We are running this funding opportunity on the new UKRI Funding Service. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.
The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the UKRI Funding Service.
To apply:
- Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this page.
- Confirm you are the project lead.
- Sign in or create a UKRI Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password. If your organisation is not listed, email support@funding-service.ukri.org.
- Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to them, or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the ‘How to apply’ section on this Funding finder page.
- Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
- Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.
Watch our research office webinars about the new UKRI Funding Service.
Submitting your application
To apply:
- Select the ‘Start application’ button at the start of this page.
- This will open the ‘Sign in’ page of UKRI’s Funding Service. If you do not already have an account, you’ll be able to create one. This is a two minute process requiring you to verify your email address and set a password.
- Start answering the questions detailed in this section of ‘How to apply’. You can save your work and come back to it later. You can also work ‘offline’, copying and pasting into the text boxes provided for your answers.
- Once complete, use the service to send your application to your research office for review. They’ll check it and return it to you if it needs editing.
- Once happy, your research office will submit it to UKRI for assessment. Only they can do this.
Deadline
The AHRC must receive your application by 3 October 2023 4:00 pm UK time. You will not be able to apply after this time.
Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.
Personal data
Processing personal data
We will need to collect some personal information to manage your funding service account and the registration of your funding applications.
We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice.
We will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with the BBC so that they can participate in the assessment process. For more information on how BBC uses personal information, visit BBC policies and guidelines.
Publication of outcomes
We will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity in April 2024. If your application is successful, some personal information will be published via the UKRI Gateway to Research.
UKRI Funding Service: section guidance
Summary
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
Word count: 250
Applicants
Assign yourself as project lead.
You should only have one project lead.
Find out more about UKRI’s new grant roles and eligibility.
Word count: 250
Section: Personal eligibility
Question: You must be a UK resident, aged 18 or over and select one of the eligibility criteria listed.
Please select which of the three categories describes you best, then enter ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’ in the space provided:
- A: you are currently studying for your first PhD and have made considerable progress on your research, for example being within one year of submitting your thesis.
- B: you are within eight years of the award of your first PhD, excluding any period of career break such as parental leave, caring responsibilities, health reasons, or reasons consequent upon the COVID-19 pandemic.
- C: you are within six years of your first academic appointment at an organisation that is eligible to receive funding from UK Research and Innovation, 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.
You only need to meet one of the criteria above, though you may meet more.
Please also add a description of your current situation and how this meets your selected criteria.
Word count: 100
Section: Topic eligibility
Question: 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.
Word count: 100
Section: Your current research activity
Question: 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
Word count: 250
Section: Your research history
Question: 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
Word count: 250
Section: Write a review
Question: 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
Word count: 250
