UKRI is changing the way they support researchers and all those involved in research funding. UKRI's web pages include all the information:

• How applicants use the Service
• The transition to the new Service
• Improving evidence and contributions
• Simpler and better funding
• Pathway for change
• Reducing bureaucracy

What is left of 2023 is the transition to the new Funding Service which will impact in the way that open call responsive mode schemes are processed, using proposal terminology, processes of proposal submission, etc. This is a transition and implementation system live altogether; therefore the submission system enhancement changes at different stages during this process until the official launching in early 2024.

Links to all the available relevant information:

• Improving your funding experience
• Simpler and Better Funding (SBF) programme 
• Council transition to the new Funding Service

• UKRI's Strategy 2022-2027 transforming tomorrrow together is available online.
• UKRI's Corporate Plan 2022-2025 (August 2022): "UKRI’s corporate plan demonstrates how the world-class research and innovation UKRI supports will drive economic, social, environmental and cultural benefits for all."
• 2022-2025 Strategic Delivery Plans from most of the research councils.
• The UK Government Research and Development Roadmap July 2020 announcement of the new comprehensive plan in short time. 

Opportunities for applying for research project grants have been organised in two documents that can be scanned by anyone from the Faculty of Humanities. Most of the funding bodies are common to all Schools; the lists will give a quick overview of the possibilities for funding.

• Funding bodies for the Faculty of Humanities. A document including the main funding bodies and schemes for the Humanities and the Social Sciences. This is not an exhaustive list. Updating as relevance requires.
• An Excel workbook including all the available funding opportunities for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (HSS) which is accessible from the Highlights page of this website and lists the possibilities for grants, large and small, for any type of scheme and thematic area related to the HSS. This list is a continuous work in progress that is uploaded to the website currently on a weekly basis.

The Faculty of Humanities disseminates funding information on a weekly basis to key academics, researchers and research support staff (RSS) from Schools, Institutes and Centres with the intention to cascade the information down to all the research staff.

Further information can be provided by RSS and/or the Research Funding Intelligence Officer. Inclusion in the weekly bulletin is open to anybody from the Faculty by request.

Opportunities for international partnerships

1. UKRI supporting bilateral schemes. Permanent schemes and open for submission any time. Open themes. Currently three possibilities with three countries and the AHRC/Germany scheme.
2. European Community research framework. Horizon Europe opportunities for SSH. Annual reiterative schemes, open themes, and topic specific depending on the scheme, permanent programme.
3. Collaborative opportunities highlighted in these pages. Various types within the bilateral/trilateral agreement as above (1 & 4).
4. Opportunities from the University of Manchester. University web pages on international collaborations (also including those from 3).  
5. Document highlighting current opportunities for international collaboration, updated regularly. International funding opportunities.
6. Calls for specific topics/themes with specific deadlines: All should be available on the funding opportunities database.
7. Under the International Science Partnership Fund (ISPF) the British Academy ODA collaborative projects and other international opportunities.
8. Belmont Foundation. “a partnership of funding organizations, international science councils, and regional consortia committed to the advancement of transdisciplinary science”.
9. Open Research Area, ORA calls are normally supported by the ESRC. Partnership of various national research funding agencies organising international calls.
10. Humanities in the European Research Area, HERA is supported by AHRC and “funds transnational, humanities-led research projects and disciplines”. A partnership of various national research funding agencies.
11. Research Funding Agency Co-operation in Europe, NORFACE, supported by ESRC, is “a collaborative partnership of national research funding agencies in Europe and beyond”.
12. T-AP Trans-Atlantic Platform Social Sciences and Humanities is a “collaboration between humanities and social science research funders from South America, North America, Europe and Africa. T-AP aims to enhance the ability of funders, research organizations and researchers to engage in transnational dialogue and collaboration”.
13. Joint Programming Initiatives, JPIs are EC instruments aiming at promoting strategic cooperation between member states and associated countries in specific strategic areas. JPI Urban Europe.  

Small grants are those awarding budgets of around £100k, with calls responding to deadlines or submissions at any time (open calls).

The grants database source available on the highlights page will inform you of any small grants available. The database can be sorted in many ways, using different variables: budget, type of grant, etc. 

Small grants can focus on many different activities:

• possibilities for pre-proposal building;
• seed-corn awards; pilots; feasibility projects;
• impact; transformative grant;
• networking; seminar; conference; workshop, event organisation;
• data;
• travel abroad or travel to UK, visiting fellowships;
• publications;
• staff exchanges, lecture series, alternative forms of funding, etc.

The highlights page includes also a section on international collaborative research through UK bilateral agreements, which includes small funding opportunities.

 ‘A Fellowship is a personal award, designed to provide the recipient with the necessary support to establish or further develop themselves as a leader of the future.’

This is a definition provided on the EPSRC website some time ago; a definition that encapsulates the aims of the fellowship scheme. There are many types of fellowship schemes:

• short/long in duration;
• supporting only time for writing or including a whole project and requiring a career development plan;
• small/large awards;
• UK or abroad;
• from postdoctoral to very experienced researchers and advanced researchers, those at the professorial level, etc.

Fellowships and related schemes can be extracted from the highlights database following simple steps. Relevant columns:

• Scheme type: F for fellowship and F* for schemes focused on individuals and career development. 
• Funding type: indicates some variations like combinations of fellowship/placement, specific type of fellowship like visiting fellowships, etc.
• Seniority: indicates related levels, when this is possible, following the European Framework for Research Careers profiles. 
  • R1 First Stage Researchers (up to the point of PhD)
  • R2 Recognised Researchers (PhD holders or equivalent who are not yet fully independent)
  • R3 Established Researchers (researchers who have developed a level of independence)
  • R4 Leading Researchers (researchers leading their research area or field)

The 'codes' and 'rules' worksheets are include for clarification. 

Note that all the funding opportunities are included to highlight available funds, and each of those should be scrutinise thoroughly to get the complete information to assess the possibility to apply, in some cases even contacting the funder and always the university's research staff support.

The highlights database is updated regularly over the year in a weekly basis.