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Searchable register and UK Longitudinal Population Study (LPS) information hub

Scheme at a glance

  • Opportunity status: Closed
  • Funders: Population Research UK
  • Funding type: Grant
  • Total fund: £1,625,000
  • Funding duration: 30 months
  • Opening date: 1 October 2025 10:00am UK time
  • Closing date: 4 December 2025 4:00pm UK time

Last updated: 10 December 2025

Apply for resources to help develop the suite of discovery tools available to the Longitudinal Population Study (LPS) community, including the development of novel technology to enhance the current discovery portfolio and provide more efficient data and study discovery for studies and researchers alike.

This is a UKRI flexible funding award administered by Population Research UK. This funding opportunity is to support Activity 3 detailed in the PRUK delivery plan. We anticipate making a single award.

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £1,625,000. PRUK will fund 80% (up to a maximum of £1,300,000) of the FEC.

Your project must be completed by 31 December 2028.

To apply, please submit your funding application form (Word, 67 kB) to info@pruk.ac.uk by 4:00pm on 4 December 2025.

Who can apply

Standard UKRI eligibility criteria apply. Proposals are invited from eligible UK-based organisations, in accordance with standard UKRI practice. Before applying for funding, check eligibility of your organisation and eligibility as an individual.

Who is eligible to apply

To be eligible to apply for this opportunity you must:

  • be a researcher or specialist employed by an eligible research organisation. This includes eligible individuals with roles or job titles such as Research Software Engineer
  • show that you will direct the activity, be actively engaged in the work or both
  • have the relevant expertise and experience to lead or contribute to the development of UK Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI) and resources
  • be able to explain how your application fits into the wider UK health and social science data landscape to add value in driving towards a more harmonised and simplified PRUK vision, without being duplicative or increasing complexity for users seeking to work across DRIs

For applicants who do not have a contract of employment for the duration of the proposed activity, by submitting an application, the research organisation is confirming if it is successful that:

  • contracts will be extended beyond the end date of the activity
  • all necessary support for the activity and the applicants will be provided, including mentorship and career development for early career researchers

Host research organisations

Applications can be from a single eligible organisation or a partnership of organisations.

When there are two or more eligible organisations involved, for administrative purposes it is necessary to identify a single lead researcher or specialist as activity lead who must be affiliated with the lead research organisation.

However, the balance of activity and leadership across the participants and partner organisations can be equally shared if desirable. What is critical is for the approach to leadership and decision making across multiple organisations to be clearly specified where applicable.

International applicants

PRUK will consider the inclusion of international applicants as activity co-leads if they provide expertise not available in the UK and make a major intellectual contribution to the design or conduct of the activity.

You must justify in your application why their expertise is required and to provide clear indicators of commitment to delivering the UK landscape vision for DRIs, see applicant and team capability to deliver. If you wish to include funding for international applicants, you should seek guidance from the PRUK Hub team in advance of submitting the application.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.

We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:

  • career breaks
  • support for people with caring responsibilities
  • flexible working
  • alternative working patterns

Find out more about equality, diversity and inclusion at UKRI.

You are encouraged to leverage the full strengths of the UK’s diverse research and innovation community from the earliest stages of assembling your teams through to the delivery of awarded activities.

Consideration of equality, diversity and inclusion is important for all applications to PRUK for funding, but particular care should be taken for activities taking a team science approach involving multiple co-applicants.

What we’re looking for

Challenge

The process of user discovery of LPS data in the UK remains challenging. Despite considerable investment in metadata creation and cataloguing, the process of LPS discovery remains fragmented. The UK now features multiple collections of study metadata based on different metadata content and standards. These tend to include sub-sets of available studies and are updated via different mechanisms.

Furthermore, existing search options are typically study or platform specific. There is no overarching discovery search tool that links these platforms or that covers all available UK LPS.

These issues limit discoverability, cause user confusion, inhibit interdisciplinary research, create metadata versioning issues and increases maintenance burden for LPS staff. It is also the case that information about access routes and reusable code and methodologies developed by LPS researchers is dispersed and often archives are closed. This issue limits reusability, reproducibility and overall scientific potential.

