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.
Following the success of NGT 2022, many research offices will now have at least one member who has access to a UKRI Funding Service account with administrator status. This enables oversight of any application to UKRI. It also means that finished applications must be sent to that research officer (to check it over) as only they can submit it to UKRI.
If an application for NGT 2023 is started by someone from an organisation that doesn’t have a research officer with a UKRI Funding Service account, we will contact their research office to set one up.
If you anticipate researchers from your organisation applying for NGT 2023, and do not have an account, email support@funding-service.ukri.org.
For applicants
You cannot apply for NGT cannot be applied for on our Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S) system. All applications must be made through the UKRI Funding Service.
This link 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 sending it for submission. 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 30 June 2022, 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 which is 22 September 2023 16:00 UK time.
If your organisation does not have a research office registered with the new funding service, 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.
Eligibility categories
Select which of the three categories 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: or 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: or 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
Identify the primary focus of your current research
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 one of these main arts and humanities topics at its heart:
- archaeology
- classics
- cultural and museum studies
- development studies
- history
- information and communication technologies
- law and legal studies
- library and information studies
- philosophy
- political science and international studies
- theology, divinity and religion
- dance
- design
- drama and theatre studies
- media
- music
- languages and literature
- linguistics
- visual arts.
In the space provided, state your main subject discipline. This needs to be one of the disciplines listed in pages 88 to 95 of the level two list in the AHRC research funding guide.
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 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.
