AHRC Funding: Curiosity, Catalyst and Research Grants

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) is one of the seven research councils in UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). It funds original research across the whole range of the arts and humanities, from history, languages and philosophy to design, museum studies, music and the creative economy. People search for its schemes by name, so this guide explains the main ones, who can apply and what has changed in 2026. Every fact comes from UKRI's own pages, checked on the date shown on this page.

How AHRC funding is organised

AHRC splits its funding into two kinds:

• Applicant-led schemes, which used to be called responsive mode. You bring your own research idea within AHRC's remit. These are always open, with no funding rounds.
• Targeted opportunities, which used to be called strategic or managed mode. These are time-limited calls on a set theme, such as heritage science or cultural and sporting events, and they open and close on fixed dates.

AHRC lists its applicant-led opportunities as Research Grants, Curiosity Awards, Catalyst Awards, Collaborate with researchers in Luxembourg, UKRI Translation: AHRC Proof of Concept, UKRI NSF-SBE lead agency and Working with Brazilian researchers. In January 2026 the Proof of Concept opportunity replaced Follow-on Funding for Impact and Engagement.

What full economic cost means

AHRC quotes award sizes as full economic cost (FEC), the total cost of the project to the research organisation. AHRC funds 80% of the FEC and the research organisation is expected to cover the remaining 20%. UKRI says there is no requirement for matched funding from the host beyond that standard 20%, and assessors must not reward higher institutional contributions.

The three always-open schemes

Curiosity Awards

Curiosity Awards fund early-stage, ambitious and novel fundamental research that could act as a springboard to new research agendas. The scheme is deliberately flexible and welcomes teams, networks and solo researchers. AHRC's own list of the kinds of activity it will fund includes idea generation, seed corn funding, high risk and high potential concepts, networking, partnership building, knowledge exchange, public engagement, international collaboration, scoping and piloting, and changes of research direction at any career stage. Practice-based and practice-led research is supported. Project studentships (funding PhD study) are not.

Catalyst Awards

Catalyst Awards are for researchers who have not yet led a significant research project. They aim to speed up your path to becoming an independent researcher and build your leadership experience, and development has to be built into how the project is designed and run.

The eligibility rule is based on your funding history. You cannot be a current or former project lead on an AHRC or other UKRI research or fellowship grant, or on a research or fellowship grant from any other funder, with some listed exceptions. The exceptions include doctoral training awards, early career fellowships, Daphne Jackson Fellowships, AHRC Research Networking, AHRC Curiosity Awards and Impact Accelerator Awards. Travel, public engagement and skills training grants do not count against you. You assess your own eligibility and justify it in the application, and AHRC says it will not give individual advice beyond the standard rules. Co-leads and mentors do not have to meet this rule.

Standard Research Grants

Research Grants support well-defined collaborative projects. Your application must include a project lead and at least one project co-lead, and each must contribute to developing the application, leading and managing the project, and jointly authored research outputs. AHRC says the scheme aims to help researchers build working relationships inside and beyond the arts and humanities, give less experienced researchers the chance to develop by working with senior colleagues, and get research outcomes out to people and organisations beyond academia.

Who can apply

For all three schemes:

• Your organisation must have standard UKRI eligibility, which in practice means UK higher education institutions and other approved research organisations. Only the lead research organisation can submit an application.
• You must meet UKRI's individual eligibility rules, but you do not need an academic, research or teaching post. AHRC explicitly welcomes applications from archivists, curators, librarians, technicians and practitioners.
• International researchers can join as a project co-lead (international). Their costs are funded at 100% FEC but must not exceed 30% of the total, except for co-leads in countries on the OECD DAC list (other than India and China).
• Your subject must mainly fall within AHRC's remit. The application form asks you to choose one primary discipline from a list that runs from archaeology, area studies and classics through to theology and visual arts.

If you work for a museum, archive, charity or creative organisation, you can still take part as a project partner, contributing cash or in-kind support such as seconded staff, equipment, datasets or facilities. UKRI says project partners can be in industry, academia, the third sector or government, in the UK or overseas. Our guide to how funders assess grant applications covers how to show the value of a partnership.

How to apply and how decisions are made

Applications go through the UKRI Funding Service, not the old Je-S system. The project lead writes the application, sends it to their research office for checks, and the research office submits it. The main sections are Vision, Approach, Applicant and team capability to deliver (using the Résumé for Research and Innovation format), Ethics and responsible research and innovation, and Resources and cost justification. Project partners provide letters or emails of support.

From 23 September 2026 the forms also include questions on trusted research and innovation, animal involvement, genetically modified organisms and human participation in health-related research. Most arts and humanities projects will answer "not applicable" to several of these, but every applicant has to complete them.

Two changes in 2026 affect what happens next:

• Tiering and partial randomisation. Since July 2026, panels still grade each application, but applications are no longer ranked against each other. They are grouped into three tiers. Top-tier applications are recommended for funding where money allows, and where funding is left and several applications in a tier are of comparable quality, AHRC uses a randomised selection to decide which are funded.
• Regular decision points. Because the schemes are always open, AHRC starts processing your application as soon as it arrives. For Curiosity Awards it aims to complete assessment within six months.

Once submitted, an application cannot be changed, so build in time for your research office's internal deadlines.

Targeted AHRC opportunities open now

Alongside the always-open schemes, AHRC runs time-limited calls. When we checked, these included the International Placement Scheme 2027, which funds AHRC-funded PhD students and early career arts and humanities researchers to take placements at international cultural institutions. Awards are £2,070 to £18,500, and the scheme closes at 4pm UK time on 9 March 2027. AHRC is also a co-funder of cross-council calls such as the gambling harms research grants.

We list AHRC's open calls on the AHRC funder page as they are published, and you can see everything for universities and research organisations on the academic funding hub.

Tips before you apply

• Pick the right scheme for your track record. If you have never led a significant research grant, the Catalyst Award is designed for you. If you have, Curiosity or Research Grants are the routes.
• Plan the start date. The earliest start is six months after submission for Curiosity Awards and nine months for Catalyst Awards and Research Grants.
• Keep it self-contained. UKRI says assessors are not required to follow links, so put everything they need in the text.
• Think about partners early. Letters of support are limited to two sides of A4 per partner, and UKRI expects formal collaboration agreements if you are funded.
• Look at the other councils. If your work leans towards social science, our ESRC funding guide explains ESRC's schemes. For independent funding of fundamental research, see our Leverhulme Trust guide.

If your project is a community or heritage project rather than academic research, look at heritage grants instead, where funders such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund support organisations directly.