Aim and scope

PRUK’s overall vision is to simplify the end-to-end process of researchers finding data, accessing data, conducting their research and then achieving impact. In this call, we focus on the challenge of bringing study level discovery alongside the data needed to inform any given research question.

There are two distinct but connected aims for work addressing this call:

LPS register

The first aim is to develop for PRUK an LPS register which becomes the mechanism for creating a standard LPS metadata profile across all UK metadata resources. This profile will be created and managed once for each study to reduce LPS burden. It will also be distributed automatically to stop versioning errors. The register should therefore contain a minimum set of fields to showcase LPS and enable connections to metadata tools and discovery platforms.

The successful bidder’s mechanism is likely to have features including: a portal for study data-owners to manage their study’s metadata entry; a metadata profile to be established according to a community agreed specification; tooling for the metadata which works across existing platforms with means to map content to different metadata standards. For this work to be successful it is crucial to gain support from key existing LPS registers and repositories to connect to this system and from LPS data owners to manage their study metadata.

We do not require applicants to generate the content of the metadata profiles, rather we anticipate applicants sourcing this from existing repositories and studies alongside checks and updates via LPS staff.

Search function

The second aim is to develop for PRUK a novel and innovative search function which allows users to search for data from a single point across many data access repositories. The search must provide a high-quality user experience and look to incorporate natural language processing or language model use across connected platforms.

The search will identify which studies/repositories host relevant data for the research question and to provide navigable access to further information on more granular metadata, as well as routes to access. The search results should have acceptable error rates, and the successful bidder should carefully consider the need to provide automated tools to support metadata uplift in key data infrastructure in order to achieve required levels of accuracy.

The search response should provide the relevant information needed to guide the user to the most appropriate data source for their circumstances. In all, the vision is to provide a seamless interface from initial discovery through to the access process. To clarify, connection to any access decision making process is not in the scope of this funding call.

The search function will need to be designed to work successfully across the breadth of the longitudinal community, and be equally responsive and useful for social scientists, epidemiologists etc., to identify study-collected and linked data, and be suited for those working in specialist areas (e.g., genomics or image-based research). Conducting thorough user consultation to provide a good user experience across a broad range of user needs is seen as fundamental to success.

PRUK are aware that relevant information of interest and benefit to researchers may also be identified through adjacent sources, such as information described in peer-reviewed publications and code repositories. While a secondary objective, proposals which draw on a wide source of data, and which also encourage efficiencies in the research process through the surfacing and sharing of code and research methodologies will be viewed favourably.

The created register should form complementary connections to existing data discovery and access infrastructure for LPS and seek to provide efficiencies for both studies and researchers in maintaining, accessing and discovering LPS metadata, whilst linking to access mechanisms and thus improving the data discovery and access pathways.

As part of the commissioned grant, the successful applicant(s) should:

  • design tooling collaboratively with users and existing infrastructure providers to align approaches and to ensure a high-quality user experience
  • design tooling with the LPS community to agree the study-level metadata content (including access routes)
  • create a register of studies using a minimum specification of metadata that connects to metadata held in wider existing multiple catalogues to align LPS profiles across systems
  • develop innovative, scalable and generalised search functionality which interrogates existing data repositories, surfaces the range of data relevant to a user’s needs, and guides users to the most appropriate source of data for their circumstances
  • seek to develop search functionality to aligned re-usable code to be accessed from the LPS register, building on existing repositories, publications, and associated media
  • evaluate the quality and performance of your search solution and, where AI/LLM agentic solutions are used, make full consideration of potential bias and inequities resulting from the use of emerging technologies. The results of the evaluation should be documented and made available to PRUK 

Applicants should consider the following requirements as part of their approach and its justification:

Interoperability

Interoperability is a key component of the register and its functionality and must involve connections to existing discovery platforms so as to form a connected LPS discovery ecosystem. Applicants should consider both the technical elements of interoperation between catalogues/tools and how this impacts end users and ongoing back-end maintenance, as well as the governance of connected toolsets administered by distributed parties. The proposed platform should aim to integrate with existing data discovery platforms/data repositories, such as but not limited to:

