Empowering scientists to reach for the edge of the possible
Scroll to get to know ARIAARIA is a UK R&D funding agency built to unlock scientific and technological breakthroughs that benefit everyone.
Society’s most important advances have stemmed from those willing to think differently about what might be possible.
The Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) empowers scientists and engineers, from our Programme Directors to the teams we fund, with the resources and freedom to pursue breakthroughs at the edge of the possible.
Many will fail to meet their target, but their efforts will inspire the next generation. Those that do succeed will generate massive social and economic returns.
The latest from ARIA
Massively Scalable Neurotechnologies
Read our latest programme thesis and give us your feedback
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Accelerated Adaptation
Read the programme thesis and share your thoughts
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Enduring Atmospheric Platforms
See how this programme thesis has evolved and share your thoughts
Discover moreOpportunity spaces
Defined by our Programme Directors, ARIA opportunity spaces are highly consequential for society; under-explored relative to their potential impact; and ripe for new talent, perspectives, or resources to change what’s possible. Each opportunity space represents fertile ground we'll harvest for technical breakthroughs through programme and seed funding.
Discover our opportunity spaces below:
Collective Flourishing
Our tools for navigating the future haven't kept pace with its growing complexity. Creating new systems that integrate a deep understanding of people, profound advances in modelling and foresight, and expressive interfaces could help us see, reason, and choose a better future together.
Open calls
Opportunity Seed
Rolling opportunity seeds
Building on our previous funding calls for opportunity seed projects, we’re launching an open rolling call for proposals as an experiment across multiple opportunity spaces. We’re keen to learn from this process and use the lessons to make future calls stronger and more effective. We're looking to fund projects within the Mathematics for Safe AI, Nature Computes Better and Scoping Our Planet opportunity spaces, with up to £500k each.
Opportunity spaces
Mathematics for Safe AI, Nature Computes Better, Scoping Our Planet
Application date
Rolling
Opportunity Seed
Engineering Ecosystem Resilience
The Engineering Ecosystem Resilience opportunity space asks: How can we become as precise and purposeful in our interactions with living systems as we are when we build buildings or software, so we can make ecosystems resilient and reverse biodiversity decline? We’re funding projects to challenge assumptions, open up new research paths, and provide steps towards new capabilities within the space, with up to £500k each.
Programme Director
Yannick Wurm
Opportunity space
Engineering Ecosystem Resilience
Application Date
02 February 2026
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