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The UK Research Councils are government agencies responsible for particular areas of research, including arts and humanties, social science, life and biomedical science, environmental science, physical sciences and engineering. They have five main functions, which are to:

• Fund basic, strategic and applied research.
• Support postgraduate training (PhDs and masters students and fellows).
• Advance knowledge and technology and provide services and trained scientists and engineers to contribute to the economic competitiveness, the effectiveness of public services and policy, and quality of life.
• Support science in society activities.
• Provide access for UK researchers to large research facilities, which it achieves either by owning them and operating them or through international subscriptions to major facilities such as the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory.

They use the term Research Councils UK (RCUK) only when engaging in joint action. For the precise distinction, see their official website.

They are non-departmental government bodies incorporated by Royal Charter. They receive public funds from the Department of Trade and Industry through the Office of Science and Innovation. They have a combined annual budget of around £2.8 billion. Over £1 billion is spent on research grants and training in UK higher education institutions, forming one element of the UK's dual support system of research funding. (The other is provided through block grants provided by the UK Funding Councils.)

Research Council grants currently support around 50,000 researchers through 18,000 grants and about 8000 PhDs are awarded annually as a result of their funding. The Councils employ around 13,000 directly of which 9,000 are researchers and technicians working in institutes and facilities such as the British Antarctic Survey, the Laboratory of Molecular Biology, the Roslin Institute and the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory.

Research Council funding is guided by the Haldane Principle the idea that research funding decisions are made independently from Government.

There are eight Research Councils:

• Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC website)
• Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC website)
• Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils (CCLRC website)
• Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC website)
• Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC website)
• Medical Research Council (MRC website)
• Natural Environment Research Council (NERC website)
• Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC website)

The UK Government has signaled its intention to merge the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council and the Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils in April 2007 to create the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

The MRC has its head office in central London, CCLRC has its headquarters at its Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, in Oxfordshire, the AHRC is based in Bristol and the other five research councils and RCUK operate from a single complex in Swindon. The Research Councils have a joint Office in Brussels - the United Kingdom Research Office (UKRO).

Research Councils UK (RCUK) is a partnership of all the research councils, through which they promote various joint activities and interact with the UK government.