  • The UK Longitudinal Linkage Collaboration (UK LLC)
  • CLOSER Discovery
  • Dementias Platform UK (DPUK)
  • UK Data Service
  • The Atlas of Longitudinal Datasets
  • The Health Data Research Gateway

Other activities

Applicants will need to work with other PRUK funded activities, e.g. LPS infrastructure landscape simplification and development of a secure data environment training platform (Activities 4 and 5 of the PRUK delivery plan), both of which are led by the UK LLC and involve wider partners e.g. UKDA.

Metadata

  • As part of the design of the register and its connections, applicants must develop an agreed minimum specification of metadata that the register itself must display and provide as a profile tool for studies and allow seamless connectivity to other platforms.
  • Applicants should justify their proposed use of metadata standards in order to enhance, develop, and sustain standardisation approaches to discovery tool development. The choice of standard(s) is not prescriptive, but applicants may consider discipline-specific standards such as DCAT or DDI, as well as any combination with preservation and interoperability standards and registry and protocol standards. The choice of standard for the profile is less important than the need for the profile entry to be interoperable across the breadth of systems and standards used for UK study metadata systems.
  • LPS themselves should be enabled to manage their study-level metadata profiles using common content (as referenced above) that can permit federation and connectivity across databases/tools.

Search methodologies

Interoperable search methodologies should be incorporated in order to support connectivity to the wider suite of discovery tools as part of a connected network. The development of a search function should support the discovery pathway from initial profile discovery to more granular data catalogues and data access pathways.

Applicants should consider including logic models and developing ease of visibility of access pathways to metadata and data, considering the connectivity between platforms (i.e. how does a user navigate through from the register and search functions to other discovery platforms where they hold more granular or theme or data-specific metadata).

For the search tool to be effective, it is likely it will need to search repositories at documentation and variable level, and where relevant search across traditional variables, linked routine records (e.g., coded health care records) and other data types (e.g. ‘Omic’ datasets). Metadata uplift, such as deploying tools to label variables with standardised ontologies, may be required.

Search range

The search tool should make use of a broad range of LPS discovery resources such as (but not limited to) CLOSER Discovery, UK LLC, DPUK, UK Data Service, the Atlas of Longitudinal Datasets, Harmony and the HDRUK Gateway. It should also signpost key data access points including centralised access platforms such as (but not limited to) UK LLC, UKDA, DPUK and study specific platforms/access routes.

Training

Applicants must show how they will incorporate training into their approach, including LPS, connected tool providers, and end users (e.g. researchers).

Engagement

Applicants should describe how they will engage with PRUK and with LPS teams to maximise the number of studies taking part and the quality of their contribution.

Governance

Applicants should set out their proposed project governance and how PRUK will be involved in key decisions and as part of a set-out delivery framework.

Sustainability

Applicants should make reference to the sustainability and future development of the proposed tooling, and how the proposed tools will be built to enable continuous development towards creating seamless discovery to access pipelines for LPS data in future.

Development and training

Successful applicants will develop these solutions for PRUK. It is a requirement of the award that a functional and fully documented copy of the tooling is handed over to PRUK for sustainable hosting and upkeep beyond the lifetime of this award. You will be required to train PRUK and its infrastructure partners in the design, maintenance and upkeep of the solutions prior to handover.

The terms of the award will be such the solutions will be made open source and placed in the public domain for the public good. You will be recognised as the generator of the solution and will be free to continue to use the solution within your own endeavours.

While not a requirement, we welcome applications building on and reusing work already achieved through ESRC’s Future Data Services investments, the DARE UK programme or wider ecosystem programmes of work.

Public, patient and practitioner involvement and engagement

Applications should adhere to best practice in public, patient, and practitioner involvement and engagement. See guidelines.

Duration

The duration of the award is up to 30 months. You should ensure that when completing the project details section of your application, you indicate a start date of no later than 1 June 2026 and duration of up to 30 months. The project must end by 31 December 2028.

