BRAID Flexible Impact Funding (2026)
Overview
Over the past three years, BRAID has brought together a large community of researchers and stakeholders through scoping projects, research fellowships and creative commissions. The Flexible Impact Fund supports the next stage of this work by enabling follow-on activity to maximise the ‘real world’ impact of these projects.
The fund is designed to strengthen the responsible AI ecosystem, enhance strategic engagement with publics and stakeholders, and drive the practical, solutions‑focused impact of arts and humanities expertise in responsible AI.
As the programme continues through to 2028, our aim is to amplify the collective achievements of the BRAID community and strengthen your impact on responsible AI research and development.
Eligibility
The Flexible Impact Fund is open to:
- named lead or delegated co-investigator on scoping projects (maximum of one submission per project)
- BRAID research fellows (excluding fellows on costed extensions)
- BRAID/BA innovation fellows
- DCMS fellows or delegated co-investigator (maximum of one submission per fellowship)
- recipients of creative commissions including artist commission
Eligible applicants need to submit an Intention to Submit by 5pm (GMT) on Wednesday, 15 April 2026 ahead of submitting their full application by 5pm (GMT) on Wednesday, 6 May 2026.
Please refer to the Guidance Note for further information. If you have any queries or require key documents in an alternative format, please contact braiduk@ed.ac.uk.
This opportunity is funded by the Arts & Humanities Research Council and managed by BRAID with support from the Edinburgh Research Office, ECA’s Knowledge Exchange & Impact team, and Edinburgh Innovations. Our approach is informed by UKRI’s Translation: Proof of Concept principles and UKRI’s Impact Accelerator Accounts.
Key information:
Intention to Submit deadline:
5pm (GMT), Wednesday 15 April 2026
Application deadline:
5pm (GMT), Wednesday 6 May 2026
Project start date:
by 1 September 2026
Project end date:
by 31 December 2027
Total Funding:
£350,000
Strand A: KEI/public engagement: £2,000 up to ~£10,000
Strand B: Impact: £5,000 up to ~£30,000
Expected no. of projects:
10-15 awards
Contact: braiduk@ed.ac.uk (responses within 1–3 working days)
Data protection
By submitting an application you are giving explicit consent for us to process your request for funding, and to use your data for monitoring and reporting purposes. Your data is managed confidentially and will be held by the BRAID programme team based at the University of Edinburgh, with some data shared with our funders the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and review panel, evaluation partners, and the University Research Office. Your data will always be processed in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018, the General Data Protection Act 2018 and therefore also in accordance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Our privacy notice can be found here.
Data retention period: We will hold this information for a period of 5 years from the end of the AHRC grant award, after which it will be disposed. You can withdraw or modify your consent to collection and processing of personal information at any time by writing to braid@ed.ac.uk.
