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The first round of two of the CHARTED project’s larger funding calls — Fund 1: FAIRifying Training Resources and Fund 3: Tools and Frameworks — closes on Wednesday 30 September 2026 at 11:59pm BST. We covered CHARTED’s rolling funds back in June, and these two are the bigger, project-scale calls, with awards of up to £40k and £150k respectively, and there is still time to get an application in!

CHARTED is part of the dRTP Skills network, funded by the UKRI Digital Research Infrastructure programme, and its aim is to make the training landscape easier to navigate for both new and experienced digital Research Technical Professionals (dRTPs). Every application should make clear how it furthers that goal.

Fund 1: FAIRifying Training Resources (up to £40k)

Fund 1 supports people who provide training for dRTPs to make their materials more FAIR — Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable — for both learners and trainers. That could mean adopting common metadata schemas, improving resource descriptions with clear prerequisites and learning outcomes, creating documentation and processes so others can contribute, mapping content onto established skill frameworks, modularising or adapting material for different audiences and delivery modes, or writing best practice guidelines on FAIRifying training material.

CHARTED has built a FAIR evaluation tool: around 50 questions across the four FAIR dimensions that produce a report of suggested improvements. If you are proposing to improve existing resources, they strongly encourage you to run your material through it and use the output to scope your application.

Projects can run for up to 12 months (most are expected to be shorter), and the majority of the budget is expected to go on staff time and be aware that equipment costs are not covered.

Fund 3: Tools and Frameworks (up to £150k)

Fund 3 supports the development and extension of tools, frameworks and approaches that improve the navigability of the dRTP training ecosystem. Applications are invited for both smaller projects (up to £15k) — a specific feature, a small tool prototype, a good practice guide — and larger projects (up to £150k) that are more collaborative and come with a sustainability plan.

In-scope ideas include self-assessment and diagnostic tools that help dRTPs identify skill gaps for a task, technology or career step; frameworks, schemas and catalogues that link roles, skills and training resources; tools that help trainers make their content more FAIR or break it into modules; recommendation and search across training from multiple providers; and new approaches to bite-sized, task-driven continuous professional development. Novel and AI-driven approaches are explicitly welcome.

Smaller projects are assessed on the application form alone; shortlisted larger projects will be invited to a panel interview.

Funds 2 and 4 remain open on a rolling basis

If a project-scale bid isn’t what you need right now, Fund 2: Community Activities (events, hackathons, working meetings and mentoring, up to £5k) and Fund 4: Professional Development (conferences, training and knowledge exchange visits for individuals, up to £5k) both continue on a rolling basis. The next deadline for both is Thursday 15 October 2026.

Eligibility

All four funds require applicants to be affiliated with a UK-based academic institution or non-profit, or to be a UK-based freelance trainer, educator or community manager. Lead applicants do not need to be academics — all dRTPs are welcome. Funds 1 and 3 cover 80% of Full Economic Cost, and successful applicants enter into a grant agreement with the University of Edinburgh as CHARTED’s lead. Each fund’s page has the full eligibility details, and a second round of Funds 1 and 3 is expected to open in late spring 2027 for anyone who misses this one.

Get involved

Making training easier to find, reuse and build on is a challenge shared right across the DRI community, and these calls are a real opportunity to fix something you’ve been living with. If you run a course that deserves a wider audience, or have an idea for a tool that would help people work out what to learn next, do get an application in before the 30th, share the calls with your colleagues and networks, and contact the CHARTED team at charted@drtp-skills.ac.uk with any questions.