Opportunity status:
Open
Funders:
Funding type:
Grant
Total fund:
£250,000
Maximum award:
£312,500
Publication date:
6 October 2025
Opening date:
7 October 2025 9:00am UK time
Closing date:
11 December 2025 4:00pm UK time
Apply for funding through an invitation only funding opportunity to lead cohort coordination and development for AHRC’s early career fellowships in cultural and heritage institutions.
You must be based at a UK independent research organisation (IRO) eligible for Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funding.
The coordination team will support fellows and IRO hosts through the full proposal stage and lead networking and career development activities for the fellows.
The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £312,500. AHRC will fund 80% of the FEC.
The award will start on 1 April 2026 and end 31 December 2028.
You can only apply for this funding opportunity if we have invited your organisation to do so.
To lead a project, you must be based at an eligible organisation. .
Who is eligible to apply
* you must be based at an independent research organisation (IRO) in the cultural and heritage sectors
* you must demonstrate experience in delivering training and development programmes for early career researchers
* you must have a strong understanding of the sector covered by the IROs eligible for the fellowship opportunity, its research environment and career pathways
Who is not eligible to apply
* organisations that are not recognised as eligible independent research organisations by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Equality, diversity and inclusion
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
for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process.
Aim
The overall purpose of this funding opportunity is to strengthen research capacity and career development for early career researchers in the cultural and heritage sectors through a coordinated programme of support, aligned with our strategic objectives.
Scope
We are looking to fund a coordination team based at an IRO in cultural and heritage sectors to lead cohort development for our early career fellowships. The team will be responsible for designing and delivering a comprehensive cohort development programme for AHRC-funded early career researchers.
This programme will run throughout the fellowship period and will include:
* structured activities such as induction events, skills training, mentoring, and networking opportunities tailored to the sector
* support for research outputs and career development, including workshops, masterclasses, and placements to enhance fellows’ expertise and sector engagement
* training in transferable and sector-specific skills, including grant writing, research integrity, and strategic understanding of the cultural and heritage environment
* opportunities for fellows to lead and shape activities, fostering entrepreneurial approaches and project management experience
* monitoring and evaluation, including equality impact assessments and feedback mechanisms to ensure inclusivity, accessibility, and continuous improvement
* collaboration with IROs and partners, leveraging sector expertise to deliver high-quality relevant activities
* exploration of wider impact, including potential reuse of materials for broader sector benefit and alignment with other AHRC initiatives
* alumni engagement
The application should outline how the cohort coordination and development team will identify the needs of AHRC-funded early career fellows and how it will respond to those needs to determine the provision it will make.
The coordination team is expected to adopt a collaborative approach and is not expected to deliver the whole programme themselves. The team would work with the IROs and partner organisations to ensure the most appropriate expertise is engaged in delivering a high quality, tailored programme of activities.
Some funding within the award should be set aside for fellows to apply to, if for example, they identify additional individual training and development opportunities provided from sources outside the coordination team which was not included within their fellowship award, or they wish to lead on activities as outlined above, or the cohort team wishes to commission an external provider to provide training and development activity for fellows.
Steering committee
It is expected that the coordination team will set up a steering committee to advise on and oversee the programme. The composition of this committee will be agreed in consultation with AHRC and IROC but is expected to include members of IROC, a representative of AHRC and at least two invited external members with experience or interest in career development or experience of working in the wider cultural and heritage sectors, or both.
The committee should provide support to the team in designing and delivering the programme, and in review and reporting, according to our requirements.
Required expertise of the coordination team
We are seeking bids from applicants who have experience and expertise in delivering training and development programmes for early career researchers. In addition, successful applicants will need to demonstrate an understanding of the cultural and heritage sectors, its research environment and career opportunities.
To cover the breadth of the requirement, it may be necessary to bring in additional expertise to supplement the core team. This should be outlined clearly in the application, for example state:
* what any sub-contractors or consultants might bring to the programme
* over what period
* the associated costs
We welcome applications from individual or consortia IROs, and applications which involve collaborations with other partners within or beyond the cultural and heritage sectors.
Evaluation and reporting
Building on the pilot round of fellowships, the coordination team will work with us to define performance measures and assess the effectiveness of the programme in meeting its aims and objectives.
The team will:
* collect and analyse feedback from fellows and stakeholders throughout the programme
* capture evidence of outcomes and achievements, including the impact of both the fellowships and the cohort activities
* develop a strategy to monitor longer-term impacts on fellows, hosting organisations, and the wider sector
* support AHRC in identifying lessons learned and opportunities for enhancements to inform future rounds and broader cohort-based approaches
Duration
The award will start on 1 April 2026 and end 31 December 2028
Funding available
The FEC of your project can be up to £312,500
AHRC will fund 80% of the FEC.
Funding can cover:
* staff time for the lead and coordination team
* programme management and delivery costs
* subcontracting or outsourcing of training activities
* travel, accommodation, and venue costs for fellows’ events
* digital networking tools and online resources
* individual training and development opportunities for fellows
* evaluation and reporting activities
* estates and indirect costs
You may request funds under the ‘Exceptions’ heading for costs payable at 100% FEC, such as subcontracted training or funds to support fellows to undertake training and development activities.
Supporting skills and talent
We encourage you to follow the principles of the and the .
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 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.
, including where applicants can find additional support.
The project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) 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.
This funding opportunity is by invitation only. When received, please click on the invitation link to start your application.
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
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.
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 may 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:
* * *
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 .
Deadline
We must receive your application by 11 December 2025 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 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 .
Sensitive information
If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email
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 .
Institutional Matched Funding
There 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.
Publication of outcomes
AHRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity on .
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the.
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)
* specialist
* professional enabling staff
* research and innovation associate
* technician
Only list one individual as project lead.
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.