AHRC Curiosity Award: applicant-led mode

Full Job Description

Opportunity status: Open

Funders:

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)

Funding type: Grant

Maximum award: £100,000

Publication date: 23 September 2026

Opening date:

23 September 2026 9:00am UK time

Closing date:

Open - no closing date

Apply for funding for flexible awards to fund fundamental research that leads to new research agendas, networking activity and idea generation, which enables the development of further research opportunities and new research agendas.

You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for AHRC funding.

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £100,000. AHRC will fund 80% of the FEC.

Projects can be up to five years in duration.

Eligibility

This funding opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. Check if your organisation is eligible.

Check whether your proposed research is within the subject remit of AHRC.

Who Is Eligible To Apply

This funding opportunity is open to applicants who meet the individual eligibility criteria.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) acknowledges and supports different career paths within the research and innovation community.

You do not need to hold an academic, research or teaching post to apply. Applications are welcomed from those working, for example, as archivists, curators, librarians, technicians and practitioners.

Who Is Not Eligible To Apply

We do not support project studentships (funding PhD study) within this funding opportunity

International Researchers

As AHRC is a lead funder for this funding opportunity, international researchers can apply as ‘project co-lead (international)’. You should include all other international collaborators (or UK partners not based at approved organisations) as project partners.

Project Co Leads

Project co-leads are permitted and encouraged for interdisciplinary applications or where a co-lead would provide specific technical expertise that is essential to the project. This can include international co-leads as per the guidance below. However, it must be clear that the project lead is responsible for leading the project. Project co-leads are permitted to have previously led or be currently leading a significant research project and are not required to meet the eligibility criteria above.

Other Roles

Other roles that are supported by this funding opportunity are listed in the ‘Core team’ section.

Mentors

You are encouraged to include mentor support. The role of the mentor is to supervise and support the work of the project lead, answer any queries and help with any problems that may arise during the research. They will not be directly involved in running the project, their role is advisory only.

Mentors should not be included in the ‘Core team’ section of the application form, instead their role should be outlined in the ‘Applicant and team capability to deliver’ section.

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

UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.

Demand Management

Demand management is not being applied to this funding opportunity.

Scope

Curiosity awards support early-stage ambitious and novel fundamental research which has the potential to act as a springboard towards new and exciting research agendas.

The funding opportunity celebrates the full diversity of the arts and humanities. It is flexible, and applications are welcomed from teams, networks, and solo researchers.

Projects can be single discipline, interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, and transdisciplinary. The majority of the disciplinary focus of the project must fall within our subject remit, see section seven of the AHRC research funding guide for our remit coverage. Practice-based and practice-led research is supported by this funding opportunity.

Partnerships and collaboration are supported. Where partnerships are already established, you should outline how this funding supports novelty in your collaboration. Applications should articulate how collaborative activity will be conducted, considering good practice in creating equitable partnerships. Further guidance is available in the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) good research resource hub.

The funding opportunity is intentionally flexible. An indicative list of examples of the activities we will fund are provided as follows. You are encouraged to request and justify costs for activities that best meet the aims of your project. This 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

To note, this is not a prescriptive or exhaustive list.

Duration

The duration of this award is a maximum of five years

The project start date must be at least six months from the point of the application submission to AHRC.

Funding Available

The FEC of your project can be up to £100,000.

AHRC will fund 80% of the FEC.

Costs associated with project co-lead internationals (PcL(I)s) will be funded at 100% FEC but must not exceed 30% of the total FEC of the project. However, this funding cap does not apply to any PcL(I) based in a country on the OECD DAC list (excepting India and China). PcL(I)s from a country on the OECD DAC list (excepting India and China) are also eligible to claim overheads support.

Please see the UKRI project co-lead (international) policy for further details on eligibility of these costs.

