In partnership with the British Academy, the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering (‘the Academies’) and supported generously by the Leverhulme Trust, the APEX awards (Academies Partnership in Supporting Excellence in Cross-disciplinary research) offer established independent researchers, with a strong track record in their respective area and proven ability to lead collaborative work, an exciting opportunity to pursue genuine interdisciplinary and curiosity-driven research to benefit wider society. Successful applicants will be expected to work in collaboration with relevant researchers from other disciplines.
The objectives of this scheme are to:
- Promote collaboration across disciplines, with a particular emphasis on the boundary between science, engineering and the social sciences and humanities
- Support outstanding interdisciplinary research which is unlikely to be supported through conventional funding programmes
- Support researchers with an outstanding track record in developing their research in a new direction through collaboration with partners from other disciplines
- Enable outstanding researchers to focus on advancing their innovative research through seed funding
For the purposes of this scheme interdisciplinary research is defined as: "Interdisciplinary research (IDR) is a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice. Successful IDR plans and supports research practices and outputs greater than the sum of their constituent disciplinary parts.”
Scheme overview
From this round, applicants will be able to apply for up to £200,000 to support their interdisciplinary projects. These can include:
- Costs to relieve the applicant and/or co-applicant from some of their teaching and administrative duties
- ‘Staff Costs’ can now include funds to support research assistance (postdoctoral researcher/PDRA, technicians, research staff), undergraduate/Master’s students and PhD students in addition to teaching replacement for the lead applicant and/or the co-applicant
- Funding (up to £10,000) to support public engagement activities can be included within the main application
Up to 25% of the total award - excluding public engagement costs - can be allocated to research costs. This can include consumables, equipment, collaborative travel expenses
Awards can be held for up to 24 months
All awards must start between 1 October and 1 December.
Previous award winners
Further information regarding previous award winners can be found in the Royal Society's 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024 press releases.