The #British Academy: Funding Call – Innovation Fellowships 2024-25 (Digital Society)

Funding call – Innovation Fellowships Scheme 2024-25 Route B: Policy-Led (Digital Society)

 In collaboration with Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID), supported by DSIT and AHRC                               

The British Academy is now inviting applications to the Innovation Fellowships Scheme – Route B: Policy-led (Digital Society), 2024-25 competition. The application form is available online on Flexi-Grant®, the Academy’s grant management system.

Aims and purpose of the scheme

The British Academy has been funded by the UK government’s Department for Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) to continue its support for the Innovation Fellowships scheme. The Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) programme, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), will also be partnering with the Academy to co-fund this cohort of Innovation Fellowships. The Academy is working on this scheme in collaboration with a number of other partners. For this second round of the funding call, the Academy is partnering with DSIT – AI Policy Directorate (AIPD); DSIT – the AI Safety Institute (AISI); the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS); the Digital Regulation and Cooperation Forum (DRCF); Ofcom.

This scheme provides funding and support for established early-career and mid-career researchers in the humanities and social sciences (the SHAPE disciplines) to partner with organisations and businesses in the creative and cultural, public, private, commercial, or policy sectors that have a base in the UK, to address challenges that require innovative approaches and solutions that are relevant to the UK. Through the Innovation Fellowships, our researchers in the SHAPE community are supported to create new and deeper links beyond academia, enabling knowledge mobilisation and translation, as well as individual skills development.

This call will enable researchers to partner with a range of central government departments or independent regulators for 12 months. Successful applicants will work within specific policy areas set out by their chosen partner. These policy areas broadly correlate to the British Academy’s own Digital Society policy programme, which covers similar themes.

The Academy and the partners invite applications for Fellowships in any of the following areas:

• AI, Intellectual Property (IP) and the Creative Industries (DCMS).
• Fostering economic growth across the UK through digital innovation in DCMS sectors (DCMS).
• The effect of regulating AI on business and consumer adoption (DSIT – AIPD).
• Government’s approach to AI safety (DSIT – AISI).
• AI Regulation and Auditing (DRCF).
• How AI impacts on public trust about information (Ofcom).

Applicants should note that the Fellow will finalise the outline of a work programme with the partner after being awarded the Fellowship, and therefore applicants are not required to submit a research proposal as part of the application.

Eligibility

Applicants must be ordinarily resident in the UK with a current long-term appointment that will continue for at least as long as the period of the award at a UK-based institution (Higher Education Institutions or Independent Research Organisation); and be at early or mid-career stage. Applicants must also meet the requirements set out in the Scheme Guidance Notes in the ‘Working at and with DCMS, DSIT – AIPD, DSIT – AISI, DRCF and Ofcom’ section; in particular, the requirements about security clearance.

Level of award

Route B (Policy-led) awards are on the basis of Full Economic Costing (FEC) at 80 per cent. The British Academy will award up to £120,000. The Lead Applicant must commit between 0.4 and 0.8 Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) time to the Fellowship. The awards are for 12 months in duration.

Applying for this scheme

Applications are available online on the Flexi-Grant® application system.

Deadline for application submission and organisation approval:

20 November 2024, 17:00 (GMT).

Results expected: by Mid-February.

Awards available to start between: 1-31 March 2025.

For further information on our Innovation Fellowships Scheme 2024-25 – Route B: Policy-led (Digital Society), please view our Scheme and Application Guidance Notes and Frequently Asked Questions.                    

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