Funding opportunity

New Generation Thinkers 2025

• Opportunity status: Open
• Funders: Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
• Co-funders: BBC
• Funding type: Other
• Publication date: 28 October 2024
• Opening date: 28 October 2024 9:00am UK time
• Closing date: 28 January 2025 4:00pm UK time

This scheme offers five early career researchers the opportunity to be ‘researchers in residence’ where they will work with programme makers at BBC Radio 4 and produce a piece of writing to be recorded for radio.

If selected, you’ll also take part in learning and development opportunities with AHRC around working with the media, engaging the public with research and how to work with policy makers.

You’ll be an up-and-coming early career researcher with a passion for sharing ideas with the largest possible audience.

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for this opportunity.

Who can apply

Before applying for funding, check the Eligibility of your organisation.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new UKRI Funding Service.

For full details, visit Eligibility as an individual.

Who is eligible to apply

To apply for the New Generation Thinkers scheme, you must be:

• a UK resident
• over the age of 18
• currently working or studying at a UK research organisation that is eligible to receive funding from UKRI. See Eligibility of your organisation
• studying a relevant area of research. See ‘Your research history’

You must also be either:

• currently studying for your first PhD and having made considerable progress on your research, for example within one year of submission
• 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
• within six years of your first academic appointment at an organisation that is eligible to receive funding from UKRI, 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 do not need to have a permanent contract of employment to be eligible, provided you meet the conditions at the time of your application.

If you have applied to the scheme before, you may apply again provided you have never been selected as a new generation thinker in any given year.

Each person is allowed to submit only one application. The application will ask how your research aligns with one of the programmes or units. The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and BBC may then match you to any one of the five programmes or units.

Who is not eligible to apply

You cannot apply if:

• you work for the BBC, AHRC or UKRI
• you are a senior academic

Equality, diversity and inclusion

We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.

We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:

• career breaks
• support for people with caring responsibilities
• flexible working
• alternative working patterns

Find out more about equality, diversity and inclusion at UKRI.

What we're looking for

Scope

This scheme offers early career researchers the opportunity to work with programme makers at BBC Radio 4. If selected, you’ll be a ‘researcher in residence’ at a BBC Radio 4 programme or BBC Audio unit where you will develop an understanding of how programmes on BBC Radio 4 are made. Additionally, you will take part in learning and development opportunities with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) around working with the media, engaging the public with research and how to work with policy makers.

We are looking for applications from a diversity of backgrounds, research disciplines and institutions, particularly candidates who can demonstrate:

• how one area of their research could make a strong, clearly expressed and engaging piece of writing for BBC radio. The scheme will match researchers with programmes or BBC units, so we are looking for discussion ideas for those programmes which draw upon your own research or your knowledge of trends in your subject area
• how this research could have the potential to either change public opinion or influence policy
• creativity, originality and the potential to talk and write about other areas within the arts and humanities in an accessible and interesting manner, particularly to a wider audience
• that they are comfortable talking and writing about ideas from beyond their own research area in an accessible and interesting way
• a wide range of interests through their review and description of their current research
• high standards of scholarship: clear explanations in interesting, well-written, jargon-free language, that is editorially and stylistically suitable for a BBC audience

To get a good idea of what we’re looking for, we recommend you listen to work by previous New Generation Thinkers on the BBC website before you apply. You can find more examples in The Essay on Radio 3 and other information about the scheme on AHRC’s New Generation Thinkers web page. You can hear academics discussing their research in themed episodes of the Arts and Ideas podcast and you can find arts reviews on Thursday evening episodes of Front Row on Radio 4.

