The 2023 transition to the new Funding Service followed by the official launching in December 2024, UKRI's Improving your funding experience pages include all the information:

• About UKRI's Funding Service
• Stay up to date about the UKRI Funding Service
• Reducing research bureaucracy
• Studentship Data project

Apply for funding introduces to the support available to researchers and academics.

• Funding finder: current funding opportunities from UKRI
• Before you apply: eligibility and support to apply to UKRI's schemes/calls
• Develop your application: guidance and help applying to UKRI
• Global Talent visa information
• Funding for international research: how to apply for cross-border collaborations supported by UKRI
• UKRI's Areas of investment and support
• Fellowship opportunities: what is available from UKRI

About UKRI funding: decisions making, funding experience, studentships and doctoral training, 

Funding for Horizon Europe: help to applicants until 2027 and previous 2023.

• UKRI's Strategy 2022-2027 transforming tomorrrow together is available online. With new UKRI's leadership a new strategy plan will be launched in summer 2026. No mention yet to any new corporate plans nor delivery plans after previous below. This is work in progress still.
• UKRI's Corporate Plan 2022-2025 (August 2022): "UKRI’s corporate plan demonstrates how the world-class research and innovation UKRI supports will drive economic, social, environmental and cultural benefits for all."
• 2022-2025 Strategic Delivery Plans from most of the research councils.
• The UK Government Research and Development Roadmap July 2020 announcement of the new comprehensive plan in short time. 

Opportunities for applying for research project grants have been organised in two documents that can be scanned by anyone from the Faculty of Humanities. Most of the funding bodies are common to all Schools; the lists will give a quick overview of the possibilities for funding.

• Funding bodies for the Faculty of Humanities (version May 2026). A document including the main funding bodies and schemes for the Humanities and the Social Sciences. This is not an exhaustive list. Updating as relevance requires.
• An Excel workbook including all the available funding opportunities for the Humanities and the Social Sciences (HSS) which is accessible from the Highlights page of this website and lists the possibilities for grants, large and small, for any type of scheme and thematic area related to the HSS. This list is a continuous work in progress that is uploaded to the website currently on a weekly basis.

The Faculty of Humanities disseminates funding information on a weekly basis to key academics, researchers and research support staff (RSS) from Schools, Institutes and Centres with the intention to cascade the information down to all the research staff.

Further information can be provided by RSS and/or the Research Funding Intelligence Officer. Inclusion in the weekly bulletin is open to anybody from the Faculty by request.

Opportunities for international partnerships

1. UKRI supporting bilateral schemes. Permanent schemes renewed regularly and open for submission any time. Open themes. Currently six possibilities/countries. But wide combinations can be made including international project co-lead including other geographies.
2. The British Academy Knowledge Frontiers symposium and networks calls, the International Interdisciplinary Research Projects, Horizon Europe Pump Priming collaboration between UK and EU small grants, ODA partnerships, all them are opportunities for collaboration at different stages. All are schemes depending on a deadline and call for proposals from the Academy.
3. European Community research framework. Horizon Europe opportunities for SSH. Annual reiterative schemes, open themes, and topic specific depending on the scheme, permanent programme.
4. Collaborative opportunities highlighted in these pages. Various types within the bilateral/trilateral agreement as above (1 & 4).
5. Opportunities from the University of Manchester. University web pages on international collaborations (also including those from 3).  
6. Any selection can be produced by request (if opportunities are available), but this should be easily obtain by anybody from the available funding opportunities database.
7. Calls for specific topics/themes with specific deadlines: All should be available on the funding opportunities database.
8. Under the International Science Partnership Fund (ISPF) the British Academy ODA collaborative projects and other international opportunities from UKRI.
9. Belmont Foundation. “a partnership of funding organizations, international science councils, and regional consortia committed to the advancement of transdisciplinary science”.
10. Open Research Area, ORA calls are normally supported by the ESRC. Partnership of various national research funding agencies organising international calls.
11. Humanities in the European Research Area, HERA is supported by AHRC and “funds transnational, humanities-led research projects and disciplines”. A partnership of various national research funding agencies.
12. Research Funding Agency Co-operation in Europe, NORFACE, supported by ESRC, is “a collaborative partnership of national research funding agencies in Europe and beyond”.
13. T-AP Trans-Atlantic Platform Social Sciences and Humanities is a “collaboration between humanities and social science research funders from South America, North America, Europe and Africa. T-AP aims to enhance the ability of funders, research organizations and researchers to engage in transnational dialogue and collaboration”.
14. Joint Programming Initiatives, JPIs are EC instruments aiming at promoting strategic cooperation between member states and associated countries in specific strategic areas. JPI Urban Europe.  