Funding available

The full economic cost (FEC) of your activity can be up to £1,625,000.

PRUK will fund 80% (up to a maximum of £1,300,000) of the FEC.

Where appropriate, applicants should explain how they will secure support for the longer-term sustainable delivery of services.

What we will fund

You can request funding for costs such as:

  • directly allocated contributions to salaries of the leadership team and other established specialists and researchers
  • directly incurred salaries of other specialists and research staff where there is a clear justification for their critical role in delivering the activity
  • technology or equipment to provide accessible facilities and capability essential to the mission and to promote open science when not available elsewhere
  • data preservation, data sharing and dissemination (but not publication) costs
  • knowledge transfer and exchange activities, including adoption, evaluation and commercialisation
  • external stakeholder activities including public engagement and involvement
  • travel costs
  • costs for innovative training and capacity building when not available elsewhere
  • costs to improve environmental sustainability of DRIs
  • directly incurred costs for international partners (an exception funded at 100%) may be requested, although we expect most costs to be incurred by UK organisations

The leadership team will have flexibility over use of the directly incurred funding within the total awarded, as long as these are proportionate to associated directly allocated funding and still permit delivery of the activity. There are constraints on the use of directly allocated and capital equipment funding.

You can also request costs for work to be undertaken at international organisations by international activity co-leads. We will fund 100% of the FEC.

The total of such costs requested for international applicants from developed countries (those not on the OECD DAC List of ODA Recipients), India and China must not exceed 30% of the total resources requested.

There is no cap on costs requested for international applicants from DAC list countries.

What we will not fund

We will not fund:

  • biomedical, health and care, or social science research (including but not limited to the generation and collection of new data) that is suitable for funding through other mechanisms including routine ESRC and MRC calls for proposals
  • applications that do not adequately address the current investment and opportunity landscape and fail to clearly set out how the proposed activities will align and work alongside those investments to add value to that landscape in reaching towards the vision set out in this funding opportunity
  • applications that are substantially concerned with the provision of capital equipment (for example, computer hardware and storage). In some exceptional cases computer hardware may be necessary and would need strong justification, but it is envisaged that this opportunity is primarily concerned with data and digital platform non-capital resources
  • routine equipment (that constitutes normal elements of a well-founded service platform or research environment)
  • additional or duplicative equipment that is already part of an existing service or environment of the applicants except where there are clear arguments that such addition or duplications is required to transform capability, capacity of the activity or both
  • research involving randomised trials of clinical treatments
  • training (excepting costs for user support and training and for handover training to PRUK) and capacity building, including costs for PhD studentships, where alternative sources of funding are generally available
  • publication costs
  • funding to use as a ‘bridge’ between grants

Team project partner

Where appropriate, one or more project partners can be included in your application, including from academia, industry, charities or the wider third sector. In particular, we encourage multi-institution collaborations to build digital research infrastructure and share expertise.

You may include team project partners that will support your application through cash or in-kind contributions, such as:

  • staff time
  • access to equipment
  • sites or facilities
  • the provision of data
  • software or materials

Each project partner must provide a statement of support. This should be included as an annex as part of your application. If your application involves industry partners, they must provide additional information if the team activity partner falls within the industry collaboration framework. This should be included as an annex as part of your application.

Find out more about subcontractors and dual roles.

Who cannot be included as a team project partner

Any individual included in your application within a core team cannot also be a project partner.

Any organisation that employs a member of the application core team cannot be a project partner organisation, this includes other departments within the same organisation.

If you are collaborating with someone in your organisation, consider including them in the core team as activity co-lead or specialist. They cannot be a project partner.

Supporting skills and talent

We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.

International collaboration

PRUK is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. PRUK is therefore aligned with UKRI principles relating to Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I), a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. UKRI’s TR&I Principles set out expectations of organisations in receipt of UKRI-derived funding in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.

How to apply

We are running this funding opportunity via submission of an application form to the PRUK Hub team (University of Bristol as lead institution for PRUK operations).

The activity lead is responsible for completing the application process and submitting the application form, but we expect all team members and activity partners to contribute to the application.

Only the lead research organisation can submit the application to PRUK.

Application form

Please complete the funding application form (Word 67kB).

Completed application forms should be submitted to PRUK via email as a single PDF attachment, to: info@pruk.ac.uk. Please use the subject line ‘PRUK Activity 3 application’. You will receive confirmation of your submitted application within 2 working days.

References

Applications should be self-contained, and hyperlinks should only be used to provide links directly to reference information. To ensure the information’s integrity is maintained, where possible, persistent identifiers such as digital object identifiers should be used. Assessors are not required to access links to carry out assessment or recommend a funding decision. Applicants should use their discretion when including reference and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.

Reference should be included in the appropriate question section of the application and be easily identifiable by the assessors for example, (Smith, Research Paper, 2019).

You must not include links to web resources to extend your application.

Deadline

PRUK must receive your application by 4 December 2025 4:00pm UK time

You will not be able to apply after this time.

Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.

Following the submission of your application to the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and applications will not be returned for amendment. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.

Personal data

Processing personal data

PRUK will need to collect some personal information to manage your application and the registration of your funding application. This will entail personnel from the University of Bristol, University College London, Swansea University, Scottish Centre for Social Research, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, and University of Edinburgh (each part of the PRUK Coordination Hub) having access to your application to facilitate the formal panel assessment.

We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice.

PRUK will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with the nominated members of the assessment panel, who will include external personnel to the PRUK Coordination Hub, so that they can participate in the assessment process and post-award management.

Publication of outcomes

PRUK will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity on its website.

Application form guidance

Applicants will be asked to address the following questions in the application form. The application form must not exceed 8 pages, plus permitted annexes (see details below).

Vision

What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?

Explain how your proposed work:

  • will advance current practice
  • presents advantages over current practice
  • is novel

Rationale

What is the evidence that the proposed work is likely to be successful?

Explain how your proposed work:

  • builds on evidence that the approach is feasible
  • builds on evidence of user demand

Approach

  • How are you going to deliver your proposed work?
  • detail the methods, objectives, tasks and milestones for the activity and make the case that they are realistic and achievable?
  • provide details of how the work will be managed including how decisions will be made and progress monitored
  • provide details of how (meta)data collected and systems developed will be managed and handed over to PRUK for sustainable maintenance through the proposed activity
  • provide a project plan including milestones and timelines, in the form of a Gantt chart or similar. This should be included as a 1-page annex at the end of your application.
  • demonstrate how the resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work:
    • are comprehensive, appropriate, and justified
    • represent the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes maximise potential outcomes and impacts

You must provide a data management plan which should clearly detail how you comply with UKRI published data management and sharing policies. Include your Data Management Plan as an annex (up to 5 pages) at the end of your application.

Applicant and team capability to deliver

Why are you the right individual and team to successfully deliver the proposed work?

Use the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format (attached as an annex (up to 4 pages) to provide evidence of how the PI and team have:

  • the relevant experience (appropriate to career stage) to deliver the proposed work
  • the right balance of skills and expertise
  • the appropriate leadership and management skills
  • contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community

Use space in the application form to demonstrate how the team resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work

  • are comprehensive, appropriate and justified (providing FTE of all staff roles)
  • represent the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes
  • maximise potential outcomes and impacts

Please include details of any project partners here. Project partner statements of support should be included as an annex (up to 2 pages). If your application involves industry partners, provide details here and include the industry collaboration framework letter of support as an annex (up to 2 pages)

Scalability, sustainability, and data sharing

How will your proposed work be sustained beyond the life of the funding to meet its ultimate goals?

Explain how your proposed work:

  • will be scaled to meet the needs of the LPS community
  • will be sustained beyond the life of the funding to meet its ultimate aims
  • will be hosted and made available to the LPS community beyond the life of the funding

Costing

Using the costing template, provide the Full Economic Cost (FEC) and PRUK contribution requested (80% or justified exception). Expand the costing template as much as needed across each field, and provide justifications for any exceptional costs in the approach section.

