UK immersive creative companies: CoSTAR offers £20,000–£30,000 for multisensory experience R&D
A UK funding call for existing immersive experiences
CoSTAR National Lab has opened its Inclusive Multisensory Experience call for UK-based creative companies. The opportunity supports companies that already have an experience or event ready to show audiences and want to investigate how modifying one sensory element changes its impact. Applications opened on 29 September and close at 2:00pm GMT on Tuesday 24 November 2026. The programme is not a general international call for individual artists or a fund for entirely unbuilt concepts.
For practitioners working with interactive installations, digital experiences, mixed-reality environments, sensory-led exhibitions or audience-responsive performance, this is a particularly relevant development opportunity if there is an established creative company able to act as lead applicant. The central requirement is to test a meaningful sensory change in an existing, audience-ready project, rather than simply propose a new technology.
Who may apply? The UK company requirement matters
The lead applicant must be a company based in the United Kingdom. Teams can bring in creative practitioners, technologists, researchers and partner organisations, but a freelance visual artist or overseas studio cannot automatically apply as lead without satisfying the legal eligibility conditions. The applicant company must be able to demonstrate its existing experience and articulate how the research can improve its creative practice, technological capabilities and business growth. The downloadable Applicant Guidance sets out the full eligibility criteria.
Funding, research support and facilities
CoSTAR expects to select at least two projects. Individual cash awards will typically be in the range of £20,000 to £30,000, although applicants may request up to £40,000. Smaller, tightly focused proposals are also welcome. Budgets can cover appropriate project costs such as performers, interaction design, editing, materials and relevant testing activity, subject to the programme’s Budget Guidance.
In addition to cash, selected companies receive technical and research support through the National Lab and its Inclusive User Futures team, including access to CoSTAR facilities at Pinewood Studios. The team brings expertise from inclusive design, human-computer interaction, psychology and audience research. Applicants should use the official guidance to confirm the precise amount and conditions of facility access because different brief summaries on the programme page describe it differently.
What kind of multisensory experiment is sought?
Each proposal should identify one central sensory dimension to add, remove or adapt: examples given by the organisers include immersive sound, smell and tactile elements. Other approaches can be considered where they create a testable, accessible difference to an existing work. The point is to learn whether that change improves immersion, engagement, inclusion, emotional response or commercial potential. Merely claiming that a work is interactive is not enough; applicants need a clear research question and evaluation method.
An installation might compare its original audiovisual version against a version with an accessible haptic layer. A live interactive event might explore how an immersive sound treatment changes audience understanding. These are illustrative examples for developing a proposal, not projects automatically approved by CoSTAR. The organisers expect applicants to explain why that particular sensory modification is worthwhile and how its impact could be measured.
Audience testing is not optional
A successful project must plan audience-facing demonstrations of two versions of its experience: the original version and the modified multisensory version. CoSTAR specifies a minimum of 50 audience members per group, meaning at least 100 participants overall. Applicants therefore need a credible recruitment plan and a venue or delivery arrangement. A third-party venue may be used; successful teams that rely on one will need to demonstrate that the partnership exists.
What to prepare for the application
A strong application should explain the existing experience, proposed sensory change, barriers the company faces, anticipated benefits for audiences including accessibility, research design, and the commercial, social, cultural and economic value. The application package supplies dedicated documents for applicant guidance, budgeting, project planning and questions. It is sensible to begin with these official templates rather than creating an unrelated narrative proposal.
Because CoSTAR is supporting research and development with public audience evaluation, applicants should show how they will work with the Inclusive User Futures team and use the infrastructure available. A proportionate budget and realistic schedule matter: funding is not necessarily awarded at the £40,000 maximum simply because a project is technologically complex.
Key dates: Q&A, deadline and delivery
The official timeline lists an online Q&A on Monday 19 October 2026 from 1pm to 2pm British Summer Time, an application deadline of Tuesday 24 November 2026 at 2pm Greenwich Mean Time, decisions and contracting in February 2027, and research-and-development delivery from March through June 2027. Applicants applying from outside the UK time zone should pay attention to the GMT deadline in November.