We are delighted to announce the winners of the first Round of BR-UK Commissioning Fund research awards. The BR-UK Commissioning Fund is part of our £1.3 million investment in building behavioural research capability across the UK.Accelerator projects are intended to provide initial funding to provide proof of concept and/or generate new data and evidence that will allow applicants to pursue additional funding to further knowledge. These projects were expected to be led by early-career researchers and were capped in value to £50,000 FEC. We received 44 applications to this scheme and selected 11 to fund. One project was withdrawn due to unforeseen circumstances. Project proposals, that build upon existing data, theories or methods to expand or advance these aspects of behavioural research, were subject to a two-stage application process and were capped at £300,000 FEC. We received 83 expressions of interest and, following an initial blind peer review, invited 11 applicants to a submit full application. Following peer review, we then selected three full research proposals for funding. Lead Applicant & Institution Title Total FEC Award Start Date Jake Barnes, University of Oxford Pathways to flexibility: Understanding household energy demand pathways through knowledge integration and data triangulation. (Research Proposal) £301,402 01/05/2026 Issam Damaj, Cardiff Metropolitan UniversitySmart Hygiene Intelligence: Co-Designing and Scaling Behavioural AI Tools for Improving Food Safety. (Research Proposal) £176,738 15/03/2026 Charlotte Wahlich Improving Understanding and Acceptance of AI in Diabetic Eye Screening: Co-developing Educational Interventions for Patients Living with Diabetes and Healthcare Professionals. (Accelerator) £50,09101/05/2026 Shiyan Zhang, Lancaster UniversitySynthetic Organisations in Practice: Investigating the Behavioural Impacts of AI-Personae Systems on Knowledge Work(Accelerator) £50,750 01/04/2026 Max Maier, University of Warwick Understanding the Heterogeneity of Behavioural Interventions Through Mixture Modelling£49,971 05/02/2026 Oluseye Oludoye, Teesside UniversitySeeing is Believing: Behavioural Profiling and AI Previews to Build Trust in Pest Management Tools£47,524 01/05/2026 Yulu Pi, University of Warwick Bridging Human-Computer Interaction and Behavioural Science for Fair and Trustworthy Large Language Model (LLM)‑Driven Financial Advice£49,247 02/02/2026 A second funding call has been issued to invite further Accelerator Applications to ensure all funding is allocated within the timeline of BR-UK. This article was published on Wednesday 8 July 2026
