APEX Awards

APEX Awards: Where curiosity meets impact

In partnership with the British Academy, the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering (‘the Academies’) and supported generously by the Leverhulme Trust, the APEX Awards (Academies Partnership in Supporting Excellence in Cross-disciplinary research) offer established independent researchers, with a strong track record in their respective area and proven ability to lead collaborative work, an exciting opportunity to pursue genuine interdisciplinary and curiosity-driven research to benefit wider society. Successful applicants will be expected to work in collaboration with relevant researchers from other disciplines.

Objectives of the APEX Awards scheme

Promote collaboration across disciplines, with a particular emphasis on the boundary between science, engineering and the social sciences and humanities
Support outstanding interdisciplinary research which is unlikely to be supported through conventional funding programmes
Support researchers with an outstanding track record in developing their research in a new direction through collaboration with partners from other disciplines
Enable outstanding researchers to focus on advancing their innovative research through seed funding

For the purposes of this scheme interdisciplinary research is defined as: "Interdisciplinary research (IDR) is a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice. Successful IDR plans and supports research practices and outputs greater than the sum of their constituent disciplinary parts.”

Please note that the timeline for the APEX Awards has changed and calls will now run earlier in the year than was previously the case. This change has been implemented to ensure greater flexibility in the administration of the scheme and provide adequate time for award holders and their host institutions to appoint replacement teaching staff prior to the commencement of the award.

Scheme overview

From this round, applicants will be able to apply for up to £200,000 to support their interdisciplinary projects. These can include:

Costs to relieve the applicant and/or co-applicant from some of their teaching and administrative duties
‘Staff Costs’ can now include funds to support research assistance (postdoctoral researcher/PDRA, technicians, research staff), undergraduate/Master’s students and PhD students in addition to teaching replacement for the lead applicant and/or the co-applicant
Funding (up to £10,000) to support public engagement activities can be included within the main application

Up to 25% of the total award - excluding public engagement costs - can be allocated to research costs. This can include consumables, equipment, collaborative travel expenses

All awards must start between 1 October and 31 December 2026 and can be held for up to 24 months.