Small grants are those awarding budgets of around £100k, with calls responding to deadlines or submissions at any time (open calls).

The grants database source available on the highlights page will inform you of any small grants available. The database can be sorted in many ways, using different variables: budget, type of grant, etc. 

Small grants can focus on many different activities:

• possibilities for pre-proposal building;
• seed-corn awards; pilots; feasibility projects;
• impact; transformative grant;
• networking; seminar; conference; workshop, event organisation;
• data;
• travel abroad or travel to UK, visiting fellowships;
• publications;
• staff exchanges, lecture series, alternative forms of funding, etc.

The highlights page includes also a section on international collaborative research through UK bilateral agreements, which includes small funding opportunities.

 ‘A Fellowship is a personal award, designed to provide the recipient with the necessary support to establish or further develop themselves as a leader of the future.’

This is a definition provided on the EPSRC website some time ago; a definition that encapsulates the aims of the fellowship scheme. There are many types of fellowship schemes:

• short/long in duration;
• supporting only time for writing or including a whole project and requiring a career development plan;
• small/large awards;
• UK or abroad;
• from postdoctoral to very experienced researchers and advanced researchers, those at the professorial level, etc.

Fellowships and related schemes can be extracted from the highlights database following simple steps. Relevant columns:

• Scheme type: F for fellowship and F* for schemes focused on individuals and career development. 
• Funding type: indicates some variations like combinations of fellowship/placement, specific type of fellowship like visiting fellowships, etc.
• Seniority: indicates related levels, when this is possible, following the European Framework for Research Careers profiles. 
  • R1 First Stage Researchers (up to the point of PhD)
  • R2 Recognised Researchers (PhD holders or equivalent who are not yet fully independent)
  • R3 Established Researchers (researchers who have developed a level of independence)
  • R4 Leading Researchers (researchers leading their research area or field)

The 'codes' and 'rules' worksheets are include for clarification. 

Note that all the funding opportunities are included to highlight available funds, and each of those should be scrutinise thoroughly to get the complete information to assess the possibility to apply, in some cases even contacting the funder and always the university's research staff support.

The highlights database is updated regularly over the year in a weekly basis.

• Researcher Development @ Manchester, SharePoint website includes information and resources for postgraduate researchers, research staff, and research fellows. Supporting researchers at the University of Manchester including supervisor's and PI's training as well as introductory sessions on fellowships.
• British Academy Early Career Researcher Network. The Early Career Researcher Network is an inclusive, researcher-led membership body accessible to all UK-based early career researchers (ECRs) working in the humanities and social sciences – regardless of their funding source or background. The objective is to expand the Network's operations nationwide by 2025. The current regions included in the network are:  North West and North Wales, Midlands and Mid Wales, South West and South Wales, Scotland, London, North East and Northern Ireland. Still to join:  North of England, South East of England, and Yorkshire and the Humber.
• Euraxess UK, supported by the British Council, offers "comprehensive support and resources for researchers moving to or from the UK. Access a funding database, job search tools, and career development resources".
• Vitae. "exists to champion careers in research, across all sectors, as we believe careers in research are open, rewarding and inclusive. When individuals are included and supported in their careers, this enables their research to become more innovative, creative, and ultimately, impactful."
• Prosper: unlocking postdoc career potential. Prosper is a new approach to postdoc career development that unlocks postdocs' potential to thrive in multiple career pathways. Resources UKRI blog
• UK Young Academy. An interdisciplinary organisation of UK-based early career researchers, innovators and professionals working to make a positive difference in the UK and globally. Members can get involved with interdisciplinary projects and work programmes, as well as establish and lead their own initiatives, leveraging their expertise to drive innovative solutions and share knowledge across various fields.