Opportunity status:
Upcoming
Funders:
,
Co-funders:
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Funding type:
Grant
Total fund:
£1,160,000
Maximum award:
£262,250
Publication date:
16 March 2026
Opening date:
5 May 2026 9:00am UK time
Closing date:
28 May 2026 4:00pm UK time
You must have been invited to apply for this opportunity.
You must be based at a UK, Canadian or US research organisation eligible for funding. You must have attended the sandpit in Montreal in February 2026 to be a project lead (PL) for this opportunity.
Apply for funding to put humanities insights and methodologies at the heart of artificial intelligence tech design.
We will fund up to five grants. A total of £780,000 is available for UK-based teams.
CAD$1,000,000 is available for Canada-based teams. US-based team members can be funded from the UK or Canada budgets.
Your project must begin before the 1 October 2026 and end before 30 April 2028.
Who can apply
You can only apply for this funding opportunity if we have invited you to do so following attendance at the February 2026 workshop in Montreal.
This opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility, and organisations who are based overseas. .
Who is eligible to apply
Researchers based at a UK, Canadian or US research organisation eligible for funding from Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) or Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).
Researchers who have attended the February 2026 workshop in Montreal
International researchers
As AHRC is a lead funder for this opportunity, international researchers can apply as project co-lead (international) (PcL (I)). You should include all other international collaborators (or UK partners not based at approved organisations) as project partners.
Any Canadian PcL (I) must be affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution that holds at SSHRC.
Canadian PcL (I) must also comply with the , the regulations set out in the , and the .
Equality, diversity and inclusion
We are 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 during the application and assessment process.
What we're looking for
Aim
All research must involve meaningful collaboration between humanities or arts scholars and technical artificial intelligence (AI) researchers.
Projects should demonstrate clear potential to:
develop functioning prototypes that show measurable improvements in AI systems’ interpretive capabilities
integrate humanities or arts methodologies into technical design pipelines, showing direct influence on system design
contribute to an open ecosystem of tools, resources and technical components for interpretive AI
Generate transdisciplinary insights and approaches that advance the field of interpretive AI
advance understanding and knowledge of individuals, groups and societies, what we think, how we live, and how we interact with each other and the world around us
While we do not expect to fundamentally redesign AI systems in a single project, or group of projects, these initiatives will help lay the groundwork for longer-term innovation.
Scope
Funded projects must produce one or more of the following:
novel evaluation frameworks and benchmarks that assess interpretive depth (for example, cultural sensitivity, contextual awareness, perspectival reasoning)
adapted training or fine-tuning approaches that enable systems to represent multiple perspectives, cultural contexts or interpretive pluralities
modular representation methods built on existing architectures (for example, context-aware layers, ambiguity-handling mechanisms, plurality-preserving outputs)
integration of humanities methodologies into technical design pipelines (for example, hermeneutic, aesthetic or narrative reasoning used to create new models, system components or benchmarks)
computational approaches that operationalise humanities concepts/methods into implementable technical components
In applications, we must see:
consideration of relevance to the sandpit’s key challenges
consideration of activity feasibility and scale
examples of potential real-world use cases
Applications will need to make clear their planned outputs, how these will lead to the expected outcomes and the impacts these may generate.
Project teams are expected to consist primarily of sandpit participants. Additional members who did not attend (for example, PhD students, research assistants, technicians, industry partners) may be included, but their involvement must be clearly justified. Proposals should explain the specific skills or expertise these individuals contribute, and why these capabilities were not available within the sandpit cohort.
Duration
The duration of this award is 18 months.
Projects must commence on, or before, 1 October 2026 and must be completed by March 2028 at the latest.
Funding available (UK-based Team Members)
The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £156,250.
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) will fund 80% of the FEC (£125,000).
Funding available (Canada-based Team Members)
A maximum of CAD$200,000 is available per project.
Funding available (US-based Team Members)
Funding for US-based team members will be drawn from the UK and Canada budgets.
Specifics relating to costs/how funding is spent
Staff costs for Canadian team members are not included in the grant amount, as salary costs are covered elsewhere. According to , Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) grant funds must not be used to pay compensation to applicant team members.
Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)
UK Research and Innovation (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.
See , 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 UK-based 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 UK research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.
To apply
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.
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. 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.
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.
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 .
Deadline
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) must receive your application by 28 May 2026 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 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.
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 .
AHRC, as part of UKRI, will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), so that they can participate in the assessment process. See more information on .
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% full economic cost (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
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the .
Summary
Word limit: 550
In plain English, provide a summary of your proposed research project.
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
grant manager
professional enabling staff
doctoral student
research and innovation associate
technician
visiting researcher
researcher co-lead (RcL)
Only list one individual as project lead. Only UK-based applicants can be listed as project lead (PL).
Canada-based and US-based applicants:
must be listed as project co-lead (international) (PcL (I)), where they are co-leading the proposals alongside the UK-based researcher(s) due to the design of the submission system all project leads and co-leads are considered to have equal responsibility for the design, implementation and overall leadership of the project
can use all other categories listed above for team members who do not have leadership responsibility within the project team
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.
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