Applying using the UKRI Funding Service
For research officers
New Generation Thinkers (NGT) cannot be applied for on our Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) system. It is one of the opportunities being run on the new UKRI Funding Service.
We have contacted any organisation that submitted applications for NGT 2021, inviting a member of their research office to create a UKRI Funding Service account, with administrator status. We will also contact research offices at ‘new’ organisations whose members apply for NGT 2022. This provides oversight of every application for NGT, opened on behalf of your organisation.
From 1 September 2021, the system will also enable finalised applications to be submitted by your research office to AHRC, which must be received by 23 September 2021 16:00.
If you anticipate researchers from your organisation applying for NGT 2022, but have not already received an invitation to open an account, email support@funding-service.ukri.org.
We are running a webinar for research offices from organisations with potential applicants to the AHRC New Generation Thinkers scheme on 14 July.
Register for our webinar on the new research office functionality (Eventbrite website).
For applicants
NGT cannot be applied for on the Je-S system. It is one of the opportunities being run on the new UKRI Funding Service.
You must apply through the UKRI Funding Service. This will take you to the UKRI Funding Service ‘create an account’ screen (or you can sign in if you already have one). This is a two-minute process, requiring you to verify your email address and create a password. We would urge you to do this as soon as possible to familiarise yourself with the new system’s features and benefits.
The questions and all the guidance you need to answer them are self-contained. Starting an application does not commit you to submitting it. You will see how you can work directly into it or paste in content you have written offline. You can save as you go along, which we recommend doing regularly, and always within an hour of starting a session, so you are not timed out and keep your work secure. Documents cannot be uploaded as attachments.
Submissions open on 1 September 2021, at which point the system will enable you to send your application to your research office. They can either return it for editing, or submit it to UKRI. We recommend sending it to them well ahead of the submission deadline date, which is 23 September 2021 16:00.
If your organisation does not have a research office, the system will enable you to submit directly to AHRC.
We strongly suggest you study and listen to work by previous NGT before you apply. You can find examples of these on the BBC website. You can also find more examples and other information about the scheme on the AHRC website.
You will need to provide the following information when applying:
1. Details and summary
Application name
This should be the title of the programme you would like to make for BBC Radio 3.
Limited to 20 words.
Summary
Provide a brief pitch for an engaging Radio 3 programme of up to 45 minutes.
Focusing on one aspect of your research, give a clear outline of your idea including the format your programme would take.
Keep in mind this will be for a non-academic audience. The assessors are looking for ideas that:
- are based on a strong and innovative programme concept
- will engage and excite the public
- explain the relevance of your research and what the findings mean in an accessible way
- demonstrate creative and original thinking with personality and flair.
Limited to 250 words.
2. Personal eligibility
You need to be a UK resident, aged 18 or over and must select one of the eligibility criteria listed below.
Eligibility categories
Select which of the three categories below describes you best, then enter ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’ in the space provided:
- A: A current PhD student who has made considerable progress on your research, for example within one year of submission.
- B: Within eight years of the award of your PhD, excluding any period of career break such as parental leave, caring responsibilities, health reasons, or reasons consequent upon the COVID-19 pandemic.
- C: Within six years of your first academic appointment, excluding any period of career break such as parental leave, caring responsibilities, health reasons, or reasons consequent upon the COVID-19 pandemic. This must be a paid contract of employment, either full time or part time, which lists research or teaching as the primary function, including research assistantships.
Briefly add a description of your current situation and how this meets your selected criteria.
Limited to 100 words.
3. Topic eligibility
Select the primary focus of your current research activity from the list of AHRC level two subject disciplines.
Your research could involve bringing together arts and humanities research with other non-AHRC funded disciplines. We welcome interdisciplinary research, but your current work must have the arts and humanities at its heart. Choose the subject discipline that best describes your research.
In the space provided, state your subject discipline.
4. Your current research activity
Briefly describe what you are researching and its broader relevance to a non-academic audience.
Provide a brief explanation of the current arts and humanities research you are undertaking.
The assessors are looking for research that is:
- new, unique, interesting or challenges current thinking
- evidenced, scholarly and well written.
Limited to 250 words.
5. Your research history
List the academic institutions where you have been based, the years you were there and the research you undertook.
Include all the academic institutions for whom you have carried out research. Start with the most recent; describe what you did and how you did it, providing any interesting outcomes. You should set this out in the same way you might set out a CV.
The assessors are particularly looking for:
- a breadth of research interest
- high standards of scholarship.
Limited to 250 words.
6. Write a review
Review a book, film, play, poetry, current exhibition or cultural event.
Review a new film, play, novel, book of poetry, exhibition or any other cultural event of which you have personal and recent experience. This should be of interest to and written for a non-academic audience, and must be on a topic and discipline separate from your research.
Write the review as if you were going to read it on air as a short essay for BBC Radio 3. You can listen to examples online on the BBC website.
Remember that the ‘Free Thinking’ programme makes a link between arts and ideas, so your review will need to explore ideas within or prompted by the work and not simply discuss its apparent quality.
The assessors are particularly looking for:
- links between arts and ideas, where you explore ideas within or prompted by the work
- comfort with communicating ideas outside of your research area in an interesting, well written and engaging manner
- editorial and stylistic suitability for a Radio 3 audience.
Limited to 250 words.
