This page provides a brief guide to potential sources of funding for Digital Humanities research. Cambridge Digital Humanities is committed to supporting Cambridge researchers as they develop grant applications by assisting them in finding information about funders and helping them make connections with potential collaborators and sources of expert technical advice. Please email Dr Anne Alexander (raa43@cam.ac.uk) for more information. Further advice and information can also be sought from the School Research Facilitators who can help with sourcing funding calls as well as with commenting and advising on application drafts.
Funding for Digital Humanities research can be sought from any of the bodies which fund research in the humanities and social sciences. The Research Office provides details of the major funding bodies, a funding calls calendar and offers advice and support for funding applicants.
This page highlights sources of funding which are more specifically targeted towards Digital Humanities research. Some of these bodies offer funds through an annual cycle of calls, others solicit applications at any time of year. This is not a comprehensive list so please get in touch to suggest additions or corrections to the information listed here.
The seven Research Councils invest around £3bn a year in research across all academic disciplines. While most Digital Humanities researchers will apply for funding from the Arts and Humanities Research Council or the Economic and Social Research Council, it is worth remembering that opportunities for DH funding are sometimes offered by other Research Councils, or provided through a cross-council research programme, UK Research and Innovation.
The AHRC’s funding opportunities page contains details of recent and current calls. In addition to funding DH research under its main themes, the AHRC has previously called for funding applications specifically connected to the theme of Digital Transformations in the Arts and Humanities and the Digital Economy.
The ESRC’s main funding opportunities page can be found here.
Humanities in the European Research Area (HERA) is a network of national humanities research councils and the European Science Foundation (ESF), offering large grants for pan-European humanities research, involving researchers in three or more countries.
Major grants in any area of ‘pioneering frontier research’ are available from the ERC under the Synergy grant scheme (details here). Like the HERA scheme, this is aimed at major research projects led by researchers with an extremely well-established profile in their field. Excellent researchers who are looking for funding to develop a new project but are at an earlier stage in their careers have the option of applying for one of the ERC’s Starting Grants. Applicants' proposals can be in any area of 'frontier research' and researchers who have between two and twelve years postdoctoral experience may apply. The ERC has introduced a Consolidator Grant for researchers with between seven and twelve years of postdoctoral experience.
Two of the major private funders of Digital Humanities research are the Andrew Mellon Foundation and the Leverhulme Trust. Anyone interested in Mellon Foundation funding can contact Dr Sumi David for further information.
International opportunities include competitions such as Digging into Data, which brought together funders from a range of countries to offer large grants aimed at developing research using large datasets.