Pre-announcement: AHRC Design Generators *DEMAND MANAGED*
Pre-announcement: Design Generators (more detail can be found at this link)
Apply for funding to combine design-led interventions with arts and humanities methodologies to make positive contributions to the green transition.
Design Generators connect directly with the wider Future Observatory: Design the Green Transition Programme.
The Design Generators aim to fund innovative, design-led research projects that contribute to the green transition. They seek to generate new arts and humanities-based approaches and methodologies that harness design to address environmental sustainability, decarbonisation, circular economies, policy design and regenerative practices.
Funding will be provided to:
- co-develop interventions with a non-academic partner to assist sustained impact beyond the life of the grant
- engage collaboratively with communities or stakeholders, ensuring relevance and responsiveness to lived experience
- promote green transition-supportive behaviour change, either through deliberative policymaking and (de)regulation or through ‘nudging’
- highlight the value of academic design research in addressing real-world, locally relevant challenges arising along the journey to net zero and a green economy
This round will focus on creating interventions within existing systems. These systems may include, but are not limited to, healthcare, food networks, governance structures, financial infrastructures, and other societal frameworks. AHRC are particularly interested in projects that approach these systems from a community perspective and use design thinking and creative methodologies to identify leverage points for positive change. Applicants should propose research that is collaborative, community-engaged, and scalable. Projects must be grounded in arts and humanities disciplines, drawing on methodologies including, but not limited to, design research, ethnography, and visual arts.
The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £200,000.
These awards can be between 9 to 12 months in duration.
This funding opportunity is due to open 3rd November 2025.
Applications are welcomed from researchers across all career stages, from early career to established researchers.
Every project must have a non-academic partner. These partners can include, but are not limited to, businesses, public sector organisations, third sector, civil society or community organisations.
Please note that demand management is in place for this scheme. We are allowed to submit 2 different projects as an institution. We will share more details on the process once the call is live.
In the meantime if you are interested please could we ask that you fill in this brief form so we can start to get a sense of interest: https://forms.office.com/e/uhvaT6c5SY
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to get in touch with Beth Davidson : beth.davidson@newcastle.ac.uk