The programmes or units that will be hosting the ‘researchers in residence’, and the specialisms they are looking for this year (in future years these specialisms will vary), are:

• Free Thinking and Thinking Allowed which cover new research on how society works and welcome researchers who specialise in how the arts and humanities interact with sociology, political science and international studies
• Front Row which covers all areas of the arts but this year welcomes researchers who specialise in film and television
• Woman’s Hour which highlights women’s voices and women’s lives with topical conversations to inform, challenge and inspire. This year they are looking for researchers who specialise in archaeology or history where the work sheds light on the lives of women before the twentieth century. This opportunity is not limited to researchers who identify as women, but the focus of the research should be shedding light on women’s experiences in the past in the UK, around the world or both
• the Science Programmes Unit based in Cardiff produces a series of weekly shows for Radio 4 and the World Service. Programmes include Inside Health on Radio 4 and Health Check on World Service. This unit particularly encourages applications from researchers based in Wales and the South-West of England whose research links the arts with health
• the Arts and Music Unit based in Glasgow make book programmes for Radio 4. This unit particularly encourages applications from researchers based in Scotland and Northern Ireland who focus on research into literature

Your research must have a primary focus in the arts and humanities. Your research could be bringing together arts and humanities research with other non-AHRC funded disciplines, provided you can demonstrate suitable links to the world of arts and humanities and that arts and humanities remains a primary focus.

Your application will be disqualified if the arts and humanities are not a primary focus of your research.

Our main topic areas are:

• 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

We assess all applications on their own merits against the application criteria.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.

As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.

Find further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support.

How to apply

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.

The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service.

To apply

Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.

1. Confirm you are the project lead.
2. Sign in or create a 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
   Please allow at least 10 working days for your organisation to be added to the Funding Service. We strongly suggest that if you are asking UKRI to add your organisation to the Funding Service to enable you to apply to this Opportunity, you also create an organisation Administration Account. This will be needed to allow the acceptance and management of any grant that might be offered to you.
3. Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.
4. Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.
5. Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
6. Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.

Watch our research office webinars about the Funding Service

For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:

• how applicants use the Funding Service
• how research offices use the Funding Service
• how reviewers use the Funding Service

References

Applications should be self-contained, and hyperlinks should only be used to provide links directly to reference information. To ensure the information’s integrity is maintained, where possible, persistent identifiers such as digital object identifiers should be used. Assessors are not required to access links to carry out assessment or recommend a funding decision. Applicants should use their discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.

References should be included in the appropriate question section of the application and be easily identifiable by the assessors, for example (Smith, Research Paper, 2019).

You must not include links to web resources to extend your application.

Deadline

AHRC must receive your application by 28 January 2024 at 4:00pm UK time.

You will not be able to apply after this time.

Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.

Following the submission of your application to the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and applications will not be returned for amendment. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.

Personal data

Processing personal data

AHRC, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your application.

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.

AHRC, as part of UKRI, 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 the BBC uses personal information, visit the BBC Policies and Guidelines.

Publication of outcomes

AHRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at Board and panel outcomes – AHRC.

If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.

Core team

Assign yourself as project lead.

You should only have one project lead.

Application questions

Personal eligibility

Word Limit:100

You must be a UK resident, aged 18 or over and select one of the eligibility criteria listed.

Please select which of these 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 UKRI, 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.

Discipline classification: primary

Word Limit: 5

Please provide the primary research area of your proposal.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

You must select from one of these research disciplines.

This information will be used for the purposes of processing your proposal and in the selection of appropriate assessors. The research disciplines are:

• archaeology
• area studies
• classics
• cultural and museum studies
• dance
• design
• development studies
• drama and theatre studies
• education
• history
• human geography
• information and communication technologies
• languages and literature
• law and legal studies
• library and information studies
• linguistics
• media
• music
• philosophy
• political science and international studies
• social anthropology
• theology, divinity and religion
• visual arts

Discipline classification: secondary

Word Limit: 50

Please describe using keywords, the research area of your proposal and where relevant the approach, time period or geographical area.

Your current research activity

Word Limit: 250

Briefly describe what you are researching and its broader relevance to a non-academic audience.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

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

Your research history

Word Limit: 250

List the academic institutions where you have been based, the years you were there and the research you undertook.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

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

Discussion ideas

Word Limit: 550

In this section, please provide two discussion ideas for one of the programmes listed above which draw upon your own research or your knowledge of trends in your subject area.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Keep in mind this will be for a non-academic audience. The assessors are looking for ideas that:

• 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
• fit with the programme’s editorial (listen to recent broadcasts to familiarise yourself with your chosen programme)

Write a review

Word Limit: 250

Review a new film, play, novel, book of poetry, exhibition, or any other cultural event of which you have personal and recent experience.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

This should be aimed at 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 many radio programmes are interested in the 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 BBC Radio audience

How we will assess your application

Assessment process

We will assess your application using the following process.

