Funding opportunity

Funding opportunity: Doctoral landscape hub awards (invite only)

An invitation only funding opportunity to apply for hub funding to provide cohort training and development opportunities for Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-funded students within a defined region. AHRC has identified seven hub regions with HEIs in receipt of Doctoral Landscape Awards grouped in these regions. Each hub will receive funding over an eight-year period to support cohort training and development activity for AHRC-funded students and to contribute to the administration and management costs of the hub. Hubs will provide opportunities for students to undertake activities across the duration of the students’ funded period.

Who can apply

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 which holds a Landscape award in the region. Check if your organisation is eligible.

Who is eligible to apply

To be the project lead you must either:

  • be employed by the research organisation submitting the proposal, or
  • be scheduled to move to the submitting organisation before the proposed start date of the grant, whether or not the proposal is successful, in such a way that would ensure that a) is met by the time the grant starts.

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.

What we're looking for

Aim

The aim of the funding opportunity is to create seven regional hubs to provide cohort training and development opportunities for students funded through our Doctoral Landscape Awards.

Scope

The application should provide details as to how the hub will manage the funding available (as outlined in letters sent to the hub contact nominated by each Doctoral Landscape award) to deliver cohort training and development opportunities within the hub region.

The application should outline how the hub will identify the needs of AHRC-funded students and how it will respond to those needs to determine the provision it will make for AHRC-funded students. The application should also outline how the hub will decide which of these opportunities might be made available to other art and humanities PhD students within the region.

The application should provide details of the hub’s management and governance structure, appropriate to the size of the hub. The structure must enable all hub members to be active participants in contributing to the work of the hub and ensuring their students can benefit.

The hub is expected to work with those responsible for managing each Doctoral Landscape Award in the hub region to ensure they are delivering opportunities that complement those provided by the individual university.

The hub will need to articulate how it will work with those managing the Doctoral Landscape Awards in the hub region, to ensure the hub is delivering opportunities that complement those provided by the HEIs and are responsive to regional needs.

The hub is not expected to provide a full eight-year programme of work at the application stage as the programme will need to be responsive to cohort needs. The hub is asked to outline the principles that it will use to decide on activities throughout the period of the award. It should include an indication of the type of activities it will provide.

We will only be providing a contribution to the management and administration of the hub. We will expect all hub members to make a commitment to support directing, managing and delivering the work of the hub. The application should demonstrate how this will be achieved. Each HEI hub member that is not the lead on the application should nominate an individual to be a co-lead and provide a letter of support.

For more information on the background of this funding opportunity, go to the Additional information section.

Duration

The duration of this award is a minimum of eight years.

Projects must start either 1 April 2026, 1 July 2026, or 1 October 2026 and must end on 30 September 2034.

Hubs should choose a start date to allow sufficient time to put plans in place ahead of the first student cohort starting.

Funding available

We will provide each hub with the amount of funding that can be requested. This will vary depending on the size (number of HEIs) of the hub. The hub cannot request more than this amount and all requested costs must meet the eligibility criteria for the hub funding.

Supporting skills and talent

You must follow the principles of the Statement of expectations for doctoral training, and we encourage you to follow 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.

Further guidance and information about TR&I, including where applicants can find additional support, can be found on UKRI’s website.

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.

  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.

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.

Watch our research office webinars about the Funding Service.

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 use of generative AI in application and assessment.

Deadline

AHRC must receive your application by 26 June 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 privacy notice.

Sensitive information

If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email skills@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.

Publication of outcomes

AHRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity on What AHRC has funded.

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 of 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
  • 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)
  • grant manager
  • professional enabling staff
  • research and innovation associate

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.

