Funding Awards

INFORM Hub Spring 2026 Funding Call opens on 16th February 2026

Focus: Gut Health, Functional Foods, and the Microbiome

The INFORM Hub is excited to announce its Spring 2026 funding round. We are inviting innovative proposals that bridge the gap between academic excellence and industrial application to transform health outcomes through functional foods.  Project proposals should focus on developing functional foods that target the microbial community, metabolites, or functional end products.

Research Priorities & Themes:

  1. Functional Foods in Exercise and Sports Performance
    This theme explores the relationship between diet, the gut microbiota, and physical performance.
    • Target: Reducing gastrointestinal distress and systemic inflammation caused by intense physical activity.
    • Key Areas: Investigating how functional ingredients influence energy metabolism, muscle recovery, and bone strength to enhance athletic performance and resilience.
  1. Recovery from Illness and Infection
    This priority addresses the role of the gut-immune axis in helping the body recover from physical health challenges.
    • Target: Improving outcomes following viral infections (such as upper-respiratory tract infections) and gastrointestinal disorders.
    • Key Areas: Developing a research framework for functional food designs that support the immune system and accelerate the “return to health” post-illness.
  1. Mental Health and Cognitive Well-being
    Leveraging the gut-brain axis, this theme examines how microbial metabolites influence mental states.
    • Target: Mitigating the effects of mental stress, anxiety, and depression.
    • Key Areas: Identifying specific metabolic pathways that can be targeted by bespoke functional foods to improve cognitive resilience and mental well-being in real-world applications.
  1. Managing Menopause & Women’s Health
    This theme addresses the metabolic, physical, and cognitive shifts occurring during the menopause transition.
    • Target: Alleviating perimenopausal and post-menopausal symptoms such as hot flashes, sleep disruptions, and “brain fog.”
    • Key Areas: Investigating how gut-microbiome modulation can support bone density, cardiovascular health, and glucose control in menopausal women, as well as the impact of functional foods on mood and well-being.

Funding Streams Available:
Click on the grant award links below for further information and access to the online application portal.

Business Interaction Vouchers (BIVs), with a maximum grant award of £50,000, are available to fund proof-of-principle projects. These projects, lasting up to six months, should foster stronger collaborations between academia and industry. A key focus is addressing significant scientific questions relevant to INFORM. While not mandatory, in-kind industrial contributions, such as access to facilities or materials, are strongly encouraged and welcomed.

Feasibility Awards of up to £100,000 each are available to support projects that have progressed beyond the Business Interaction Voucher (BIV) stage. These awards focus on advancing translational and commercialisation activities that drive innovation. Projects may include, for example, the development and validation of target populations for novel functional foods. A key requirement of Feasibility awards is that industrial collaborators provide matching contributions, either in cash or in-kind.

  • Flexible Mobility Awards (FMA) 

Flexible Mobility Awards (FMAs) are available to facilitate collaboration and exchange between academia and industry within the INFORM remit. These awards support the professional development of early-career researchers, technicians, and industry professionals seeking to expand their skill sets. The acquired skills should contribute to professional growth, advance research within the field, broaden collaborative networks, strengthen industry/academic relationships, and gather practical evidence on the health benefits of functional foods.

We offer two types of FMAs:

  • Flexible mobility award – placements
    FMA placements, valued up to £40,000, are available to support professional development. These placements are designed for:

    • Early Career Researchers (ECRs) and technical staff from academia seeking experience in a company or private organisation.

    • Industry staff (including technicians, specialists, engineers, and researchers) aiming to advance their careers through work experience in a public research organisation.
Placements of up to six months will be considered, with a focus on upskilling the awardee. Shorter placements are also welcome to allow for multiple awards.

  • Flexible mobility award – Impact reports
    To effectively influence policy, evidence must be clearly communicated to decision-makers. INFORM’s FMA-Impact awards, offering up to £25,000 for six-month projects, will support the formation of working groups tasked with developing impactful documents. These documents will synthesise existing evidence from published trials demonstrating the benefits of gut-modulating products (prebiotics and probiotics). Critically, they will also include a cost analysis estimating potential NHS savings (or reductions in lost workdays) based on population consumption data for these functional foods.

For grant eligibility, the definition of an ECR is someone who is either:

    • Within eight years of their PhD award (from the time of the PhD ‘viva’ oral test) or equivalent professional training.
    • Within six years of their first academic appointment (the first full or part-time paid employment contract that lists research or teaching as the primary function).

 

Are you looking for a collaborative partner?
Are you interested in exploring a research topic further?

Contact the INFORM Hub, and we will try to assist you in identifying potential partners from the INFORM Hub network and our affiliated associations.