What We Will Fund

Where mentoring is included for the researchers, salary costs to cover the mentor’s time can be claimed from the grant. They should be entered in the ‘Directly Incurred Other’ or ‘Directly Allocated Other’ categories in the ‘Resources and costs’ section.

What We Will Not Fund

We will not fund project studentships (funding PhD study) as part of this funding opportunity.

Supporting Skills And Talent

We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.

Trusted Research And Innovation (Tr&I)

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.

See 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, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.

Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.

To Apply

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

• Confirm you are the project lead.

• Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password.

• 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.

• Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.

• 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.

Please be aware that research office and finance teams undertake checks on hosting arrangements and financial eligibility. The ultimate responsibility for ensuring compliance with all opportunity requirements lies with the applicant.

Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

When including images, you must:

• provide a descriptive caption or legend for each image immediately underneath it in the text box (this must be outside the image and counts towards your word limit)

• insert each new image on a new line

• use files smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format

Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words. The following are not permitted, and your application will be rejected if you include:

• sentences or paragraphs of text

• tables

• excessive quantities of images

A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column.

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

References should be included within the word count of the appropriate question section. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.

Hyperlinks can be used in reference information. When including references, you should consider how your references will be viewed and used by the assessors, ensuring that:

• references are easily identifiable by the assessors

• references are formatted as appropriate to your research

• persistent identifiers are used where possible

General Use Of Hyperlinks

Applications should be self-contained. You should only use hyperlinks to link directly to reference information. You must not include links to web resources to extend your application. Assessors are not required to access links to conduct assessment or recommend a funding decision.

Generative Artificial Intelligence (Ai)

Use of generative AI tools to prepare funding applications is permitted, however, caution should be applied.

For more information see our policy on the use of generative AI in application and assessment.

Deadline

This funding opportunity is always open, with no closing date, so there is no specific deadline for applications.

AHRC will begin processing the application as soon as it is received, ensuring that applicants receive a timely decision. We are committed to holding regular decision points throughout the year.

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

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

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 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.

Sensitive Information

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

Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; 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.

Institutional Matched Funding

here is no requirement for matched funding from the institutions hosting the project lead, project co-leads or other staff employed on the application, beyond the standard 20% FEC. Expert reviewers and panels assessing UKRI funding applications must not consider levels of institutional matched funding as a factor on which to base recommendations. Direct and in-kind contributions from third party project partners are encouraged.

This policy does not remove the need for support from host organisations who must provide the necessary research environment and infrastructure for award-specific activities funded by UKRI. For example, research facilities, training and development of staff.

Publication Of Outcomes

AHRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity on our Board and panel outcomes page.

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

Summary

Word limit: 550

In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.

We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information. Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example:

• opinion-formers

• policymakers

• the public

• the wider research community

Guidance For Writing A Summary

Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:

• context

• the challenge the project addresses

• aims and objectives

• potential applications and benefits

Core Team

List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:

• project lead (PL)

• project co-lead (UK) (PcL)

• project co-lead (international) (PcL (I))

• specialist

• professional enabling staff

• research and innovation associate

• technician

Only list one individual as project lead

Please do not enter mentors in the Core team section. Instead please outline their name and contribution in the ‘Applicant and team capability to deliver’ section.

UKRI has introduced a new addition to the ‘Specialist’ role type. Public contributors such as people with lived experience can now be added to an application.

Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications.

This funding opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility. Check if your organisation is eligible.

Check whether your proposed research is within the subject remit of AHRC.

This funding opportunity is open to applicants who meet the individual eligibility criteria.

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) acknowledges and supports different career paths within the research and innovation community.

You do not need to hold an academic, research or teaching post to apply. Applications are welcomed from those working, for example, as archivists, curators, librarians, technicians and practitioners.

We do not support project studentships (funding PhD study) within this funding opportunity

Extracted from a public opportunity page using specific title, application/deadline, eligibility and benefit signals. Aggregator/news pages remain review-controlled unless an official provider page is successfully verified.