Stage one: assessment

Before we assess an application, we will check it for:

• eligibility
• research subject

Applications that do not adhere to these rules will be office rejected and will not progress any further. Incomplete, obscene, or fraudulent entries will also be disqualified at this stage.

We will share the entirety of the content of the applications, including applicant contact details, with the BBC and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) panellists via the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service. We may also share anonymised equality, diversity and inclusion details with the BBC.

The BBC will perform an initial sift to assess the discussion ideas and review tasks.

AHRC and the BBC will then assess all remaining applications against the assessment criteria and assign an initial grade.

After considering all proposals, both AHRC and the BBC will each shortlist up to 25 applications.

Unfortunately, due to the volume of applications, we are not able to provide individual feedback if you are unsuccessful at the application stage.

The shortlisted applications from both the BBC and AHRC will be considered at a joint panel meeting where both organisations will agree on the final 25 candidates to attend the workshop.

The chair will ensure that stated processes are adhered to and that all applications are treated in a consistent manner. The chair is also responsible for facilitating the panel discussions. The whole panel will then meet to discuss all the applications selected by the BBC and AHRC and agree final candidates to attend the workshops.

Stage two: workshop

From the written submissions following the joint panel meeting, up to 25 applicants will be chosen to attend a workshop event on 30 April 2025. Please make sure to keep this date free as an alternative will not be offered.

At your workshop event, you will:

• learn from BBC staff how they commission, produce and present radio and programmes
• workshop programme ideas with the help of other candidates and producers of the radio programmes hosting residencies this year
• take part in interactive practice sessions to showcase programme ideas and demonstrate your ability to communicate with the listening audience
• have the chance to speak to AHRC staff about the scheme, AHRC’s involvement and UKRI more widely

Stage three: final panel

The Radio 4 team will monitor progress of the workshop attendees and form a panel to decide who will be selected to be the five new generation thinkers for 2025.

The workshops and the selection process will be observed by representatives of AHRC, and the final decisions will be made in consultation with AHRC.

The panel will use the same criteria to decide who is shortlisted, assessing their verbal communication skills as well as written.

We expect that this will happen within one week of the workshop.

Feedback will be shared with workshop attendees as quickly as possible following the workshop and final panel.

Final applicants

Five successful applicants chosen from the workshops will become AHRC BBC new generation thinkers for 2025. They will:

• spend a day shadowing the host programme seeing a live studio recording, finding out about pitching ideas and shaping interviews and discussions. The BBC will pay for travel costs for this
• be assigned a programme mentor: across the year candidates will liaise with their programme mentor to pitch discussion ideas with the aim of contributing to programmes three times
• be invited to showcase their research and trail their programme idea at the BBC and AHRC events
• work with a producer on a piece of writing towards the end of their year which they will record for broadcast on Radio in the form of an Essay.
• have the chance to appear at AHRC events, including the opportunity to apply for funding to participate in the Being Human Festival in November 2025
• work with AHRC on appearances in the wider media
• take part in a half day workshop on engaging policy makers, delivered by the Institute for Government
• exchange knowledge amongst the cohort and share information about experiences with the wider academic community
• attend training sessions run by AHRC in person and online. This will include a media training course, a photography and filming session and an evening dinner. You must attend these to be part of the scheme

AHRC will refund travel expenses for the final five new generation thinkers to attend training.

The judging process

The judges’ decision is final. We will not enter into any correspondence regarding the judges’ decision.

The BBC and AHRC reserve the right to change one or more of the judges if necessary.

