Pilot Small Grants Scheme for Collaborative Digital Humanities Research
The UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association is pleased to announce the launch of a pilot Small Grants Scheme to support Early Career Digital Humanities research and practice.
This scheme offers seed funding for collaborative projects led by:
1. early career researchers (independent or in Higher Education institutions) who want to develop collaborations with GLAM (galleries, libraries, archives and museums) institutions for future partnerships.
OR
2. early career practitioners in the GLAM sector wishing to develop new collaborations with researchers (independent or in Higher Education institutions).
The funding is intended to help researchers and practitioners develop new collaborations, explore emerging ideas, and lay the groundwork for future projects.
Key information
- Grants of up to £ 3,000 / € 3,449.26 (with a total of £ 6,000 / € 6,898.71 available in this pilot funding round).
- Projects must be completed within a six-month period.
- Funding will be awarded in July 2026 and should be spent within 6 months of receipt.*
- Deadline: 19 June 2026.
*Please see application timeline for further details.
Who can apply
The scheme is aimed at early career researchers and practitioners based in the UK and/or Ireland, including independent researchers. Applicants may include collaborators or partners based elsewhere, but the lead applicant must be from Ireland or the UK.
We define early career as:
- Individuals within eight years of receiving their PhD, or equivalent professional training (e.g. an Archives and Records Association or CILIP accredited course or apprenticeship), or
- Individuals within six years of their first academic or professional appointment.
These timeframes exclude any periods of career break.
A career break is defined as an extended period during which you have not been actively engaged in scholarly research, teaching, or a GLAM-sector role. This may be due to caring responsibilities, parental leave, health reasons, or other circumstances not listed.
What the grant can support
The grant can be used flexibly to support activities such as:
- Research assistance
- Travel and accommodation
- Mentoring or guidance
- Caring costs
- Other costs clearly justified by the project
Outputs
We ask that all funded projects produce one blog post for the Association’s website to brief the community on their work. Beyond this, applicants are encouraged to think creatively about appropriate and accessible project outputs.
How to apply
Applications must be submitted via a MS Form: Small Grants Scheme ~ UK-Ireland Digital Humanities Association – Fill in form.
As part of the application, you will be asked to provide:
- Title of the proposal
- Name of lead applicant
- Email address
- A short bio (up to 200 words)
- Name(s) of other partners/collaborators
- A project proposal (up to 400 words)
- An indicative budget
- An indicative project timeline
If you are currently enrolled as a student or employed in a research capacity by another organisation, you might need to provide a letter of support from your academic supervisor or line manager to apply.
To check if this applies to you and/or to send your letter to us, please email this to uk-ie.digitalhumanities@sas.ac.uk if required.
Additional Information
How applications will be reviewed
Applications will be peer reviewed by a panel drawn from the Association’s Collective. Proposals will be assessed against the following criteria:
- Alignment with the Association’s core values: inclusivity; community; collaboration; sustainability; openness and transparency; advocacy and action.
- Overall quality of the proposal, including the significance & importance of the vision, impact & contribution within & outside the GLAM institution.
- The feasibility of the proposed activities or outcomes, including an appropriate timeframe for the project’s completion.
- Strength of & rationale for the partnership
- Clear & well-justified use of financial resources
- Clear articulation of the personal & professional development opportunity for the early career applicant.
- Clear expression of how the funding will support the development of future collaboration or projects.
Application Timeline
- Opening date: 1 May
- Deadline for applications: 19 June
- Funding awarded: 3 July
Please note that this funding must be awarded by the end of July due to internal financial deadlines. We would therefore need any payment details to award the funding by 13 July.
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion
To ensure our future funding calls are inclusive and accessible, we would also appreciate it if applicants filled out our EDI monitoring form. All answers are entirely anonymous and optional.
This will have no impact on your application. Your answers will not be seen by reviewers or used to inform their selection of applicants. Answers will be stored separately from the application responses and will only be analysed in aggregate form.
Support & Briefing Session
The Association will also host a 60-minute online briefing session to introduce the scheme and answer questions on 18 May at 11:00 – 12.00 BST. Register to join via this link.
If you have any questions in the meantime, please contact us at: uk-ie.digitalhumanities@sas.ac.uk