Strategic Research Project
| Frequency | 1 call a year, with a preliminary round in the Lent term. Selected applications will be invited to submit a full application in the Easter term. |
| Upcoming Preliminary Application deadline | 09 January 2026, 5pm |
| Upcoming Full-Stage Application deadline (invitation only) | |
| Funding Amount | up to £500,000 |
| Funding Duration | up to 5 years |
If you are considering making an application for a Strategic Research Project, please contact the Director in the first instance to discuss your proposal.
This funding scheme is designed to support institutional, perhaps interdisciplinary, programmes and projects of strategic value to the University of Cambridge. Projects should focus on the promotion of education or research and be supported a Pro-Vice-Chancellor or Chair of School.
Strategic projects should normally be aiming to secure a major grant from an external funding body or enable significant University funding. This INT grant should clearly contribute towards securing intellectual and/or financial capital by providing an opportunity that would otherwise not be available to the University.
Examples of the Trust’s previous Strategic Grants:
- Seed-corn funding for Cambridge Zero
- Support for a new Research Centre in Ethics, Economy and Social Change in collaboration with the Max-Planck Institute
- Start-up funding for major educational/research initiatives, such as the Brain Regenerative Therapy Centre, Cambridge Academy of Therapeutic Sciences, Carbon Neutral Future Initiative
- Development funding for Centre for the Study of Existential Risk; Millennium Mathematics Project; CRASSH.
The INT strives to be as flexible as possible to ensure the success of your research project. Therefore, if your proposed project costs are not covered by this summary, please ask.
Eligible Costs:
- Consumables
- Equipment essential to project success. It is expected that a quote is provided as part of your application. Other sources of funding should be approached and contribute to the overall cost. If this is not possible, full justification must be provided.
- Facility access costs. Usage should be charged at the 'internal' rate wherever possible and the applicant's Head of Department should specify why the usage cannot be paid for by the Department
- National Insurance, Pension, and Inflation (as set at time of application)
- Postdoctoral Research Associate salary costs up to spine point 044. If project staff members need to be paid at a higher spine point, it is expected that any difference in salary is met using alternative funding
- Public engagement event costs, including material printing
- Staff may work on a part-time or full-time basis. If project staff members are working part-time, this cannot be used as justification to pay salary costs higher than spine point 044 or extend the project further than 5 years
- Technician or other support costs only if specifically required by the subject of the project
- Travel expenses, in line with the University travel expenditure policy
Ineligible Costs:
- Apprenticeship levy
- ‘Buying out’ PI time or contributions to PI salary
- Conference Hosting
- Overheads and indirect costs
- Publication and open access costs
- Relocation or Visa costs
- Research Assistant salary costs
- Research that falls under the remit of major funders, such as UKRI
- Studentships
- Visitors
Please contact the Director in the first instance to discuss your proposal.
The named applicant should be a Head of Department or Chair of School.
Applications must be completed with the assistance of your departmental Research Grants Administrator. Calculating staff costs in a Worktribe standalone budget is recommended.
Applications should be submitted using our online application form. This will be linked here in due course.
You will be asked to upload:
- The project academic case. This should be no longer than 4 sides of A4, including references. All text within your academic case should be no smaller than font size 11, Calibri, Aptos, or Arial. All A4 margins should be set at a minimum of 1 inch
- A completed budget table. Please use the temple provided here
- A copy of the applicant CV and the CV of any named staff the application requests costs for. CVs should be no longer than 4 pages
Please note that the INT will not consider applications made between the advertised funding rounds or by those from outside of the University of Cambridge.
| Preliminary Round Lent 2026 | Final Round Easter 2026 | |
| Submission of draft applications to HoD/Faculty/School | 02 January 2026 | |
| Submission of draft applications to INT | 09 January 2026 | |
| Submission of final applications to INT | 23 January 2026 | |
| Trustees' Award Meeting | 19 March 2026 | |
| Outcome Announced | 26 March 2026 |
