Expressions of Interest are now open for the Faraday Institution’s Transformational Challenge Programme for Ultra Low Cost, Long Duration Energy Storage.
The Institution is adding a Transformational Challenge programme to its research portfolio. These will target energy storage application challenges that have extraordinary impact potential, and where there are currently only conceptional solutions or ideas at the very earliest stages of R&D.
Its first Transformational Challenge will be to develop ultra-low cost long duration energy storage solutions and will be known as UltraStore.
The intention is to fund up to two large research projects under UltraStore from April 2026. The organisation invites expressions of interest from individuals and small teams to work closely as research consultants with the Institution in 2025 to formulate and develop novel methods and approaches and radical ideas in a co-creation and planning phase ahead of these longer R&D projects.
Ideas for projects should aim to look beyond incremental improvement of existing storage technologies, and instead consider new possibilities that have not yet been the subject of significant research, let alone commercial development.
All energy storage types (electrochemical, electrical, thermal, mechanical, chemical energy storage or other) are in scope, provided that the technology meets the Technology Specification. Applications are encouraged from as wide a field of disciplines as possible.
Royce and the Faraday Institution are both UK-based research organisations focused on advanced materials and energy storage, respectively. They share complementary interests, particularly in materials science for battery technology. The organisations collaborate closely on innovation in Battery Materials – battery performance is heavily dependent on materials science, and there is a strong overlap between the two institutions. Faraday directly supports Royce’s advanced materials characterisation, processing, and analysis capabilities that align with its research remit.
Applications for the Expressions of Interest stage should be submitted by 11:59pm, on 25th April 2025.
For further information and application details, head to: https://www.faraday.ac.uk/opportunities/ultrastore-cocreation-call-march2025/
