Guidance

AI open access call

Updated 4 June 2026

1. Summary

This opportunity is open to UK-based researchers and AI developers from academia, industry, public sector or other organisations.

This research call offers compute resource aligned with AI for Science priority areas, including material science, nuclear fusion, medical research, engineering biology, quantum technologies and AI-driven research and scientific discovery. 

Eligible activities include: 

• fundamental research (research organisations only)
• feasibility studies
• industrial research
• experimental development

For more information, please see the UKRI guidance on categories of research and development.

Each project can apply for between 50,000 and 1,400,000 graphics processing unit (GPU) hours on the Isambard-AI supercomputer, to be used over a six or twelve-month project. No funding is provided.

The closing date for applications to this route is 4pm on 17 July 2026.

The earliest project start date is 24 August 2026.

Accessibility and inclusion

We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone.

You must read this guidance fully before you start your application.

You can contact us at airr@ukri.org to ask for guidance not addressed in the guidance document.

2. Eligibility

Who can apply

To be a project lead, you must have a contract (of longer duration than your proposed project) or a substantial relationship with your organisation. Project leads for academic-led projects must be employees at lecturer or equivalent level.

Your organisation must be one of the following:

• UK registered business of any size, with a Companies House registration number.

• a research organisation eligible for UKRI funding

• charity
• not for profit

More information on the different types of organisation can be found in our funding rules and Research organisations eligible for UKRI funding.

There is no limit to the number of applications from any one organisation.

If you are a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) applicant, you may be eligible to apply either through the Sovereign AI compute offer or through the AI open access call. Applicants should apply through the route most appropriate to their proposal and will not be considered through both routes. Find out more about the Sovereign AI compute offer.

Resources available

This opportunity has an indicative budget of up to 8,000,000 GPU hours on the Isambard-AI service.

Applicants can request between 50,000 and 1,400,000 GPU hours, to be used over a six or twelve-month project.

Successful projects will be subject to usage quotas over their lifetime, to manage usage and ensure predictable and fair access for all users.

Subsidy control (and State aid where applicable)

All AIRR access routes provide awards in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022. Further information about the subsidy requirements can be found within the Subsidy Control Act 2022 (legislation.gov.uk).

EU State aid rules now only apply in limited circumstances. Please see the Windsor Framework to check if these rules apply to your organisation.

In the ‘Lead organisation details’ section of your application you will be asked questions to indicate if State aid or subsidy applies to your organisation, including your subsidy history.

If you are unsure about your obligations under the Subsidy Control Act 2022 or the State aid rules, you should take independent legal advice. We are unable to advise on individual eligibility or legal obligations.

You must always make sure that the resources awarded to you are compliant with all current subsidy control legislation applicable in the United Kingdom.

Project finances

Project applications from businesses, or non-academic organisations undertaking feasibility studies, industrial research or experimental development projects will need to state all eligible project costs. Academic organisations do not need to provide this information.

Please remember that no funding is available through this route, only compute resource. The information on project costs is required to ensure awards are made in in line with the Subsidy Control Act 2022.

For an overview on what costs you can include in your project, see Costs guidance for non-academic organisations. Note this is general guidance. You can also view our application finances video.

The AIRR programme would welcome the following project costs as aligning to the policy objectives:

• software development
• staff training related to AI

Support ratios

Project applications from businesses, or non-academic organisations undertaking feasibility studies, industrial research or experimental development projects will need to ensure that the balance between your total eligible project costs and the amount of compute resources awarded is funded by your organisation. Academic organisations are not subject to this requirement.

For feasibility studies and industrial research, the maximum percentage of the overall eligible project costs that can be compute resources awarded through this route are:

• up to 70% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 60% if you are a medium-sized organisation

For experimental development, the maximum percentage of the overall eligible project costs that can be compute resources awarded through this route are:

• up to 45% if you are a micro or small organisation
• up to 35% if you are a medium-sized organisation

For more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance.

If you are applying for an award funded under State aid regulations, the definitions are set out in the European Commission recommendation of 6 May 2003.

3. Scope

We are inviting ambitious proposals that use GPU compute to accelerate AI-driven scientific discovery across the UK’s priority domains.

We are seeking high-impact projects of all scales that push the boundaries of science and AI – delivering breakthrough insights, real-world outcomes and economic value.

Proposals should demonstrate strong collaboration across disciplines, sectors and institutions, building the partnerships needed to tackle complex challenges and drive transformative innovation in the age of AI.

Priority research areas 

Through the AI for Science strategy, the government has set out a clear ambition: to position the UK as a global leader in AI-enabled science.

