Funding for collaborative research projects with partners from the US, Canada or both to improve understanding of and resilience to wildfire occurrence and impacts in the wildland-urban interface.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has issued a pre-announcement of a funding opportunity in collaboration with the US National Science Foundation (NSF), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) to support collaborative research projects to improve understanding of and resilience to wildfire occurrence and impacts in the wildland-urban interface (WUI). The ambition is to develop new frameworks that better explain current fire behaviour, assess emerging risks and impacts, and guide more effective prevention, mitigation and adaptation strategies.

The research programme will fund essential interdisciplinary research on the WUI to catalyse new and existing collaborations and strengthen capacity among researchers across various jurisdictions in the UK, and the US, Canada or both in order to enhance resilience to wildfire risk (for example, environmental, structural, health and community) at the local, regional and national scale.

The programme will achieve this through the follow three aims:

• Enhance knowledge and understanding of the risk and vulnerabilities of wildfire occurrence, intensity, behaviour and spread within the WUI under evolving and future fire regime scenarios.
• Investigate impacts (for example, environmental, social, cultural, human health, economic, and/or built environment) of wildfire occurrence in the WUI.
• Develop interventions and solutions for adaptation, mitigation, and recovery to wildfire in the WUI.

Applications are required to demonstrate how they will advance knowledge and produce solutions focused outcomes against the programme aims. Applications must address at least two of the programme aims listed above, of which one of these must be aim three.

The opportunity is open to organisations with standard UKRI eligibility. Individual applicants should consult the NERC eligibility guidance for applicants. Applications are open to research groups and individuals. Interdisciplinary and intersectoral research and collaborations with other organisations are encouraged. Applications are welcomed from individuals at any career stage, subject to NERC eligibility criteria.

Each country will support its own researchers and associated costs. UKRI will invest £10 million (£8 million at 80% FEC) with anticipated matched equivalent resources from participating agencies (NSF, NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR) for Canadian and US applicants.

The UK component of the project must start by 12 February 2027 and last for 36 months.