Early Career Researcher Network (ECRN) Enhancement Awards 2026
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Early Career Researcher Network (ECRN) Enhancement Funding – Applications Now Open!
Applications are open until **12 Noon on Friday, 23rd January 2026
The Researcher Development and Research Culture team is excited to announce funding from Research England to enrich research culture activities at the University of Exeter.
What are the ECRN Enhancement Awards?
The ECRN Enhancement Awards provide funding to support current Early Career Researcher Networks (ECRNs) in enhancing, developing or re-establishing their network activities. The awards are also available for the creation of new ECRNs in departments or faculties that do not yet have an established ECRN (please check that an ECRN does not already exist in your area by checking the ECRN Resource Hub), or to support activities which enhance research culture and community for ECRs at departmental/faculty level. These awards are specifically for ECRs and not for the establishment or development of PGR (Postgraduate Researcher) only networks.
Who can Apply?
The awards are offered to support events, workshops and initiatives e.g. speakers/facilitators and learning and development resources. The ECRN Enhancement Awards are open to all early career research staff. The Lead Applicant must be an Early Career Researcher associated with an existing ECRN or wishing to establish a new ECRN, or an ECR wishing to run activities which enhance research culture and community for ECRs at departmental/faculty level. As these awards are for ECRs only, applicants will need to explain how they fit into this career stage.
Please note that postgraduate research students currently studying for a PhD or other higher degree are not eligible.
We encourage creative and innovative bids that have a lasting impact. Proposed events can be delivered in various formats: hybrid, online, or face-to-face.
For those who received an award in previous years, you will need to clearly show in your application how your initiative builds upon what you did last time; it cannot be a repeat of your previous activities. All applications will need to clearly articulate your plan as to how the network will be developed beyond the activities related to the award. Although the award can support a social or community-building element, the bulk of the funding must be focused on learning and development activities. Note that only reasonable expenses for catering, if required, will be supported.
Key Themes for Your Proposal
To align with the university and the funding priorities, your initiatives should focus on one or more of the following themes:
- Creating routes for collaboration and exchange with businesses, third sector organisations and government;
- Career development at all stages;
- Improving research conduct and reproducibility;
- Enhancing research leadership skills;
- Advancing open research practices;
- Delivering new approaches to public dialogue and community-led research;
- Fostering equality, diversity and inclusion in research;
- Fostering collegiality and building research communities.
We have collated a series of Q&A - ECRN Enhancement Fund for any applicant who may have questions about the process or what the money can be spent on.
Application Guidelines
You must consider the following when applying:
- Beneficiaries: The proposed activities must directly benefit parties beyond the named applicants, fully reflecting the beneficiaries detailed in the application.
- Long-term Impact: You will be required to provide a clear outline of how your network will sustain its activities after the funding period, such as through producing accompanying resources, guidance or establishing a committee etc.
- Award Holders Responsibilities: Successful applicants must agree to fulfil the responsibilities outlined in the Award Holders Responsibilities which includes taking full responsibility for managing the financial demands of the award. Full details can be found on the How To Guide.
- Funding for internal room bookings, travel to conferences, equipment (including IT) or individual professional development are outside the scope of this funding.
- Regular Reporting: Successful award holders are obliged to write a monthly update report to share the progress of projects. This will include updates on expenditure. Upon completion of projects, award holders will be required to evaluate their activities, provide a short-written report in blog style and send it to the Researcher Development & Research Culture team at researcherdevelopment@exeter.ac.uk
Number of initiatives and value of award: Funding is available from a pool of £15,000
- The funding must have been spent by Friday 26th June 2026, meaning: Goods/services received (pre-payment for goods/services received after the cut-off date is not eligible) and receipted (on T1).
- Travel undertaken prior to this date (prepayment for later travel is not eligible).
- Consultancy payments made (for work undertaken within the funding period).
Administrative Support:
- The RD&RC team can provide some administrative support for the duration of the award. In your application, please specify the maximum number of administrative hours you believe you will need. Successful applicants will be notified of their allocated time.
- You will need to build into your planning how you will manage any administrative tasks that fall outside of the allocation you are given.
Don’t Miss Out - Apply Now!
Seize this opportunity to enhance your ECR Network and make a lasting impact on our academic community.
For any questions, please refer to our Q&A.
Apply today and be a catalyst for change in research culture at the University of Exeter!
Successful award holders
Since running the ECRN awards we have had a variety of successful initiatives. You can read more about our successful awards on the following pages: