Innovation Fellowships 2025-26 – Route B: Policy-led (Sustainable Futures)

Scheme overview

The British Academy has been funded by the UK Government, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) to continue its support of the Innovation Fellowships scheme. The Innovation Fellowships scheme is a dual-route scheme designed to enable researchers in the humanities and social sciences 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. Both routes require an established researcher to work with a UK-based partner organisation on a specified policy or societal challenge that contributes to the aims of the scheme for a period of up to one year.

The Innovation Fellowships scheme has two routes:

Route B: Policy-led

The British Academy is inviting applications for funding for policy-led Innovation Fellowships: Route B, through which applicants must apply to work with one of our partners. Our partners for this funding call are the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra); the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ); and the Government Office for Science (GO Science).

Through the Innovation Fellowships, our researchers in the humanities and social sciences 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 central government department 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 Sustainable Futures policy programme.

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

• Landscape Recovery (Defra).
• Public Participation Strategy (DESNZ).
• Climate, Society and International (GO Science).

Applicants should note that the Fellow would 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.

Please see further information in the Scheme and Application Guidance Notes and Frequently Asked Questions.

Scheme opens date: 4 June 2025

Application deadline: 6 August 2025 17:00 UK time

Starting period of award: between 1-31 March 2026

Duration of award: awards are for 12 months in duration

Level of award

Route B: Policy-led awards are on the basis of Full Economic Costing (FEC) at 80%. The British Academy will award up to £120,000. The applicant must commit between 0.4 and 0.8 FTE time to the Fellowship.

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 Institution 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 particular those noted in the ‘Security Clearance and Nationality Requirements’ section.

Route A Researcher-led

The researcher-led Innovation Fellowships (Route A), through which applicants must apply with a partner which they have identified, are not currently running. To learn more about previous calls, please view the Innovation Fellowships Route A Researcher-led page.

Scheme guidance

Please see the scheme notes for detailed guidance on how to apply.