GrantRadar

UK Research and Innovation (AHRC)

AHRC Curiosity Award: applicant-led mode

Flexible, always-open AHRC awards for early-stage, ambitious and novel fundamental arts and humanities research that can springboard new research agendas, including networking, idea generation, partnership building, scoping and piloting. Teams, networks and solo researchers can apply, and you do not need an academic post: archivists, curators, librarians, technicians and practitioners are welcome, but the project lead must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for AHRC funding. Projects can cost up to £100,000 full economic cost over up to five years, of which AHRC pays 80%, and must start at least six months after you apply.

Apply on the funder’s site
You could get
£1 – £100,000
no fixed round
Deadline
Rolling
apply any time
Effort
Moderate
full application with documents

Who can apply

  • Open to organisations with standard UKRI eligibility (higher education providers, approved independent research organisations, public sector research establishments, research council institutes, Catapults and approved NHS bodies); the project lead must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for AHRC funding, and only the lead research organisation submits
  • Applicants must meet UKRI's individual eligibility policy: a contract of employment with the submitting organisation lasting until the end of the grant, or an existing substantial formal relationship such as an emeritus or honorary position, and UK residence
  • You do not need to hold an academic, research or teaching post: applications are welcomed from archivists, curators, librarians, technicians and practitioners, among others
  • Teams, networks and solo researchers can apply
  • Project co-leads are encouraged for interdisciplinary work or essential technical expertise; international researchers can be project co-lead (international), and other international collaborators or UK partners not at approved organisations join as project partners
  • Mentors are encouraged but advisory only

What it funds

Early-stage ambitious and novel fundamental research with the potential to act as a springboard towards new research agendas; activities may include:

  • Idea generation
  • Seed corn funding
  • High risk and high potential concepts
  • Novel research
  • Networking activity
  • Partnership building
  • Knowledge exchange
  • Public engagement
  • International collaboration
  • Scoping and piloting, for example early-stage proof of concept for ideas or change of direction
  • Pivots in research focus at any career stage
  • Mentoring for members of the research team, including salary costs for a mentor's time

the list is indicative, not prescriptive or exhaustive. Practice-based and practice-led research is supported, and projects can be single discipline or interdisciplinary, but most of the disciplinary focus must fall within AHRC's subject remit. International project co-lead costs are paid at 100% FEC up to 30% of total project FEC (the cap does not apply to co-leads in OECD DAC list countries other than India and China).

What it will not fund

Project studentships (funding PhD study)

How to apply

  1. Check your proposal is within AHRC's subject remit and that your research organisation is registered on the UKRI Funding Service (Je-S is not used)
  2. Select 'Start application' on the UKRI opportunity page, confirm you are the project lead and sign in or create an account
  3. Answer the questions in the text boxes: summary, core team, vision, approach, applicant and team capability (R4RI, naming any mentor), resources and cost justification, ethics and RRI, animal, GMO and human participation sections, project partners and their letters of support, primary and secondary discipline classification, and Trusted Research and Innovation
  4. Send the completed application to your research office for checking; they submit it to UKRI
  5. An expert panel grades the application and places it in one of three tiers

there is no closing date and AHRC holds regular decision points through the year; the 21 September 2028 date on Find a Grant is a system date. The project start date must be at least six months after submission. Confidential information goes to operations@ahrc.ukri.org.

Have ready

  • Project partner letters or emails of support, in a single PDF, up to two sides of A4 per partner, in English or Welsh (enter 'N/A' if you have no partners)

no letters are needed from the host or project co-leads' research organisations or other UK research organisations. The rest of the application is answered in Funding Service text boxes; images are allowed but not text paragraphs or tables in images.

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