UK future internet NetworkPlus: outline

Overview

Summary

Apply for funding for a UK future internet NetworkPlus which brings together the research community, policymakers and wider stakeholders to make the UK an active leader in the development of the internet and an intelligent customer of internet technologies in the 2030s and 2040s.

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding.

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £6,500,000. UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC.

Awards will start by 1 July 2025 for three years and nine months.

Eligibility

Before applying for funding, check the Eligibility of your organisation.

This opportunity is being managed by Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) on behalf of UKRI and EPSRC standard eligibility rules apply. For full details, visit EPSRC’s eligibility page. This does not restrict the home discipline or areas of expertise of the applicants.

UKRI has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new UKRI Funding Service.

For full details, visit Eligibility as an individual.

Who is eligible to apply

This is a UKRI-wide funding opportunity. UKRI would like to encourage multidisciplinary and multi-institution teams to apply. Your application should demonstrate that the team combines different areas of expertise and experience as relevant to lead the UK future internet NetworkPlus and achieve the expected outcomes.

Individuals based in non-UK countries can be involved in the grant as visiting researchers, project partners, or members of advisory boards. However, they are not eligible to be project leads or co-leads, with the exception of individuals based at Norwegian institutions, who are eligible to be co-leads.

A maximum of one project lead and seven project co-leads is permitted for each application. All project co-leads must make a significant contribution to the conduct of the project.

Under the UKRI and Research Council of Norway Money Follows Cooperation agreement a project co-lead (international) (previously co-investigator) can be based in a Norwegian institution.

Aim

This opportunity falls under UKRI’s Creating Opportunities, Improving Outcomes strategic theme, which seeks to improve outcomes for people and places across the UK by identifying solutions that promote economic and social prosperity. The theme particularly targets economic growth and innovation, health inequalities and community connectedness.The opportunity is part of the Future of the Internet initiative, whose vision is to support a future internet that works for all across the UK and globally, is pro-prosperity, secure and resilient, globally governed, scalable and robust, and supports democratic, open societies and the public.

See Guidance for further details.

Background

The Future of the Internet will be influenced by the decisions made by policymakers and businesses today. The UK therefore needs to understand and help to shape these changes, to ensure that the future internet will meet the needs of people across the UK, operate in a way that is consistent with our values, and avoid perpetuating the shortcomings of the present internet, for example, vulnerable wiring, patchy connectivity, digital exclusion, misinformation and online harms. We need to consider what we want from the future internet, and how we can realise this vision.Through this Future of the Internet initiative, UKRI aims to bring to bear the potential contribution of the academic research community, across multiple disciplines, to give the UK a world-class understanding of future internet possibilities, based on a realistic understanding of what is within our control, and leading to well-considered options to inform policy-makers.

The UK future internet NetworkPlus will bring together the research community, policy makers and wider stakeholders to enable the UK to be an active leader in the development of the internet and an intelligent customer of internet technologies in the 2030s and 2040s.

This funding opportunity seeks to improve outcomes for people and places across the UK. Where they refer to government or policymakers, this should be taken to include government or policymakers at the national level, as well as those in devolved administrations, regions and local authorities.

They expect the NetworkPlus to address the following objectives:

• develop a visible, collaborative, inclusive, diverse and interdisciplinary UK Future of the Internet research community, drawing on the wealth of existing expertise and providing effective connection, communication, engagement and knowledge exchange across academia, the UK security community, government, regulators and industry
• develop a cutting-edge understanding of the challenges and opportunities posed for the UK by evolving internet technologies and their sociotechnical implications and drivers, through consultation, understanding the international context and developing strategic foresight
• inform UKRI’s research strategy in the area of future internet, through collaborative thought leadership and the development of ideas with stakeholders, with the aim of supporting policymakers to create a positive future for the UK
• engage with a small number of specific places in the UK as case studies in place-based considerations for the future internet, to the mutual benefit of these places and the academic community, and to draw out learnings that may be transferable to other places

Expectations

The NetworkPlus must:

• engage widely and be inclusive
• identify and address challenges and opportunities
• support UKRI’s research strategy and government strategy, which includes:
• engage with different places in the UK, which includes:

See Guidance for further details.

Place-based case studies

The NetworkPlus is expected to identify places within the UK which are particularly open to engaging with the academic community on the UK future internet NetworkPlus developing areas of interest, and which would particularly benefit from this engagement. The NetworkPlus team should engage with between two and four of these places as ‘case studies’, supporting a dialogue with the academic community which facilitates the sharing of each place’s research and evidence needs and assisting each place to access academic expertise. This work should be of mutual benefit to the selected places and to the academic community, and learnings for further engagement on the subject of future internet in other places should be drawn out of these ‘case studies’. These places may be at any level within the UK, they could include, for example, a city, a devolved administration, a town, a region, or a geographic category (urban, rural, or coastal).For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, go to the Additional information section.

Duration

The duration of this award is three years and nine months.Projects must start by 1 July 2025.

Funding available

The FEC of your project as calculated at proposal stage can be up to £6,500,000.UKRI will fund 80% of the FEC. Their contribution may be up to £5.2 million prior to indexation.

What they will fund

Project lead and co-leads’ salaries

These should be requested under the directly allocated cost heading.The project lead and up to seven co-leads can request funds to cover their salary costs for the time spent on setting up and leading the NetworkPlus.The following can be requested under the Directly Incurred cost heading.

Flexible Funds

Conducting research projects is outside of the NetworkPlus scope. However, flexible funding should be used to award small grants for work within the remit of UKRI. They particularly encourage the award of small grants aimed at developing the research of early career researchers. Flexible funds are funded at 80% FEC by UKRI.

Funding can also be requested for:

• activities to identify and disseminate key research challenges in the area, such as horizon-scanning studies
• activities to generate new research projects in the area, such as sandpits
• activities to facilitate impact and advance policy, such as reports, websites and briefings
• secondment support, including scoping of potential opportunities, travel and subsistence, and other appropriate costs
• activities to support career development and training
• activities such as networking events to connect users, industry and other stakeholders with the research base
• communication costs and for additional equipment such as personal computers and webservers
• equipment to support networking, events and communication
• expert working groups or problem-solving workshops
• lectures and seminars
• other projects as appropriate for the NetworkPlus, and to allow the NetworkPlus to meet the expectations set out above

See Guidance.

Notes

They are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. They encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.

They support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes: career breaks, support for people with caring responsibilities, flexible working, and alternative working patterns. Find out more about equality, diversity and inclusion at UKRI.