UK-Ireland: Digital Humanities Research Grants

Deadline: 18-Mar-21

The Irish Research Council (IRC) and the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) are pleased to announce a call for Research Grants as part of their UK-Ireland Collaboration in Digital Humanities.

This call aims to support large, collaborative UK-Ireland projects that achieve a transformational impact in the digital humanities through innovative, multidisciplinary research that engages extensively with wider partners.

Program Aims

Specifically, the call aims to support a diverse range of projects that:

Build on the momentum of the research networks around defined thematic areas which generate new lines of enquiry and stimulate new debate;
Build and consolidate new, inclusive partnerships between researchers and stakeholders in the UK and Ireland through collaborative research projects;
Deliver innovative, interdisciplinary and integrated research projects that are appropriately tailored to the themes being addressed;
Are genuinely inclusive and collaborative and involve a balance of Research Organisations and stakeholders in both countries which will result in a transformational impact;
Promote the sharing of best practice and knowledge exchange between institutions in the UK and Ireland, and clearly demonstrate the specific added value of enhanced collaboration in the Digital Humanities.

Program Themes

The projects should take innovative, interdisciplinary approaches to explore the following broad and inclusive themes:

Digital Humanities, Emerging Technologies and Research Practices
Digital Humanities and Social Innovation
Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage
Digital Humanities and the Creative Industries

Funding Information

The AHRC expects to provide up to £400,000 full economic cost (fEC), paid at 80% (up to £320,000), for the UK costs of each funded research project.
The IRC will provide up to €270,000. Each award must start by 1st August 2021 and should have duration of up to 36 months.

Eligibility Criteria

Proposals must include at least one researcher from both the UK and Ireland and must have a Principal Investigator (PI) in each country. The Je-S submission portal allows for only one Principal Investigator to be included in a proposal. On the Je-S form, the Principal Investigator is therefore the UK PI and the Irish PI needs to be recorded as a Co-Investigator.

UK applicants:
- Standard eligibility criteria will apply to this call for UK investigators and research organisations. This means that the UK Principal Investigator must be resident in the UK and based at a UK institution eligible to receive funding from UKRI. The AHRC expects the Principal Investigator and any Co-Investigators to devote an average of at least 4 hours per week to the project.
- The UK component must fall within the remit of the Arts and Humanities Research Council.
- Full details of all project partner organisations should be included in the application and be accompanied by a Project Partner Letter of Support.
- Co-Investigators from other countries can be included within the UK costs in accordance with AHRC’s International Co-Investigator policy where it can be demonstrated (in the Case for Support) that they will add value to the UK-Ireland collaboration.
Irish applicants:
- The Irish Principal Investigator and Co-Investigators can be active in all disciplinary areas as per the Irish Research Council’s pan-disciplinary mandate, provided that the consortium’s scope falls within the Digital Humanities field.
- Irish PIs must be contracted by an Irish HEI, with a contract of sufficient duration to carry out the proposed research from the project start date until the project end date.
- In the event of an applicant, who is already a PI in another project being successful in this call, at award acceptance stage they will be asked to submit a time-management strategy, to be approved by the Irish Research Council before the award’s commencement.
- There are no restrictions on the eligibility of non-academic partners (museums, cultural institutions, private companies, NGOs etc.). Should they not be Irish-based, the rationale behind their inclusion must be clearly justified.