Internal funding sources

The University has a number of internal funding sources to support research.

Large Grant Contribution Fund: Institutional contribution towards large collaborative funding proposals. Up to 10% of the total award value; minimum proposal value £5m in STEM. Always open.
Bid Preparation Fund: Up to £10,000 to support the preparation of collaborative funding proposals. Always open.

School of Technology Seed fund: up to £15,000 for staff in the School of Technology. Termly calls.
Isaac Newton Trust project start-up grants: up to £30,000 to support the establishment of new, stellar quality, visionary projects. Termly calls.

Impact Acceleration Accounts: managed by the Research Strategy Office. Funding for entrepreneurship, technology transfer and commercialisation, long-term business engagement and partnerships, policy impact, social and cultural impact. Calls are announced via email.
Cambridge Enterprise Technology Investment Fund (TIF): bridge the gap between early-stage research and commercialisation. Always open.
Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF): provides infrastructure supporting Knowledge Exchange between Higher Education providers and the wider world, to benefit society and the economy. The University ran a call for medium and long term KE strategic activities in March 2025, so further calls for long-term infrastructure are not expected before 2030.

The School of Physical Sciences has a School Equipment Fund to support applications from departments. Information on this scheme is circulated to departments when available.
Both the School of Technology and the School of Physical Sciences provide matched funding for equipment as part of UKRI applications. For more information see Applying for equipment funding (School of Technology policy)
The Research Relations Team manage the EPSRC Core Equipment allocation which is awarded to Cambridge every 2 years (summer of even years). Information on this is circulated to departments when open.
The Henry Royce Institute at Cambridge provides funding for small equipment in the materials area. Their equipment access schemes provide funding to use their equipment.

Funding from Research England is allocated internally via a competitive process by the Research Culture Team. For more information contact: researchculture@admin.cam.ac.uk

The Interdisciplinary Research Centres (IRCs) and Strategic Research Initiatives (SRIs) and networks sometimes run local calls. Join the networks relevant to you to hear about these.
The Strategic Partnerships Office (SPO) oversees a number of research partnerships and initiatives with universities around the world. Their website provides details on how to apply to be part of funding calls: Funding Calls
Partnerships with African institutions: Mastercard Foundation and University of Cambridge Climate Resilience and Sustainability Research Fund: funds pairs of researchers from the University of Cambridge and African institutions to establish and/or strengthen research collaborations addressing key challenges in climate resilience and sustainability.
The SPO Business Development Team runs a Challenge-led pump priming fund to pump prime academic-business partnerships. Calls are termly; applications are open to members of the University's Knowledge Exchange Network.
The Henry Royce Institute runs an Industrial Collaboration Programme

West Hub Small Grants Programme includes two specific pots:
- West Hub Researchers Fund: for researchers and postdocs at the University of Cambridge to host guest speaker events and socials. Each year there will be one round of funding with up to 8 grants awarded.
- West Hub Community Fund: Open to all members of the University of Cambridge to provide assistance with putting on events for the wider community. Each year there will be one round of funding with up to 5 grants being awarded.

Have we missed any internal funding schemes? Please let us know!