We are prioritising areas where the UK already excels, and where AI has the potential to accelerate discovery: 

• AI for scientific discovery
• Engineering biology
• Fusion energy
• Materials science
• Medical research
• Quantum technology

The area of AI for scientific discovery, also previously covered by the Innovator call, includes, but is not limited to:

• development of novel algorithms and software tools
• exploring AI-assisted workflows
• AI-driven data collection, production, and synthesis
• early-stage development of AI products.

The AI Open Access route covers activities that fall into the following categories:

• fundamental research
• feasibility studies
• industrial research
• experimental development

See more on our categories of research and development.

4. How to apply

Applicants are required to submit a project proposal through the AIRRPortal.

General guidance on using the AIRRPortal can be found at: AIRRPortal: how to apply (UKRI guidance)

Before submitting, it is the lead applicant’s responsibility to ensure that:

• all information provided in the application is accurate
• all project information details requested have been provided
• the application meets the eligibility and scope criteria for the chosen access route
• the application contains the additional documents requested in the guidance (templates for the documents to be uploaded are available on the AIRRPortal)

Application structure

The application consists of 2 components.

AIRRPortal online form

The form has 3 sections, not scored by assessors:

• project details (basic project information), which includes the ‘Upload supporting documentation’ option, where the supporting attachments should be uploaded

• resource requests (Isambard-AI service)
• project team (include all project members who will be using the AIRR service).

Supporting documentation

The AI Open Access application form should be uploaded, which includes:

• assessment questions (scored by assessors)
• project details (not scored by assessors) including organisational information, team members, trusted research and innovation, project costs, and subsidy history

The template for the application form is available on the AIRRPortal.

Processing personal data and data sharing

UKRI will need to collect some personal information to manage your application.

We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice.

UKRI will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) so that they can participate in the assessment process.

For more information on how DSIT uses personal information, visit DSIT privacy policy.

5. How your project will be assessed

Eligibility and remit

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) will check applications for eligibility and remit.

Expert review

Following UKRI eligibility and remit checks, AI Open Access applications will be subject to distributed peer review (DPR).

In DPR, applicants are also assessors and review other proposals submitted to the same funding opportunity to decide who gets funding. By submitting a proposal, applicants agree to act as reviewers and to have their proposal reviewed by their peers. Please find the DPR rules and guidelines in the supporting documents section. It is important that you read these carefully before applying.

By applying for this scheme, you are consenting to take part in distributed peer review (DPR). Please do not apply for this opportunity if you would prefer not to take part in the DPR process.

Please note that by submitting a proposal, you accept the following terms and conditions:

• all applicants will receive up to 5 proposals to review, of varying level of resource request
• the reviewer is expected to carefully read all the assigned proposals, rate them and provide feedback to the applicants following the rules and guidelines
• failing to provide the reviews by the deadline will lead to the automatic rejection of the proposal submitted by the given applicant.

By using different reviewer pools, proposals will be assigned to reviewers in such a way that scoring an application has no bearing on the ranking of the reviewer’s own application.

Allocating resources

Following assessment, applications will be allocated to one of 3 tiers.

Resources will be allocated to the applications in the top tier as priority, using partial randomisation as required.

Applications in the middle tier may be recommended for resources using partial randomisation.

Resources are allocated until the budget is exhausted throughout the middle tier.

Each review pool will have a separate resource budget, as a proportion of the overall resource budget for the opportunity.

Assessment by experts remains the mainstay of the process and applications must pass a certain threshold to be deemed competitively strong against the assessment criteria. Therefore, only highly competitive applications will be considered via randomisation.

The UKRI and Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) Delivery team will make the final allocation decision.

Assessment criteria

The criteria we will assess your application against are:

• alignment to the call’s priority area(s) and highly credible research outcomes
• the project has a high degree of ambition, novelty and/or there is a significant opportunity that would not be possible without access to the AIRR
• previous use of GPU compute and demonstration that progress of research is contingent on scaling up access to compute resource
• ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations, including how to manage these considerations

We reserve the right to modify the assessment process as needed.

6. What happens if you receive an award offer

If your project application is successful, UKRI will send the project lead a formal offer letter, which will contain: 

• the award terms and conditions 
• any subsidy notice required 
• a link to the online equality monitoring form 

When you confirm the equality monitoring form has been completed, the project lead will be emailed a project link from the AIRRPortal.

By logging in to the AIRRPortal and accessing the compute resources, you will have accepted the UKRI terms and conditions.

Important notes 

We will not accept requests to significantly delay the award start date. 

UKRI and DSIT reserve the right to pause your access to AIRR to allow high priority projects and urgent national requirements to access AIRR. We will provide as much notice as possible should this occur and work with you to reschedule work appropriately. 

7. Supporting document

See the distributed peer review applicant and reviewer guidance.