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planningFind a Tender · planning

FOSTER Programme Industry PhD Support Scheme 2025

Buyer: UK Atomic Energy Authority →

BuyerUK Atomic Energy Authority
Statusplanning
DeadlineNot published
Value£480,001
Published3 Sept 2025

What is being bought

The Fusion Opportunities in Skills, Training, Education and Research (FOSTER) programme is an ambitious national fusion skills programme delivered by UKAEA on behalf of the UK fusion sector. FOSTER’s mission is to train over 2000 people by 2030, ready to take roles within the fusion industry. The intention is to work with universities, businesses, and international partners to increase the number of apprentice and graduate, postgraduate and doctoral, and post-doctoral opportunities within the fusion skills ecosystem in the UK. One mechanism being used to support an increase in PhD numbers is through the FOSTER Programme’s Industry PhD Support Scheme Awards. These Awards will contribute a fixed sum towards the cost of a fusion related PhD in a UK university that commences by 31st December 2026. There are two tiers of award values available under this initiative: 2 awards of £65,000 are designated specifically for small businesses (less than 50 full-time employees), while the remaining awards are valued at £40,000 and are open to all eligible applicants. The application form must detail the full cost of the project and show how the remaining balance of funding will be provided. PhD topics should be beneficial to the wider UK fusion sector i.e. not only relevant to one specific fusion device. PhD projects that are already underway, as collaborations between a university and an industry partner, but experiencing existential financial difficulties may also be proposed for consideration.

Delivery location

UK, GB

Categories

Research services 73110000

Lot details

Lot LOT-0000

No lot description published.

Statusplanning
Contract periodFrom 18 Nov 2025 to 17 Nov 2027

What is included

ItemCategoryQuantity
LOT-0000Research servicesNot published

Comparable-procurement analytics

Benchmarked against retained Find a Tender procedures with CPV division 73. The category anchor is Research services (73110000); this is a deliberately broad market comparator. The comparison is shown at several levels rather than pretending one company or region is always the best benchmark.

Comparison setProceduresReported bids per procedureNamed award suppliersPrice evidence
Market: CPV division 731,5243 median · 49.1 average (418 of 1,524 with a bid count)3 average (475 of 1,524 with named award suppliers)Not published
Same buyer15Not publishedNot publishedNot published
Delivery region: UK6453 median · 98.6 average (176 of 645 with a bid count)4.2 average (207 of 645 with named award suppliers)Not published
Similar published value (0.5×–2×)1077 median · 5.7 average (3 of 107 with a bid count)1 average (3 of 107 with named award suppliers)Not published

“Reported bids” is an official aggregate, sometimes reported per lot; it is the closest available competition measure. “Named award suppliers” are winners, not all applicants.

Price-outcome signal

Not enough comparable procedures currently publish both a GBP tender value and a usable lowest-valid-bid value to calculate a responsible price-reduction benchmark. Tenderline deliberately does not infer a saving from named award suppliers or from missing award values.

Procurement strategy & market signals

Framework agreementNot published
Dynamic purchasing systemNot published
Competitive procurementNot published
Recurring requirementNot published
Procurement method rationaleNot published
Rationale classificationsNot published
Special regimeNot published
Covered byNot published
Submission policyNot published
Selection criteriaNot published
Risk detailsNot published

Planning & early market engagement

BudgetValue not published
No-engagement rationaleNot published
Planning documents1
Planning milestones1
MilestoneTypeDueStatus
https://uk.eu-supply.com/app/rfq/rwlentrance_s.asp?PID=97703&B=engagement28 Oct 2025scheduled

Related procurements

No linked framework, prior procurement or reprocurement published.

Documents & submission route

Source data inventory

Diagnostic view. “Not published” means this current release does not provide a value.

OCIDocds-h6vhtk-0592c0
Latest release ID053368-2025
Latest release timestampWed Sep 03 2025 08:00:28 GMT+0000 (Coordinated Universal Time)
Sourcefind-a-tender
Official notice URLNot published
Tender statusplanning
Procurement methodNot published
Procurement method detailsNot published
Main procurement categoryservices
Above thresholdYes
Legal basis2023/54
Tender period: startNot published
Tender period: endNot published
Expression of interest deadlineNot published
Enquiry deadlineNot published
Award period: startNot published
Award period: endNot published
Submission method detailsNot published
Submission languagesNot published
Electronic catalogue policyNot published
Total tender value£480,001
Tender lots in source1
Tender items in source1
Tender documents in source0
Awards in latest release0
Contracts in latest release0
Parties in latest release1

Notice history

DateEventReference
3 Sept 2025planning053368-2025

All source data

Unmodified official OCDS data retained by Tenderline for this procurement process.

Complete current OCDS release JSON
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}
Complete JSON history (1 releases)
3 Sept 2025 · 053368-2025 · planning
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}