April 2026

Accelerated Adaptation

Applications for full proposals are now open

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Card with the text "Scaling Trust Arena" with a graphic of half a column on a gradient background
26 March 2026

The Scaling Trust Arena

Learn more about the request for proposals and submit your application

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A card saying 'Scaling Compute' and 'programme' with a graphic of a computer chip.
26 February 2026

Scaling Inference Lab

Find out how we're expanding the Scaling Compute programme

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Massively Scalable Neurotechnologies Programme
24 February 2026

Massively Scalable Neurotechnologies

Dive into our latest programme and learn more about funding

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Join our third cohort of Programme Directors

Applications for our third cohort of Programme Directors will open in August 2026 for a May 2027 start date. Learn more about what we're looking for and register your interest so you can be the first to hear updates on the application process.

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Opportunity spaces

Defined by our Programme Directors, ARIA opportunity spaces are highly consequential for society; under-explored relative to their potential impact; and ripe for new talent, perspectives, or resources to change what’s possible. Each opportunity space represents fertile ground we'll harvest for technical breakthroughs through programme and seed funding. 

Discover our opportunity spaces below:

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Scoping Our Planet

Programme: Enduring Atmospheric Platforms
Programme: Forecasting Tipping Points

Understanding the Earth system is limited by serious measurement gaps that lead to significant uncertainties in predictions. What if we could cultivate frontier technologies, from measurement platforms to AI models, to generate actionable knowledge that serves society in diverse and impossible ways?

Open calls

Programme Funding

Universal Fabricators: Full proposals

This £50m programme aims to develop scalable processes that use proteins to template the assembly of inorganic and composite materials, with structures that currently cannot be mass manufactured. We are now inviting proposals for TA1 from teams working across fields like – but not limited to – molecular biology, synthetic biology, materials science, bioinformatics, and engineering.

Opportunity space

Manufacturing Abundance

Programme Director

Ivan Jayapurna

Deadline

05 May 2026

Activation Partners: Request for Proposals

We've launched a £100m call to recruit up to 10 new Activation Partners to design and run bespoke activities across our opportunity spaces. Alongside science translation, we’re expanding our scope, drawing on insights from our AI Scientist initiative to apply advanced AI capabilities – from AI for Science models to autonomous labs – to our funded-R&D.

Deadline

21 May 2026

Programme Funding

Accelerated Adaption: Full proposals

This ~£54m programme will explore potential pathways to accelerate the adaptation of wild species in order to prevent biodiversity loss and secure the natural infrastructure that underpins our global economy and human health. Alongside technical research, the programme will explore the ethical and governance implications of potential interventions from the outset. We're now inviting proposals from teams working across fields like ecology, evolution, biological engineering, conservation, ethics, robotics, and AI.

Opportunity space

Engineering Ecosystem Resilience

Programme Director

Yannick Wurm

Deadline

01 May 2026

Programme Funding

Scaling Trust: Multi-Agent Security Arena

We are now looking for a partner to co-design, build and maintain the Scaling Trust Arena, which we plan to launch in Q3 2026. Acting as an extension of the Scaling Trust programme team, this partner will be capable of operating at pace, to deliver a robust, modular testing ground that can move from prototype to public operation over the course of the programme. The ideal partner will help shape the Arena’s fundamental mechanisms including challenge design, scoring systems and community interfaces, whilst ensuring the platform remains secure, observable and accessible to a global community of participants.

Opportunity space

Trust Everything, Everywhere

Programme Director

Alex Obadia

Deadline

14 April 2026

Opportunity Seed

Rolling opportunity seeds

Building on our previous funding calls for opportunity seed projects, we’re launching an open rolling call for proposals as an experiment across multiple opportunity spaces. We’re keen to learn from this process and use the lessons to make future calls stronger and more effective. We're looking to fund projects within the Mathematics for Safe AI, Nature Computes Better, Scoping Our Planet and Scalable Neural Interfaces opportunity spaces, with up to £500k each.

Opportunity spaces

Mathematics for Safe AI, Nature Computes Better, Scoping Our Planet, Scalable Neural Interfaces

Application date

Rolling

Featured insights

Normal Computing’s thermodynamic computing chip, CN101
27 March 2026

A world-first thermodynamic computing chip

An update on Normal Computing's Thermodynamic Matrix Inversion project

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Philip Carella
27 March 2026

Enhancing plant immunity

Creator Philip Carella on rewiring plants’ immunity to better fight pathogens

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Yannick Conservationtoolkit
27 February 2026

Expanding the Conservation Toolkit

Why we’re exploring pathways to accelerate the adaptation of wild species

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