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

Application questions

Vision

Word limit: 550

What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how your proposed work:

  • will deliver high quality opportunities to arts and humanities students, tailored specifically to the cohorts’ needs
  • enables students to develop skills to deliver impacts in world-leading research, society, the economy or the environment
  • will embed EDI considerations, and how these will guide your aims, as well as other activities such as stakeholder engagement, events and networking
  • is of excellent quality and importance to the students and those supporting them
  • has the potential to enable students to advance current understanding, generate new knowledge, thinking or discovery within or beyond their field/area
  • is timely given current trends, context and needs

References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Approach

Word limit: 2,200

How are you going to deliver your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how you have designed your approach so that it:

  • is effective and appropriate to achieve the objectives described under ‘Vision’
  • will facilitate collaboration across the hub partners to develop a programme of activities
  • will identify and respond to the needs of the student cohorts as they develop and evolve over the lifetime of the hub
  • will enable the hub to monitor and evaluate the outcomes of the activities and respond to that evaluation
  • will ensure that processes for working across multiple organisations are put in place and any data sharing issues are addressed
  • is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed
  • is clearly articulated and transparent for all stakeholders
  • if applicable, summarises the previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed
  • will maximise translation of outcomes into outcomes and impacts
  • will build EDI considerations into the formation, operation and governance of the hub, including how these will be operationalised

References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

Governance

Word limit: 500

How will you manage the award to successfully deliver its objectives?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how the proposed award will be managed, demonstrating that it:

  • will be effectively governed, including details about advisory structures
  • will be effectively and inclusively managed, demonstrated by a clear management plan
  • has clear leadership team roles and responsibilities
  • will manage and encourage partnerships with non-HEI organisations across government, industry and civil society
  • has plans for monitoring progress as well as evaluation throughout the lifetime of the award
  • will incorporate student engagement into the governance structure

Within this section you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form, such as images, 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.

Applicant and team capability to deliver

Word limit: 1,650

Why are you the right individual or team to successfully deliver the proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have:

  • the relevant experience (appropriate to career stage) to deliver the proposed work
  • the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work
  • the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others
  • contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community

The word limit for this section is 1,650 words, 1,150 words to be used for R4RI modules and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.

Use the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format to showcase the range of relevant skills you, and if relevant, your team (project and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on) have and how this will help to deliver the proposed work. You can include individuals’ specific achievements but only choose past contributions that best evidence their ability to deliver this work.

Complete this section using the R4RI module headings listed below. Use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI. You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings:

  • contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies, or knowledge
  • the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships
  • contributions to the wider research and innovation community
  • contributions to broader research or innovation users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit

Additions: Provide any further details relevant to your application. This section is optional and can be up to 500 words. You should not use it to describe additional skills, experiences or outputs, but you can use it to describe any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them).

You should complete this section as a narrative. Do not format it like a CV.

The roles in funding applications policy has descriptions of the different project roles.

Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)

Word limit: 500

What are the ethical and RRI implications and issues relating to the proposed work?  If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated:

  • the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations
  • how you will manage these considerations

Budget management of hub and AHRC funding

Word limit: 1,000

Please outline the types of activities that the hub will support and how you will ensure that activities are properly costed to ensure good budget management over the lifetime of the hub award.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Please outline how the contribution to management and administration costs of the hub will be used.

Please outline how the members of the hub will contribute to the costs of hub.

  • a clear understanding of how you will manage the funding to support cohort activities
  • a clear explanation of how the funding will be used to support management and administration of the hubs including how the hub will be set up

AHRC will contact the members of each hub with the specific level of funding their regional hub will receive. This will be divided into an element for cohort development and cohort training activities and an element for supporting management and administration costs of the hub. The scale of the funding will reflect the number of hubs in the hub region.

The funding for cohort training and cohort development activities is ring-fenced and cannot be used for other purposes.

The funding to support administration and management costs is not ring-fenced and the hub can choose to use some of the budget to support cohort activities.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service.

References may be included within this section.

Your organisation’s support

Word limit: 1,000

Provide details of support from your research organisation.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Provide a statement of support from your research organisation detailing how they will support you, as the applicant, and your proposed activities. This should include details of any matched funding that will be provided to support the activity and any additional support that might add value to the work.

Assessors will be looking for a strong statement of support from your research organisation. This information should have been approved for submission by an appropriate institutional authority.