The BBC and AHRC reserve the right to disqualify applicants at any stage. We might do this, for example, if we find that:

• you are ineligible
• you misrepresented yourself in your application
• any part of your research background is fraudulent (for example, due to plagiarism)
• you bring the scheme, AHRC or the BBC into disrepute

This list is not exhaustive.

Principles of assessment

We support the San Francisco declaration on research assessment and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.

Find out about the UKRI principles of assessment and decision making.

Sharing data with co-funders

We will need to share the application (including any personal information that it contains) with our partners at the BBC and members of our peer review panel so that they can participate in the assessment process. This will be delivered by giving them read-only access to the applications submitted on the Funding Service.

For more information on how the BBC uses personal information, visit BBC Policies and guidelines.

We reserve the right to modify the assessment process as needed.

Assessment areas

The assessment areas we will use are:

• personal eligibility
• your current research activity
• your research history
• discussion ideas
• write a review

Find details of assessment questions and criteria under the ‘Application questions’ heading in the ‘How to apply’ section.

Contact details

Get help with your application

If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this page

IMPORTANT NOTE: The Helpdesk is committed to helping users of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service as effectively and as quickly as possible. In order to manage cases at peak volume times, the Helpdesk will triage and prioritise those queries with an imminent opportunity deadline or a technical issue. Enquiries raised where information is available on the Funding Finder opportunity page and should be understood early in the application process (for example, regarding eligibility or content/remit of an opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.

Contact details

For help and advice on costings and writing your proposal please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process.

For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please contact enquiries@ahrc.ukri.org

Any queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the Funding Service should be directed to the helpdesk.

Email: support@funding-service.ukri.org

Phone: 01793 547490

Our phone lines are open:

• Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm
• Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm

To help us process queries quicker, we request that users highlight the council and opportunity name in the subject title of their email query, include the application reference number, and refrain from contacting more than one mailbox at a time.

For further information on submitting an application read How applicants use the Funding Service.

Sensitive information

If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email enquiries@ahrc.ukri.org

Include in the subject line: New Generation Thinkers; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number.

Typical examples of confidential information include:

• individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave)
• declaration of interest
• additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section
• conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection
• the application is an invited resubmission

For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice.

Additional info

Research and innovation impact

Impact can be defined as the long-term intended or unintended effect research and innovation has on society, economy and the environment; to individuals, organisations, and the wider global population.

Additional disability and accessibility adjustments

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process if required.

Webinar for potential applicants

We will hold webinars on:

• Tuesday 12 November 2024 at 10:00am to 11:00am UK time, for all applicants and ROs
• Wednesday 4 December 2024 at 2:00pm to 3:00pm UK time, for all applicants and ROs
• Thursday 12 December 2024 at 2:30pm to 3:30pm UK time, for applicants and ROs from post-92 universities

These will provide more information about the funding opportunity and a chance to ask questions.

BBC workshops

We will inform you by email if you have been selected for the workshop stage by week commencing 7 April 2025.

The workshop will take place at Broadcasting House in London, from 9:30am to 5:30pm UK time on the following date:

• 30 April 2025

We may be required to change the details of this workshop, for example in the event of travel disruption. This may require the workshop to be held on a different date or to take place remotely. If this does happen, we will let you know as soon as possible.

We will advise the final five new generation thinkers by mid-May 2025.

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)’s media training, photography and evening event will be held in May 2025 (dates and times to be confirmed).

Research disruption due to COVID-19

We recognise that the COVID-19 pandemic has caused major interruptions and disruptions across our communities. We are committed to ensuring that individual applicants and their wider team, including partners and networks, are not penalised for any disruption to their career, such as:

• breaks and delays
• disruptive working patterns and conditions
• the loss of ongoing work
• role changes that may have been caused by the pandemic

Reviewers and panel members will be advised to consider the unequal impacts that COVID-19 related disruption might have had on the capability to deliver and career development of those individuals included in the application. They will be asked to consider the capability of the applicant and their wider team to deliver the research they are proposing.

Where disruptions have occurred, you can highlight this within your application if you wish, but there is no requirement to detail the specific circumstances that caused the disruption.