UK: Innovation Fellowships Scheme – Route B (Policy-Led)

The Innovation Fellowships scheme is a dual-route scheme designed to enable researchers in the humanities and social sciences to partner with organisations and business in the creative and cultural, public, private and policy sectors in order to address challenges that require innovative approaches and solutions.

The British Academy has been funded by the Department of Science, Innovation & Technology (DSIT) to support the Innovation Fellowships. The Academy is also working on this scheme in partnership with other partners, including the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), as per this call.

The Innovation Fellowships scheme will provide funding and support for established early-career and mid-career researchers in the Humanities and Social Sciences to partner with organisations and business in the creative and cultural, public, private and policy sectors, to address challenges that require innovative approaches and solutions. Through the Innovation Fellowships, the researchers in the SHAPE community will be supported to create new and deeper links beyond academia, so enabling knowledge mobilisation and translation, as well as individual skills development.

Scope of the Fellowships

• These Fellowships will take place in the context of the publication earlier this year of the UK Government’s Integrated Review Refresh 2023: Responding to a more contested and volatile world. The Academy and the FCDO invite applications for Fellowships in any of the following four areas.
  • The Impact of Serious and Organised Crime on Future UK Foreign Policy: Serious and Organised Crime (SOC) threatens international security and prosperity: it extends and exacerbates conflicts; undermines stability; and inflicts the highest economic cost on the lowest-income countries. Mitigating the impact of SOC is a key strand of the Integrated Review. This work requires better awareness of the underpinning terrain of how organised crime groups (OCGs), and other actors, interface with international threats; particularly state-threats, and also terrorism, cybercrime and more. The Fellow would have the skills and knowledge to combine subject matter expertise on international SOC with an understanding of its impact on regional and international order. They would be attached to the Research Analysts Cadre within the Research & Evidence Directorate and would work closely alongside relevant policy Directorates.
  • The History of International Development and Aid Policy: This Fellowship would help develop FCDO’s capability to offer a historical perspective on the origins of aid policy and delivery as it has evolved over the last century, with particular emphasis on the post World War 2 period. Development and aid have been closely linked with other aspects of the UK’s foreign policy, discussions on international trade and with the UK’s international standing and reputation.
  • Iran: This would be an opportunity to work on a high priority issue for the FCDO, covering a broad set of policy areas. The main focus would be on Iranian internal social and political issues. This could cover civil society, ethnic minorities and their relation to the state, migration to and from Iran, societal trends, corruption, the informal economy or environmental issues.
  • India and other South Asian states: This would be an opportunity to work on the priority areas of India’s foreign and security policy. The policy context is the UK’s Indo-Pacific tilt as outlined in the Integrated Review and the increased cooperation between the UK and India, elevation of the partnership to a ‘comprehensive strategic partnership’, and agreement to strengthen ties through implementing the 2030 roadmap.

Features of the Scheme

• The Innovation Fellowships scheme has two routes: Route A: Researcher-led and Route B: Policy-led. This call is for Route B with the Academy working with the FCDO.
• The current scheme guidance notes give details for Route B (Policy-led), and specifically in relation to the partnership with the FCDO. Please note that only one application for this call may be submitted. Applicants are permitted to apply through both Route A (Researcher-led) and Route B (Policy-led), but they cannot be successful via both routes, i.e., hold an Innovation Fellowship for both Route A and Route B at the same time.
• All Innovation Fellows under the different routes, regardless of stream or partner, will have the opportunity to participate in cross-learning and other cohort-based activities.

Funding Information

• The Academy is able to offer awards of up to £120,000 for 12 months in duration (with Full Economic Costing at 80%).

Eligibility Criteria

• Eligible applicants must be ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom 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 (e.g., a Higher Education Institution [HEI] or Independent Research Organisation [IRO]).
• They must also meet the requirements set out in the ‘Working at and with the FCDO’ section.
• Applications are welcome from early-career researchers and mid-career researchers. Please note that applications from independent researchers cannot be accepted in this round of the scheme.
• Applicants may not hold more than one British Academy award of a comparable nature at any one time.
• Applicants for the Innovation Fellowships Scheme should be intending to pursue challenges that can benefit from the contribution of Humanities or Social Sciences expertise.
• Postgraduate students are not eligible to apply for grant support from the Academy, and Applicants are asked to confirm in the personal details section(s) that they are not currently working towards a PhD, nor awaiting the outcome of a viva voce examination, nor awaiting the acceptance of any corrections required by the examiners.

Person Specification

• The British Academy is inviting applications from early-career and mid-career researchers who are working on the themes outlined who could contribute fresh perspectives to a specified challenge. Applicants might have expertise from a wide range of disciplinary, conceptual and methodological perspectives, including analytical, policy and practical perspectives. You must be an early-career or mid-career researcher based at an institution in the UK (e.g., a Higher Education Institution [HEI] or Independent Research Organisation [IRO]), from disciplines within the Humanities and Social Sciences.
• Through the Innovation Fellowship scheme, you will have the opportunity to facilitate a partnership, which will enable you to develop outcomes that transform the understanding of and response to societal challenges, and offer solutions to shape policy and practice. You will be able to draw on the expertise, insights and challenge of policymakers and practitioners, and benefit from their continued engagement through their award. This is an opportunity for all participants to form new collaborations and draw on the insights this brings to inform, influence and develop their future development.
• They seek open-mindedness, a willingness to explore new perspectives and to experiment with innovative approaches. You will have an appetite for working across academia, policy and practice, and will demonstrate a commitment to being genuinely challenge driven and dedicated to integrating the perspectives, needs and priorities of the partner. All applicants should strongly consider the potential for engagement between academic and non-academic environments as part of their applications.

For more information, visit Innovation Fellowships Scheme.