International Interdisciplinary Research Projects 2027

More about the programme 

The British Academy is inviting proposals for the next round of its International Interdisciplinary Research programme. 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 Mobilities.

Aims

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 mobilities. Genuinely productive and integral interdisciplinarity is a requirement, with the expectation that this will involve collaboration across disciplines. The collaboration can include any SHAPE or STEM discipline as long as the research is led by and grounded in the humanities and/or social sciences. Applications that do not meet this requirement will be considered ineligible and will not be taken forward through the assessment process. The Academy particularly encourages applications led from the humanities.

The Academy requires applications to address one or more of the following topic areas. The framing questions related to each topic area are intended to spark thought and provide a framing for the call; they should not be seen as prescriptive. Applicants are reminded that mobilities is understood in this call in terms of movement of people, things and ideas, and of how such movement functions as powerful connectors across areas, domains, societies and borders, and over time.

• People, Materials and Things: With this call the Academy wishes to support research that understands the movement of people and explores and interrogates the movement of materials. This includes both movement across geographical space as well as movement over time.
• Ideas, Narratives and Innovation: With this call the Academy wishes to support research that produces new insights for understanding the context in which ideas, stories and technological developments spread, and how change is both driven by such developments and by the contexts and connections in which they happen. This includes both movement across geographical space as well as movement through a society such as the spread of a narrative, political idea or a protest movement through a community.

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.

This round of the programme is supported, as in previous years, by the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.

Eligibility requirements

Applications must meet the Programme Aims set out above, demonstrating a genuinely interdisciplinary approach through international research collaboration. The Academy wishes to encourage novel thinking rather than offering a pre-designed idea of the form of the research.

The Principal Investigator (PI) must be a researcher from the humanities and social sciences and be based at an eligible UK university or research institute and hold an established role that will last at least the duration of their prospective award. The PI must be of postdoctoral or above status (or have equivalent research experience) and must plan to spend at least 20% of their time (0.2 FTE equivalent) on their prospective award.

The involvement of Co-Applicants based overseas is required.

It is required that the PI be from the humanities or social sciences, and that amongst the PI and Co-Applicant(s) there is collaboration across disciplines. The collaboration can include any SHAPE or STEM disciplines as long as the research is led by and grounded in the humanities and/or social sciences. Genuinely productive and integral interdisciplinarity is a requirement. Applications that do not meet this requirement will be considered ineligible and will not be taken forward through the assessment process.

For more details about the eligibility requirements, please see the Scheme Notes.

Value and duration

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).

Funding can be used to support the time of the Principal Investigator and Co-Applicants; postdoctoral (or equivalent) research assistance; travel, fieldwork and related expenses; and networking costs. Awards are offered on an 80% full economic costing basis.

Projects must begin in March/April 2027.

Application process

Applications must be submitted online using the British Academy's Grant Management System (GMS), Flexi-Grant®.

The deadline for submissions and UK institutional approval is 7th October 2026, 17:00 (BST).

Scheme guidance

For more details about the programme and information on how to apply, please see the Scheme Notes.

Frequently asked questions

Please refer to our FAQs page for answers to the most frequently asked questions about the scheme.