Research Engagement Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation (REKEC)

Fund 2025-26

 

APPLICATIONS ARE OPEN FOR The Research Engagement, Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation (REKEC) Fund 2025-26

CLOSES 13th October 2025

 

What is the Research Engagement Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation (REKEC) Fund?

Via the Higher Education Innovation Fund (HEIF), the University receives funding to support research and innovation (R&I) activities with non-academic partners, and to commercialise opportunities created from our R&I. REKEC is a HEIF-enabled fund to support these activities. You can find more information about how we obtain HEIF funding below.

  • Please note - policy related projects are not supported by this fund.

 

Purpose of the REKEC Fund:

The REKEC Fund aims to:

  1. Support R&I activities involving non-academic partners, including industry, public sector, and third-sector organisations.
  2. Accelerate commercialisation of opportunities arising from University research and innovation.
  3. Pump-prime ambitious initiatives, with REKEC funded projects producing outputs or outcomes that significantly increase the likelihood of securing future external funding.
  4.  Enable activities that have the potential to become major REF Impact Case Studies – including beyond REF 2029.

 

Please find examples below of activity that could be funded through this REKEC round:

Activity Type

Example Activities

Proof-of Concept / Pilot R&I projects and data acquisition
  • R&I activities that have credible collaboration or commercialisation potential, but for which early-stage (pilot) experiments and data is needed to enable funding applications (or direct non-academic partner funding)

Relationship Building with non-academic partners
  • Networking events with industry or community stakeholders
  • Scoping meetings or workshops that lead to future collaborations

Concept / Proposal Development
  • Sector intelligence or market analysis
  • Activities that lead to external grant applications involving non-academic partners

Promotion and Engagement
  • Showcasing research at public or industry-facing events.
  • Media coverage or case studies that raise visibility of KE activities.

Note. For all types of activities, there must be clearly defined objectives and outputs / outcomes that credibly have the potential to enable future external funding applications.

 

Funding Amount Guidance:

There is no minimum project value. The upper limit, whilst flexible, will be in the region of £50k. By necessity, the number of awards for larger projects will be limited.

 

Please note, the panel will allocate the available funds to a range of projects that collectively bring greatest value for money as judged against the call’s Purpose and Assessment Criteria.

 

Application Procedure

  1. Call opening date: 10 September 2025
  2. Call closing date: 13 October 2025
  3. Submit Applications via the link below along with a cost template.
  4. Eligibility
    1. Funding will be open to all staff with relevant research based projects and it is expected that most proposals will be led by a permanent member of academic staff. All applicants are required to obtain approval from their line manager to ensure the ability to commit time to the project.
    2. Projects may be led by fixed term research staff provided their HoS and line manager are supportive and there is a permanent member of academic staff who are a Co-Investigator.
  5. Project estimated start date and end date: Projects are estimated to start in early November. If successful, KEEP will provide a finance budget code and guidance information. Projects must finish by 30 June 2026. There will be a requirement to complete a short end of project report within 2 months of the end date of your completed project, which will be circulated to you by the Knowledge Exchange and Commercialisation Officer.
  6. Assessment Criteria
    1. Rationale for the project, and clarity of the milestones/outputs/outcomes to be delivered.
    2. Potential to generate future funding to continue the project's development.
    3. Potential to create value for the University: Academic, Financial, and Reputational.
    4. Potential for high quality REF Impact Case Studies.
    5. Cost effectiveness and appropriate use of funds.
    6. Feasibility and timeline to deliver the project and spend the allocated budget.
  7. Panel Review Meeting: 17 October 2025
    1. Applications will be reviewed by the following panel:
      1. Dr Guy Hembury - Director of Knowledge Exchange, Commercialisation and Partnerships
      2. Professor Suzanne Grey - Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation (Environment)
      3. Professor Adrian Bell - Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation (Prosperity and Resilience)
      4. Dr Lisa Lazareck-Asunta - Head of the Impact Team
  8. Eligible Costs
    1. Eligible costs include the following:
      1. Salaries (and on-costs) for research, technical and professional staff
      2. Campus Jobs costs
      3. Secondments to and from partner organisations
      4. Consumables
      5. Facility use
      6. Small items of equipment (costing less than £10,000)
      7. Expert Consultancy (e.g. for market assessment)

Please note applicants are expected to adhere to the researcher concordat, particularly with regard to employing PDRAs on short-term contracts.


Non-eligible Costs

  • Overheads are not eligible costs
  • PI/CoI costs relating to permanent members of academic staff
  • Academic conference / meeting expenses
  • IP costs (these are covered by a central dedicated IP and patent budget)


Application Form

To submit an application, please complete the survey form here.

You can find an overview of the application form here and cost template here.

 

Enquiries

If you have any questions, please contact Robyn Levy (r.levy@reading.ac.uk) who will put you in contact with the relevant Member of the Research Engagement and Innovation Office (REIO).

 

Contributing to the Higher Education Business and Community Interaction (HE-BCI) Survey:

Each year the University reports its funded R&I work undertaken with non-academic partners and commercialisation activities to the HE-BCI survey, which Research England uses to allocate HEIF funding which supports knowledge exchange at the University (inc. REKEC). As such, we need to ensure that a majority of our HEIF funded activities will either:

  • Directly deliver returns to HE-BCI, or
  • Enabling ambitious activities that will build towards funded collaborative activities

 

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