The ESRC fund research in the following areas:

Economy and business
Environment
Health & wellbeing
International
Public Services
Politics and government
Society

The ESRC’s Research Funding Guide gives details of funding opportunities, how to apply, costs and grant terms and conditions of the funding. Most ESRC grant schemes fund proposals at 80% FEC, in line with other research councils.

All the UK Research Council’s strategic priorities from 2016 – 2020 can be viewed in online. The ESRC have the following initial priorities:

Research into improving productivity
Ways of better understanding the macro-economy
Mental health and wellbeing
Housing
Risks and opportunities associated with the ‘digital age’

Proposals should, where possible fit in with one of the above areas.

The ESRC’s Delivery Plan 2015-16 sets out their immediate priorities:

1. Big Data – use of large routine datasets
2. Business innovation – improving understanding of how businesses identify and take advantage of new market opportunities
3. Social science of environmental change – the development and evaluation of ‘green business models’
4. Urban transformations – these play a vital role in growth, innovation and adaption within cities
5. Epigenetics – researching how genes are influenced by environmental factors; the ESRC wish to fund interdisciplinary and international networks in this area
6. Education – to complement and support government higher education strategy in this area
7. Europe – research into the political, social and economic implications of the UK’s relationship with the EU.