Empowering scientists to reach for the edge of the possible
Scroll to get to know ARIAARIA is a UK R&D funding agency built to unlock scientific and technological breakthroughs that benefit everyone.
Society’s most important advances have stemmed from those willing to think differently about what might be possible.
The Advanced Research + Invention Agency (ARIA) empowers scientists and engineers, from our Programme Directors to the teams we fund, with the resources and freedom to pursue breakthroughs at the edge of the possible.
Many will fail to meet their target, but their efforts will inspire the next generation. Those that do succeed will generate massive social and economic returns.
The latest from ARIA
Become an ARIA Programme Director
Learn more about the role and apply to be a Programme Director
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Hypersensory Intelligence – Olfactory Perception
Explore our latest call and apply for funding
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Ubiquitous Particle Profiling
Explore our latest programme thesis and share your thoughts
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Become an ARIA Programme Director
Applications for our third cohort are now open – apply by 28 September for a May 2027 start.
Opportunity spaces
ARIA's opportunity spaces are the frontiers where we believe transformational breakthroughs are possible. They're our strategic visions of the future: areas of unmet opportunity where we believe new capabilities will most benefit humanity and where ambitious research could fundamentally change what becomes possible.
Each opportunity space is highly interdisciplinary – spanning multiple disciplines and potential applications in new ways. Together, they form our framework for discovering and exploring new ideas – from guiding the development of our programmes all the way through to funding researchers to unlock these visions and build the future.
Discover our opportunity spaces below:
Nature-Inspired Computation
Programme: Scaling Compute
Programme: Olfactory Perception
Unsustainable energy requirements and limited datasets demand alternative scaling pathways for AI. Novel computing, learning and perception paradigms inspired by nature will enable radically greater efficiency and adaptability.
Open calls
Programme Funding
Hypersensory Intelligence – Olfactory Perception: TA1 Full proposals
This £65m programme seeks to build the foundations for general-purpose olfactory perception — matching or exceeding biological systems in programme challenges. We’re accepting proposals for Technical Area 1, in which up to six teams will be given up to £500k each to build the Open Olfactory Resource (OOR), the world's largest open, cross-domain dataset of volatile chemical signals.
Opportunity space
Nature-Inspired Computation
Programme Director
Claire Donoghue
Deadline
30 September 2026
Featured insights
Olfactory Perception: our latest funding call
Programme Director Claire Donoghue, on the journey towards her first programme
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Opportunity spaces: three years in
A note from our CEO on our opportunity space evolution
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The hardware that science hasn’t built yet
How Amodo Design helps turn technical bottlenecks into possibilities
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The next companies coming out of UK science
Chosen from over 1,400 applicants, meet Encode Fellowship Cohort 2
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