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2025 to 2026 strategic Longer and Larger (sLoLa) grants: stage two

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

Opportunity status:

Open

Funders:

Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

Funding type:

Grant

Total fund:

£20,000,000

Minimum award:

£2,000,000

Publication date:

23 October 2025

Opening date:

28 October 2025 9:00am UK time

Closing date:

5 February 2026 4:00pm UK time

Apply for funding for large team-based fundamental bioscience research projects pushing the frontiers of human knowledge.

Your project should demonstrate:

potential for major breakthroughs in our fundamental understanding of living systems
a fully integrated team science approach
the need for this scale of funding
enhancing the capability and capacity of UK biosciences

The full economic cost must be over £2 million. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) will fund 80% of the full economic cost (FEC).

Projects can be up to five years.

Full stage submissions are invitation only following assessment of an sLoLa outline application.

AI Based Application Success Predictor

1. Alignment with BBSRC’s Strategic Priorities or Research Themes

BBSRC often defines thematic priorities (e.g. biotechnology, sustainability, agriculture, translational biology, innovation) — proposals aligned to these stand stronger.

Highly relevant biological / biotechnological questions: developmental biology, genomics, agriculture, microbiology, environmental biology, synthetic biology, etc.
Predictor: Good alignment with BBSRC’s missions or priority themes increases funding chances.

2. Strong Scientific Merit & Novelty — Hypothesis-Driven, Mechanistic Insight or Innovation

Projects that offer novel hypotheses, new methodologies, or transformative technologies — rather than incremental “me-too” studies — tend to stand out.

If applying for technology/platform or resource grants: innovative technologies, high-throughput platforms, or cross-disciplinary methods (omics, computational biology, synthetic biology, bioengineering) tend to be more competitive.
Predictor: Novel, high-quality science or innovative methods increase likelihood of support.

3. Rigorous, Well-Designed Experimental Plan & Feasibility

Clear aims and hypotheses, robust methodology, appropriate controls or comparative analysis, and realistic timelines.

For lab-based experiments: reproducibility, statistical planning, feasibility given resources, risk mitigation (e.g. backup plans, alternative approaches).

For collaborative or multi-institutional proposals: clear project management, defined roles, shared resources, and realistic coordination plans.
Predictor: A detailed, realistic, and scientifically rigorous plan reduces risk and improves funder confidence.

4. Track Record & Investigator / Institutional Capacity

For established investigators: a history of publications, prior funding, relevant expertise, and proper infrastructure.

For early-career or new investigators: strong mentoring environment, institutional support (labs/core facilities), realistic scope for early-stage research, and clear potential for growth.
Predictor: Experienced teams with appropriate capacity — or new investigators with strong support — do better.

5. Impact — Scientific, Societal, Economic or Translational

BBSRC values not just pure basic science but also translation, application, societal benefit, e.g., agriculture, health, sustainability, biotechnology, food security, environmental impact, innovation.

Projects that address global challenges (food security, environmental change, pandemics, sustainability, resource use) often carry added value.
Predictor: Clear demonstration of potential impact — beyond academic publication — increases competitiveness.

6. Collaboration — Interdisciplinary, Cross-Institutional, Academia-Industry

Collaborative research — combining different disciplines (biology + computational, engineering, social science), or institutions, or academic–industry partnerships — tends to be valued.

Shared resources, multicentre studies, or cross-country collaborations often get attention for broader impact.
Predictor: Well-structured, multidisciplinary collaboration increases proposal strength.

7. Realistic Budget, Timeline & Resource Use

Budgets must match what’s needed — no over-estimation or unnecessarily inflated resource requests.

Timeline should be reasonable, milestones clearly defined.

Resource requests should reflect efficient use and avoid waste; major equipment or large infrastructure often require separate justifications or different grant types.
Predictor: Well-justified, lean, realistic budgets help pass peer review checks.

8. Ethical Compliance, Data/Model Sharing & Reproducibility

Ethical standards (for animal work, human data), compliance with regulations, and clarity about data management and sharing.

