The British Academy

“The British Academy is the UK’s national body for the humanities and social sciences – the study of peoples, cultures and societies, past, present and future.”

Three main roles:

An independent Fellowship of world-leading scholars and researchers
A funding body supporting research nationally and internationally
A forum for debate and engagement

Research general information and criteria

All awards are for scholars in the Humanities and Social Sciences
All awards are for scholars at postdoctoral level, i.e. after the award of a PhD. The Academy has no funding schemes for postgraduate students, masters students or candidates studying for other professional qualifications.
For most schemes, the Principal Applicant must be resident in the UK.
Generally the Academy’s awards are for support of ideas and individuals rather than large-scale institutional projects.
With a few exceptions for specific geographic regions, or one-ff schemes, the Academy’s awards are non-directive, wholly responsive in mode.
The Academy seeks to match its assessment procedures proportionately to the scale of funding being offered. For larger-scale awards, such as the Postdoctoral Fellowships, a two-stage assessment procedure is used.
Recommendations for award are made by relevant Academy Committees in the light of the available budget for the specific scheme

Criteria:

For all awards, the primary criterion for award is scholarly excellence.

Schemes

These are current recurrent schemes available on the British Academy Funding page.

Fellowships and career development

Postdoctoral Fellowships
Mid-Career Fellowships
BA/ Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowships
British Academy / Wolfson Fellowships
Global Professorships
Global Innovation Fellowships
Visiting Fellowships
Innovation Fellowship scheme
Researchers at Risk Fellowship
Talent Development Awards

Small Grants

BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants
British Academy Additional needs
Special Funds
Tackling the UK’s International Challenges
APEX Awards
Rising Star Engagement Awards (BARSEAS)
Writing Workshops
Horizon Europe Pump Priming Collaboration between UK and EU Partners
Additional needs
Conferences

International collaborations

Horizon Europe Pump Priming Collaboration between UK and EU Partners
International Fellowships
International Science Partnerships Fund
- ODA collaborative scheme
- Knowledge Frontiers International
- ODA International Interdisciplinary Research Projects
- ODA-eligible international research collaborations

Subjects and thematic areas

Every year the BA invest £25m in awards "to enable the most talented academics in the humanities and social sciences to pursue their research". Main themes:

education of children and the workforce
trends in the population
management of economy
relationships with other peoples and nations
implications of new technologies

The British Academy subjects/disciplines could be a good reference for applicants.

Africa, Asia and Middle East
Anthropology
Archaeology
Art history
Business and management

Classics
Economics
Education
Geography
History
Law
Linguistics

Literature
Media, performance and communications
Medieval studies
Modern languages
Modern languages; Literature

Music
Philosophy
Politics
Psychology
Religion
Sociology