International Interdisciplinary Research Projects 2026 (UK)

Projects will be led by UK-based researchers in the humanities and social sciences working with international partners and wishing to develop genuinely interdisciplinary projects that range across all SHAPE and STEM disciplines on the theme of Transnational and Planetary challenges.

The purpose of each project will be to develop new international research led by and grounded in the humanities and/or social sciences, to further understanding of transnational and planetary challenges. Genuinely productive and integral interdisciplinarity is a requirement, with the expectation that this will involve collaboration across disciplines.

Aims

• The Academy envisages the awards made through the Programme will:
  • Advance deeper, more nuanced, and historically aware thinking about the relevant challenge;
  • Identify how humanities and social sciences research working in an interdisciplinary fashion can contribute to international and national knowledge exchange, practice, and policy development in this area, and what lessons can be learnt to navigate any future landscape(s);
  • Develop ways of communicating and collaborating in cross-disciplinary and multilingual working through appropriate international partnerships.

Focus Areas

• Earth system governance, including problems related to climate change, biodiversity loss, oceanic degradation, and other forms of environmental pollution
• Digital and other transformative technologies, including the challenges presented by artificial intelligence (AI), cyber, synthetic biology, nanotech, and other breakthroughs
• Global health, particularly the rising threat posed by pandemic disease and the linkages among human, animal, and environmental health (“One Health”)
• Outer space governance, encompassing the dilemmas posed by accumulating orbital debris, space traffic congestion, property and sovereignty claims, and arms racing.

Funding Information

• The total funding available per award in this call is up to £300,000 over 2 years. Within that limit of £300,000 over 2 years the award is offered at 80% FEC (i.e. the total contribution requested from the Academy may not exceed £300,000 and the total project value at 100% FEC may not exceed £375,000).
• Projects must begin in March/April 2026.

Eligible Costs

• The time of the PI and Co-Applicants
• Research assistance
• Training and development for the PI and Co-Applicants
• Travel, fieldwork and related expenses
• Networking costs
• University costs in hosting and supporting the project, with award holders expected to base the division of spend on the Full Economic Costing basis at 80%

Ineligible Costs

• Purchasing of assets
• PhD studentships
• Computer hardware including laptops, electronic notebooks, digital cameras, etc.
• Books and other permanent resources
• The preparation of camera-ready copy, copy-editing, proof-reading, indexing, nor any other editorial task
• Subventions for direct production costs (printing, binding, distribution, marketing etc.) • costs of publication in electronic media
• Travel and maintenance expenses for purposes such as lecture tours or to write up the results of research

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria:
  • Each project will be led by a named Principal Investigator (PI). The PI must be a researcher in a discipline within the social sciences or the humanities. The PI is expected to direct the research and the management of the project and has responsibility for the overall project reporting requirements.
  • The PI must be of postdoctoral or above status (or have equivalent research experience).
  • The PI must hold an established role in an eligible UK university or research institute. The PI’s position must last at least the duration of the grant funded by the Academy.
  • The PI can spend a minimum of 20% of their time and a maximum of 100% of their time on the grant. The time spent on the grant can change over the course of the award but may not be under 20% across the duration of the award. Staff employed on the award may be employed full or part time regardless of the time the award holder spends on the award.
  • PIs may not hold more than one British Academy award of a comparable nature at any one time.
  • An individual cannot be the PI on more than one bid under the British Academy’s International Interdisciplinary Research Projects programme.
  • Applicants can be of any nationality.
  • Awards are available to individuals, to be held in an institutional context.
  • Awards will not be made retrospectively: this means that the work for which support is requested must not have commenced before the award is announced. Applications must be for new research ideas that are coherent on their own and are cutting-edge.
• Co-applicants must meet the following eligibility criteria:
  • Must include at least one researcher who is based internationally.
  • Must be of postdoctoral or above status (or have equivalent research experience).
  • Can include other researchers based in the UK or internationally at all career stages.
  • No individual may be a Co-Applicant on more than two projects under this call (nor may a PI be additionally a Co-Applicant on more than one other project).
• Other Participants: Projects may also include any number of specified ‘Other Participants’, who may, for example, be relevant stakeholders participating in networking or dissemination events, academic or policy advisers, practitioners, industry representatives, etc.

For more information, visit The British Academy.