Smart Data Foundry Launches FINDS Fellowships to Accelerate Socio-Economic Research Using Deidentified Financial Data

Smart Data Foundry today announces the launch of the FINDS Fellowships, a new funding initiative offering up to £300,000 to support innovative, data-driven research projects leveraging de-identified financial data to address key economic, social, and health challenges.

The FINDS Fellowships aim to empower researchers across academia, policy institutes, think tanks, and independent research organisations to access cutting-edge financial datasets and secure competitive funding for impactful, policy-relevant research.

Key details:

• Funding Available: Up to £300,000 total, supporting 3-4 projects
• Application Period: Opens 28 October 2025, closes 9 December 2025
• Eligible Sectors: UK-based universities, policy think tanks, research institutes, and independent organisations (subject to ESRC vetting)
• Pre-Application Webinar: 23 October 2025

The Fellowships invite proposals aligned with FINDS’ core research themes, including economic behaviour and trends, public health and wellbeing, social science and demographic dynamics, and income and expenditure patterns.

FINDS (Financial Data Service) is funded via UKRI’s Smart Data Research UK programme and provides secure, de-identified financial data enabling researchers to better understand economic shocks and policy impacts on communities. This initiative represents a unique opportunity for researchers to leverage novel data sources that can inform more targeted and effective policy responses.