UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has issued a pre-announcement of a funding opportunity to support a single innovative, interdisciplinary, and collaborative project to identify ways of supporting good quality, sustainable economic activity in places experiencing high rates of ill-health, disability, and informal care in the UK.

The project will develop a deeper contextual understanding of place-based economic inactivity in the UK, with a focus on the following four areas:

• How different place-based and systemic factors interact to shape and condition health, disability, and informal care-driven economic inactivity at the local level in the UK
• How this economic inactivity, in turn, shapes and conditions local economic conditions and local labour market opportunities
• What types of support are offered to people experiencing ill-health, disability, or informal caring responsibilities, to help them access, remain in, and progress in work. How does this vary between places? How have support offered and the actors involved changed over time?
• What types of support are most effective in assisting economic activity long-term among these groups, and in what contexts. How can this learning inform the design and implementation of effective future support?

Applicants must focus on places and communities in the UK. Applicants can include a comparative or international dimension, but any findings, insights, and recommendations must have a bearing on the UK context. While it is recognised that place-based studies are not always easily generalisable to wider populations, applicants must outline the transferability of their research findings and learning to other contexts within the UK.

The project lead must be based at an organisation eligible for UKRI funding for the duration of the grant. Projects may also be led by two co-directors working as a job-share.

Preference will be given to proposals that include appropriate team members and project partners from outside of academia.

The full economic cost (FEC) of a project can be up to £1.2 million. UKRI will fund 80% of the full economic cost (FEC).

The project must begin by 12 January 2026 and run for 24 months.