Apply for funding

CTRF is a global funder; we aim to fund the highest impact research programmes. Researchers in higher education institutions or public or not-for-profit research establishments are eligible to apply for a CTRF grant. Please see CTRF’s standard terms and conditions for research grants. Eligible principal investigators for a CTRF standard research grant must be at least one of the following:

• employed at the administering research organisation at equivalent to lecturer-level or above (tenure-track).
• hold a fixed-term contract that extends beyond the duration of the proposed project and the host organisation is prepared to provide all the normal support available to permanent employees.

CTRF invests in cutting-edge research on the application of biotechnology to deliver enhanced, scalable solutions to carbon dioxide removal and to a lesser extent other greenhouse gasses (GHGs) such as methane and nitrous oxide. CTRF is interested in projects which target greenhouse gas removal from the atmosphere into both terrestrial and ocean/freshwater systems. Key research challenges have been identified by CTRF:

• metabolic engineering in plants;
• engineering of photosynthetic organisms;
• ocean carbon removal;
• soil carbon sequestration; and
• biotech-enhanced weathering.

CTRF are particularly excited about the application of cutting edge biotechnology tools in synthetic biology and genomics to these challenge areas.

Proposals should address research challenges identified by CTRF. Proposals should:

• Be adventurous and ambitious, demonstrating high impact potential in the greenhouse gas removal space.
• Propose a credible methodology and pathway to impact, whilst demonstrating awareness of the inevitable challenges associated with scale-up of these biotechnologies.
• Detailed plans for dissemination and knowledge exchange with relevant stakeholders such as industry or government.
• Demonstrate credibility in the assembled team.

In 2024 there is up to £2.5m available for grants. It is anticipated that CTRF will fund up to 5 projects.

CTRF will fund the direct costs of the research plus a contribution to eligible institution overheads at a rate of 10%. Please refer to CTRF’s Indirect Costs Policy for information on how to calculate this appropriately. Projects are expected to be no more than 48 months in duration.

Equipment under £10,000 in value (including VAT) should be in the ‘Directly Incurred – Equipment Costs’ heading and a single quote should be provided as part of your application. Any individual items of equipment over £10,000 which will be utilised to deliver the proposed research should be discussed with CTRF in advance of application and further guidance will be provided.

We recommend that you share the CTRF Standard Terms and Conditions with your legal representative/contracts team as soon as practicable. This applies to all institutions involved in the research proposal as the same Terms and Conditions will apply.

The lead applicant will be asked at Full Application stage to confirm that all parties involved in the research have read and understand in its entirety the CTRF Standard Terms and Conditions.

Please contact the Research team at research@ctrfoundation.com if you have any questions.

Commercial, government or third sector project partners are welcomed. Each project partner should be able to demonstrate a clear interest in the project achieving outcomes and impacts relevant to its business or mission. Project partner engagement must demonstrably extend beyond an advisory role, such as by providing direct investment to support a project research activity or in-kind support, for example access to equipment or other resources or employee time allocated to research activities.

Project partners are unable to receive any funding from CTRF to achieve their project deliverables.

There are 2 stages to the application. There is a Call Guidance document that you can refer to for the full process to apply.  

1. First stage will require you to complete the Intent to Submit form (link will be published on our website on 16 January 2024. Once submitted, your intent will be reviewed by our Research team and successful intentions will be issued with a code to access the Full Application form. 
2. Second stage will require you to complete the Full Application form. Along with information requested, we will also require other key documents to support your application.  

Please ensure you have completed and attached all that is required before you submit. If you have any questions regarding applying for funding, please contact research@ctrfoundation.com.

Intent to Submit form will be subject to internal checks to ensure fit to remit of the call. Applicants will be notified if their proposal has been rejected at this stage.

During the Intent to Submit stage, you will be asked to nominate 3 reviewers from different organisations with the expertise to review your proposal. It is likely we will select one of your nominations, alongside further reviewers identified by CTRF. Please also identify any potential conflicts to CTRF during the Intent to Submit phase, we will take these into consideration during the peer review process. 

Once the full proposal has been submitted it will undergo peer review. This involves assessment by relevant independent experts (peer reviewers), identified by you and CTRF, who will score the proposal against the set assessment criteria and provide written commentary.  

You will receive a copy of reviewer comments and be given the opportunity to provide a written response. Please note the turnaround time required for rebuttal will be strictly enforced at 7 calendar days. CTRF reserves the right to reject proposals at this stage if reviews are unsupportive. 

CTRF’s Scientific Advisory Council will meet to discuss your application, the written reviews and your rebuttal, subsequently assigning the proposal a numerical score against the selection criteria. The Scientific Advisory Council will then produce a rank ordered list of proposals. There is likely to be an interview stage to allow any outstanding questions to be raised for the top-ranking proposals that will allow funding recommendations to be made to the CTRF Board. 

Assessment criteria used by peer reviewers are indicated in the call text.