In 2016 NERC-UKRI commissioned five highly ambitious research programmes, worth £34 million, that would see its research centres working closely together to tackle major scientific and societal challenges.
This was a new way of allocating national capability funding designed to enable more ambitious science than any single research organisation could provide. The new approach to allocating NC funding does not use new money, but realigns and refocuses the capabilities of centres to drive more ambitious science through collaboration. It aims to maximise the value of these investments by providing the foundation for other NERC-UKRI funded activities.