You must also include the following details:

  • a significant person’s name, their position and office or department, or all
  • office address or web link

Upload details are provided within the Funding Service on the actual application.

Co-leads organisational letter of support

Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each HEI partner in your hub. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box.

Each letter or email you provide should:

  • confirm the partner’s commitment to the project
  • clearly explain the value, relevance, and possible benefits of the work to them
  • describe any additional value that they bring to the project
  • have a page limit of 2 sides of A4 per partner

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

Project partners

Add details about any project partners’ contributions. If there are no project partners, you can indicate this on the Funding Service.

A project partner is a collaborating organisation who will have an integral role in the proposed research. This may include direct (cash) or indirect (in-kind) contributions such as expertise, staff time or use of facilities. Project partners may be in industry, academia, third sector or government organisations in the UK or overseas, including partners based in the EU.

Add the following project partner details:

  • the organisation’s name and address (searchable via a drop-down list or enter the organisation’s details manually, as applicable)
  • the project partner contact name and email address
  • the type of contribution (direct or indirect) and its monetary value

If a detail is entered incorrectly and you have saved the entry, remove the specific project partner record and re-add it with the correct information.

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

Project partners: letters (or emails) of support

Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the project partners section. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box, or if you do not have any project partners enter ‘N/A’. Each letter or email you provide should:

  • confirm the partner’s commitment to the project
  • clearly explain the value, relevance, and possible benefits of the work to them
  • describe any additional value that they bring to the project
  • have a page limit of 2 sides of A4 per partner

The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.

If you do not have any project partners, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

Ensure you have prior agreement from project partners so that, if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the project partners’ section.

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

How we will assess your application

Assessment process

We will assess your application using the following process.

Panel

We will invite peers to assess the quality of your application and make a funding recommendation.

AHRC will make the final funding decision.

Timescale

We aim to complete the assessment process within four months of receiving your application.

Feedback

The panel may decide to provide feedback or advice in relation to your application.

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.

Using generative artificial intelligence (AI) in expert review

Reviewers and panellists are not permitted to use generative AI tools to develop their assessment. Using these tools can potentially compromise the confidentiality of the ideas that applicants have entrusted to UKRI to safeguard.

For more detail see our policy on the use of generative AI.

Assessment areas

The assessment areas we will use are:

  • Vision
  • Approach
  • Governance
  • Capability to deliver
  • Ethics and RRI
  • Budget management of hub and AHRC funding
  • Organisational support of project lead and co-leads.

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 application 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 skills@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.

Additional info

Background

The hub awards sit within AHRC’s Future Doctoral Provision programme. We developed the following set of principles for the programme:

  • widening opportunities and welcoming innovative and diverse routes to doctoral training
  • enabling collaborative learning and peer support
  • enabling professional development and expanding skills capacity, reducing bureaucracy
  • supporting and advocating for arts and humanities doctoral students within UKRI’s Collective Talent Fund to deliver doctoral training in accordance with our vision

These principles have informed the development of the three opportunities we are delivering under the programme: Collaborative Landscape Awards, Doctoral Focal Awards and Doctoral Landscape awards.

50 HEIs across the UK have been awarded Doctoral Landscape Awards to fund studentships. The first cohort of students will start in October 2026. Dependent on a successful interim review, each HEI will receive funding for five cohorts.

We will provide each HEI with funding (stipend, tuition fees, RTSG and collaboration funding) for three studentships per year (a total of 15 over the five cohorts). University co-funding is permitted to increase this number.

The hub awards will complement the Doctoral Landscape funding by providing additional support for cohort training and development opportunities. Each of the 50 HEIs has been allocated to one of seven hub regions. The HEIs will need to work together to offer cohort training and development opportunities to the A&H doctoral students within that region.

In the first instance these opportunities should be focussed on the needs of the AHRC-funded students but over time we expect the hub to develop as a mechanism to deliver cohort training and development opportunities to non-AHRC funded doctoral students both within the 50 HEIs and within the region.

We intend that the hub regions will remain the same to support future iterations of the Doctoral Landscape awards.

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.

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.

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