A £20m programme to create four Centres of Excellence for Regulatory Science and Innovation (CERSIs), each funded for up to five years, was launched with an open funding call on 22 September 2026, according to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The MHRA said the programme was developed with the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the Office for Life Sciences (OLS), inviting applications to establish the centres.

The MHRA said four strategic areas were identified for regulatory science capability: data-driven approaches and artificial intelligence; prevention, early detection and novel evidence approaches; personalised healthcare and pharmacogenomics; and novel platform technologies. The centres were intended to bring together expertise from academia, industry, healthcare and regulation.

The programme follows a pilot phase of seven centres, which the MHRA said was nearing its end and informing the next phase. The MRC and OLS are co-funding the new centres. Eligibility, research themes, assessment criteria and funding arrangements were available through UK Research and Innovation, and an applicant webinar was planned for Tuesday 13 October, 10am to 11am, hosted by the MRC with MHRA participation.