How we will assess your application

Assessment process

We will assess your application using the following process.

Examination of applications

Following the close of the funding opportunity, all submitted applications will be examined by the PRUK Hub team to ensure the proposed application meets standard UKRI eligibility criteria and is within scope of the funding opportunity.

Following our completion of the application examination process, all those with an application outside of the scope of the funding opportunity, will be advised their application has been rejected by the end January 2026.

Applications within scope of this funding opportunity will be taken forward to the expert review panel meeting planned for January/February 2026.

Expert review panel

The review panel will be comprised of individuals with expertise in data and digital platforms and non-conflicted members of the PRUK Hub. The panel of experts will collectively review your application against the criteria of this funding opportunity. Applications will rank alongside other applications after which the panel will make a funding recommendation. The expert review panel will use the following criteria to assess your application:

Vision

What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?

  • To what extent does the proposal describe a vision which has the potential to advance current practice, and which addresses the need articulated in the funding call as well as the overall PRUK vision?
  • To what extent does the proposal describe a novel approach / solution?
  • To what extent does the proposal describe the advantage over current practice / solutions?

Rationale

What is the evidence that the proposed work is likely to be successful?

  • To what extent does the application provide evidence that the proposed services are feasible?
  • To what extent does the application provide sufficient evidence of user demand for the proposed solution?

Approach

How are you going to deliver the proposed work?

  • To what extent are the methods, objectives, tasks, and milestones for the activity realistic and achievable?
  • To what extent does the application demonstrate that the processes for making decisions and monitoring progress are robust and effective?
  • To what extent does the application demonstrate commitment to rigorous consultation, stakeholder engagement and that the activity will result in a solution with a high-quality user experience?
  • To what extent does the data management plan demonstrate that appropriate and realistic consideration has been given to data management requirements to maximise data sharing?
  • To what extent does the application demonstrate the solution is fit for purpose for users across disciplines and the breadth of longitudinal research?

Deliverability

How are you going to deliver your proposed work?

  • To what extent do the team and any partners included in the application have the experience, capabilities and resources to conduct the planned work?
  • To what extent are the resource required to deliver the proposed work justified?

Scalability and sustainability

How will your proposed work be sustained beyond the life of the funding to meet its ultimate goals?

  • To what extent does the proposal demonstrate that the team have considered next steps beyond this funding?
  • To what extent does the proposal provide sufficient evidence that the activity is sustainable beyond the life of the funding to meet its ultimate aims
  • To what extent is the proposed solution scalable to the wider LPS community?

Principles of assessment

PRUK supports the San Francisco declaration on research assessment (DORA) and recognises the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.

PRUK is aligned to the UKRI principles of assessment and decision making.

Timescale

The expert review panel meeting will take place approximately 10 weeks after the closing date.

Contact details

Get help with developing your proposal

For help and advice on costings and writing your proposal please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.

Ask about this funding opportunity

Population Research UK Hub team

Email: info@pruk.ac.uk

We aim to respond within five working days.

Additional info

PRUK Hub team hosted a webinar on 1 October 2025 to provide more details on this funding opportunity and to take questions from the research community. View the webinar slides and recording on YouTube. Read the Q&A highlights (PDF, 85KB) from the webinar.

Why we are funding a searchable register and UK LPS information hub

Our delivery plan sets out in detail the work we’ll do to support and strengthen the UK’s longitudinal research ecosystem. Developed in close collaboration with the Longitudinal Population Studies (LPS) community, our plan sets out the practical steps we’ll take over the next years. It reflects extensive engagement across the sector, with insight and input from researchers, data managers, funders and infrastructure partners. This funding opportunity is Activity 3 in our delivery plan.

This plan is the result of the community’s generous contribution to our consultations, and its success depends on continued partnership. Whether you’re a data provider, a data services provider, researcher, policymaker or funder, we invite you to explore our delivery plan and be part of the work ahead.

Conditions of award

Start date

Awards must start by 1 June 2026 (they can start earlier) and must end by 31 December 2028.  Please note: No extensions will be considered.