Up to £50,000 available per project to deliver a clean maritime sector

The UK National Clean Maritime Research Hub (UK-MaRes Hub), led by Durham University, was established in September 2023 with £21.3 million of funding from the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), Department for Transport (DfT), collaborating universities and industry. The hub is part of the UK Shipping Office for Reducing Emissions (UK SHORE) programme and supports the transition towards a clean maritime sector.

UK-MaRes’s Flexible Fund will issue four waves of Responsive Research calls to fund up to 30 world-leading responsive research projects. Flexible Funding enables the Hub to extend its capacity and capability into new areas of research beyond its core programme of activity, to accelerate the transition to a cleaner maritime future, providing a fresh approach to maritime decarbonisation.

Funding for 11 projects is available under Wave 3. Proposals are invited to address the following nine research priority areas:

1. Real-world emissions monitoring and enforcement technologies.
2. Skills, workforce and capability development to support the clean maritime transition.
3. Disruptive onboard power systems and electric drives.
4. Nuclear applications for maritime decarbonisation.
5. Environmental impact of dredging and sediment management.
6. Onboard carbon capture and disruptive after-treatment technologies.
7. Design and operation of onboard power and propulsion systems using advances learning algorithms and next generation digital tools to improve performance and fuel safety.
8. Autonomous vessel design and operations.
9. Advanced design and mitigation strategies to understand and prevent unsafe release of future clean fuels in real-world maritime environments.

Standard EPSRC eligibility rules apply. Eligible applicants should be academic staff based at a UK institution eligible to receive EPSRC funding.

Projects must be led by an Early Career Researcher (ECR) supported by an experienced academic mentor. An ECR is defined as any individual who has been awarded a PhD but has not yet held a research grant of £100,000 or more. Eligible individuals from under-represented groups are particularly encouraged to apply.

The UK-MaRes Hub will provide up to £50,000 per project (100% full economic cost (FEC) but funded at 80% FEC), with match funding leveraged from project partners at a 1:1 ratio. Funding is available for staff costs, travel and subsistence, and consumables.

Projects are expected to start on 1 May 2026 and end on 31 October 2026.