NERC and Defra will be launching a new £25m plus strategic research programme – Resilient Economy and Security through Ecosystem Transitions (RESET).
Ecosystems in the UK and around the world are undergoing change at unprecedented rates. Climate change and other anthropogenic drivers are altering their biotic and abiotic composition. Population declines, extinctions, species introductions, shifting trophic interactions, and changes in species composition and ranges are leading to the emergence of ‘novel ecosystems’, with no historical analogues. Changes in species composition and abiotic conditions can disrupt previously stable ecosystem functions and processes, affecting ecosystem resilience. Unexpected and unmanaged change of critical ecosystems, and transitions to novel states, pose knock-on risks to societal growth, prosperity and security.
The RESET programme vision is to generate the knowledge, evidence, tools and approaches needed to anticipate and respond to ecosystem transitions at local to global scales. RESET will deliver understanding of how ecosystem change affects resilience, security and prosperity, and will support decisions and actions that sustain ecosystem functions, strengthen economic prosperity, societal resilience and national security.
The programme is co-funded, co-designed and co-delivered by NERC and Defra. It has also received wider UKRI and disciplinary input throughout its development.
The RESET programme will consist of five activities across strategic research, international partnerships, translational research and a programme hub. These are:
Strategic research:
1) Strategic research projects (NERC led) – funding 6-8 projects of up to £2m each lasting 3 years. A funding opportunity is expected to launch by early August 2026 with the funded projects must start by 14 February 2027. Projects will improve understanding on how, when and why ecosystems transition, reorganise or collapse, to sustain functions, strengthen economic prosperity, societal resilience and national security. This funding opportunity will use Distributed Peer Review (DPR). By applying to this funding opportunity, the Project Lead and nominated Project Co-Leads are agreeing to participate in the DPR process. General background on DPR and findings from previous UKRI trials can be found in A Year in Metascience. Full details and additional guidance on the specific implementation of DPR in this funding opportunity will be published in the funding opportunity announcement.
2) Joint international research projects (NERC led) –supporting the UK participation in the upcoming European Biodiversity Partnership (Biodiversa+) 2026-27 joint call Novel ecosystems: biodiversity, socio-ecological consequences and future trajectories (BiodivFuture). The opportunity will launch on 9 September 2026. We anticipate supporting the funding of 8-10 transnational projects involving UK collaborators, with the UK component of each project limited to £400k. Successful projects are expected to start between 1 December 2027 and 1 April 2028.
Policy-facing research:
3) Policy-facing translational projects (Defra led) –funding activities in two areas to develop tools, frameworks and evidence to inform Government policy and operations. These include:
a. Nature Security R&D – research of approximately £2.5 million to deliver tools and evidence that can be used by the UK Government to assess security risks arising from nature loss, monitor threats and inform mitigation. The funding opportunity is expected to be published in summer 2026
b. Ecosystem Function and Resilience Sandboxes – this is an ongoing Defra-led activity to prototype ecosystem assessment toolkits for operational and policy applications. There is no new funding opportunity associated with this activity but it will draw on and integrate approaches developed through the RESET programme.
Programme hub (Defra led)
4) A single award lasting 3 years. Commissioned through Defra, the hub will focus on coordination, evidence synthesis and agile science support for policy. It will ensure that common concepts, frameworks and indicators are used across the wider RESET programme. It will also generate generalisable knowledge that can be applied by government and industry. The funding opportunity is expected to launch in summer 2026 with the hub starting before 1 April 2027.
All funded strategic and policy-facing research projects are expected to work directly with the programme hub to ensure effective knowledge exchange and delivery of impacts.
While the majority of research within strategic research projects and joint international research projects must be within NERC remit, the funders strongly encourage the participation of wider disciplines beyond environmental science including biological and social sciences, economics, arts and humanities represented by remits across UKRI including BBSRC, AHRC and ESRC to help address these complex challenges.
Please note that all details associated with these funding opportunities are subject to change until launched. You should refer to the published funding opportunity announcements for the full details and up-to-date information.
For general queries about RESET and specific queries about NERC-led activities, please contact the NERC RESET programme team at reset@nerc.ukri.org. For specific queries related to Defra-led activities please contact the Defra RESET programme team at gea@defra.gov.uk
