UK Research and Innovation has published a single research-data policy intended to replace the separate requirements and principles used across parts of its funding system. The framework sets expectations for how research data and related digital research objects should be planned, managed, shared and preserved.
The policy is not being applied retrospectively to every grant already under way. It covers in-scope funding opportunities launched on or after 1 April 2027. Existing opportunities and awards made from them remain subject to the earlier guidance that applied to them. The lead-in period gives the sector time to prepare.
One framework across participating funders
The policy applies to research funded by UKRI’s research councils and UKRI-wide schemes, as well as specified activities funded by Innovate UK and Research England. It can therefore affect a broad range of publicly funded work, but it does not automatically cover every grant or every activity associated with those organisations. The precise boundary depends on whether a funding opportunity is in scope.
UKRI describes the policy as a high-level framework that can be adapted to different research fields. Its central reference is the FAIR approach: data should be findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable. That means organising and documenting information so others can discover it, understand its context and potentially reuse it.
FAIR does not mean that every dataset must be placed in unrestricted public access. The policy says data should be as open as possible and as closed as necessary. Legal duties, privacy, consent, security, ethics, commercial interests and contractual commitments can justify limits. Restrictions should be considered and explained rather than treated as a reason to avoid responsible data management altogether.
Planning and sharing become part of the research lifecycle
Applicants will normally be asked to outline how they expect to manage and share research data. Some data-intensive funding calls may require a fuller plan and assess it as part of the application. If an award is made, a full project data-management plan must normally be in place within six months of the award starting. For training grants, the six-month period runs from the start of the individual studentship project. Plans are expected to be reviewed as work progresses.
The policy identifies data that supports published findings, as well as data with potential longer-term value to research and innovation, as material that should be shared responsibly and in a timely way, with as few access and reuse restrictions as possible. Decisions still depend on the nature of the work and applicable safeguards. Researchers are also expected to consider existing data that might be reused before collecting new material.
Funders expect applicants to consider the costs of managing and sharing data in their proposals. UKRI says it will develop updated application questions and guidance, and it intends to support good practice resources for areas including research software and arts and humanities data. These steps are part of implementation, not evidence that all supporting material is already complete.
Responsible sharing includes information about people
The new framework includes UKRI-wide guidance on responsibly sharing data about people. Personal or sensitive information can require careful handling, and the policy recognises that some research data must remain restricted. It calls for sharing and reuse to comply with relevant legal, ethical, security and other obligations. The objective is responsible reuse without treating openness as more important than people’s rights or safety.
UKRI presents the framework as a way to make expectations more consistent while supporting research quality, integrity and public value. The immediate development is the publication of the policy; its requirements for new in-scope funding opportunities begin in April 2027. How the framework is implemented across different disciplines, funders and types of data will become clearer through the supporting guidance and the transition period.
