You cannot apply for New Generation Thinkers on our Je-S system. It is one of the pilot opportunities being run on the new UKRI Funding Service.
From 20 August select the ‘Start an application’ button toward the top of this page.
This will take you to a screen to create an account with the new UKRI Funding Service. This is a two-minute process that requires you to verify your email address and create a password.
You can then start answering the questions detailed below. By starting an application, you are not committed to submitting it. Equally, you can save changes as you go along and come back to it later. Your answers must be entered directly into the text fields provided – documents cannot be uploaded.
Make sure you gain any required approval from your organisation and ensure you submit before the deadline at 4pm on 1st October. Your application will not be sent to your Research Office – it will go directly to the AHRC.
We strongly suggest you listen to work by previous New Generation Thinkers 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.
Your application
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.
Guidance for writing a 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
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. Briefly add a description of your current situation and how this meets your selected criteria.
- A current PhD student who has made considerable progress on your research, for example within one year of submission, or
- Within eight years of the award of your PhD, excluding any period of career break such as parental leave, caring responsibilities or health reasons, or
- Within six years of your first academic appointment, excluding any period of career break such as parental leave, caring responsibilities or health reasons. This must be a paid contract of employment, either full-time or part-time, which lists research and/or teaching as the primary function, including research assistantships.
Limited to 100 words
3. Topic eligibility
Select the primary focus of your current research activity from the list of AHRC Level 2 subject disciplines.
Guidance to answering this question
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 & 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.
What you should include in your answer
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.
What you should include in your answer
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.
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.
What you should include in your answer
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. Remember that Free Thinking 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