Increasingly in biosciences: emphasis on reproducibility, open data, sharing resources — proposals that build in reproducibility and open access/data sharing practices fare better.
Predictor: Ethical compliance + open science practices increase reviewer trust.

⚠️ Common Pitfalls / What Weak Applications Look Like

Research question not well aligned with BBSRC priorities or too tangential / niche.

Vague or overly ambitious aims with unclear feasibility.

Lack of strong preliminary data or poor justification for riskier projects.

Weak institutional support or inadequate infrastructure.

Poorly justified budgets or unrealistic resource requests.

Insufficient attention to ethical, regulatory, or reproducibility aspects.

Lack of translational or societal impact — purely academic but low real-world relevance.

🎯 What This Means If You Plan to Apply to BBSRC

If you intend to apply, you should:

Ensure your research question lands within BBSRC’s thematic priorities or clearly justifies why it matters.

Build a strong, novel, and hypothesis-driven proposal — avoid incremental or overly safe science if possible.

Design realistic, feasible aims, with clear methodology, timeline, and milestones.

Show that your institution has appropriate capacity and infrastructure; or, if early-career, that you have mentoring and core-facility support.

Emphasize impact — scientific, translational, societal or economic.

If possible, propose collaborative, interdisciplinary, or translational projects.

Prepare a realistic budget and resource plan, and think carefully about resource needs vs deliverables.

Address ethical, reproducibility, and data-sharing considerations upfront.

Specialties

Data Science

Technology Development

Eligibility Requirements

You can only apply for this funding opportunity if you have been invited through from stage one (outline stage) of the sLoLa application process.

To lead a project, you must be based at an eligible organisation. Check if your organisation is eligible.

Before applying, check the Guidance for applicants.

Who is eligible to apply

This funding opportunity is open to teams of eligible researchers at:

higher education institutions
research council institutes
approved independent research organisations
public sector research establishments

A single project lead, who will be the main contact for BBSRC, must be designated as the project lead for administrative purposes.

Project lead and co-lead eligibility

There is no requirement for project leads nor project co-leads to have held a similar sized award before. We welcome applications which involve early and mid-career researchers eligible for BBSRC funding as project lead or project co-lead and regard this programme as an important means for developing research careers.

We expect the leadership of the project for this funding opportunity to be adequately and responsibly resourced. The intellectual leadership and overall management of the project (including work packages or staff) may be shared with any number of project co-leads at any number of eligible research organisations as part of a team science endeavour, with roles clearly specified in the application.

Project or grant managers

BBSRC strongly encourages the inclusion of a project or grant manager in the core team of all sLoLa applications. This is to provide support to the leadership team in day-to-day project coordination, including but not limited to tracking of project progress and risks, throughout the lifetime of the project.

Please see ‘Project or grant manager guidance’ in ‘Additional information’ under Supporting documents for further information.

Research technical professionals

Building on the Technician Commitment UKRI Action Plan and the UKRI people and teams action plan, we particularly encourage the inclusion of research technical professionals in the ‘Core team’ section. Where appropriate, we encourage applications that include research technical professionals as project co-leads.

Project partners

A project partner is a collaborating organisation who will have an integral role in the proposed research. This may include direct (cash) or indirect (in-kind) contributions such as expertise, staff time or use of facilities. Project partners may be in industry, academia, third sector or government organisations in the UK or overseas, including partners based in the EU. Please see Roles in funding applications: eligibility, responsibilities and costings guidance for more information.

Who is not eligible to apply

Multiple applications with the same project lead are not permitted within the same funding round.

Project leads of currently active sLoLa awards may not apply as a project leads in this funding round, unless their grant is in its final year.

Individuals based at an international organisation are not eligible to be a member of the core team as they are not eligible for BBSRC funding for this opportunity. International collaborators can be added as project partners on an application, please see Roles in funding applications: eligibility, responsibilities and costings guidance for more information.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

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

We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:

career breaks
support for people with caring responsibilities
flexible working
alternative working patterns

UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.

Sponsor Details

Sponsor Institute/Organizations: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)

Sponsor Type: Corporate/Non-Profit

Address: Polaris House, North Star Avenue Swindon, SN2 1UH

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