Background

BRAID (Bridging Responsible AI Divides) is UK-wide programme dedicated to integrating Arts and Humanities research more fully into the Responsible AI ecosystem, as well as bridging the divides between academic, industry, policy and regulatory work on responsible AI.

BRAID is a six-year, £15.9 million investment funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and running from 2022 to 2028.

Working in partnership with the Ada Lovelace Institute and BBC, our team brings together expertise in human-computer interaction, moral philosophy, arts, design, law, social sciences, journalism, and AI. BRAID is extended by a network of interdisciplinary researchers and partnering organisations through the delivery of funding calls, community building events, and a series of programmed activities.

Forum Objectives

The BRAID Forum will provide an opportunity for BRAID and forum members to communicate on issues that directly affect the communities, sectors and interests that they are part of, and to discuss the approach of BRAID and partners Ada Lovelace Institute and the BBC towards integrating Responsible AI, Arts and Humanities across the UK ecosystem.

As Forum members you will have the opportunity to discuss first-hand the latest findings of BRAID-funded research, be involved in shaping our current and future activities and priority areas, and explore key challenges and opportunities for Responsible AI together.

The Forum will meet three times a year, from Spring 2026 – late 2028. The Forum will consist of approximately 16 members plus the independent Forum Chair Professor Karen Salt, BRAID, Ada Lovelace Institute and BBC colleagues, and two open seats to bring in additional expertise/representation where appropriate depending on the forum topic.

We recognise the need to balance the time commitment involved in participating in the Forum against opportunities to share knowledge and networks, so you will be invited and supported to join two in-person meetings over the course of the Forum (one in 2026 and one in 2028) at a central location in the UK. The remaining forum meetings (two per year) will take place virtually.

There will also be the opportunity for two BRAID Forum members to join Ada Lovelace Institute and BBC community leaders panels, helping to guide their work on public participation, equity and inclusion.

Forum membership: who are we looking for?

To complement the leadership of the BRAID programme, we are looking for a diverse group of people with diverse lived experiences, backgrounds, skills, expertise and knowledge.

We hope the Forum will include people from civil society and community groups who can reflect needs of underrepresented people and we especially welcome applications from these groups.

This is the final round of recruitment for the forum, and we also welcome applications from industry groups, artists and creatives/freelancers/early career entrepreneurs, regulators and policy-makers, from across all the regions of the UK.

You may be in a position to formally represent your organisation or community, or you may bring sector-specific knowledge and experience as an individual. In either case, we hope that you will be able to act as a conduit for information and knowledge to travel between the forum and your workplace or community.

You do not need to have a deep knowledge of AI or prior experience of participating in a Stakeholder Forum to apply, but we expect you to have a clear reason for being involved, and a sense of how your involvement could support your community or otherwise result in positive change.

Please note, we are not inviting applications from you if your work has been/is currently funded by BRAID or you applied under the first call for members.

What if membership falls outside of my work responsibilities?

We are appreciative of the commitment and contributions you will be making and want to support everyone to take an active role in the Forum. Some members will be supported by their workplace, but if participation in the Forum falls outside the scope of your responsibilities within your current employment, we will offer you a contribution for your participation (£75 per Forum meeting to cover participation and pre/post-meeting preparation). We will also cover travel and accommodation costs for attendance at two in-person meetings (taking place at a central location in the UK in 2026 and 2028.

Additional support to facilitate your participation, such as caring or other childcare costs can be requested via BRAID’s Accessibility Fund.

Interested?

If this sounds like something you could contribute to, please send a written Expression of Interest to braidstakeholderforum@ed.ac.uk and include:

• Your details i.e. name, organisation (where relevant), profession/role;
• How your experience would support the work of the BRAID Stakeholder Forum;
• Whether you are affiliated to an organisation or applying as an individual; and
• Confirmation that you would be available to attend meetings across the Forum period (2026 – 2028).

Please limit applications to no more than 300 words. All Expressions of Interest should be sent by 18 March 2026

Applications will be reviewed by members of the BRAID, Ada Lovelace Institute and BBC teams, and appointments offered to those who bring complementary skills, lived experience and expertise across the representative groups identified. We expect to notify successful applicants by 31 March 2026.

We are planning for the first Forum meeting to take place at the end of April 2026, and will confirm the date as soon as possible.

Privacy Statement

In providing your expression of interest you are giving explicit consent for us to process this data as part of programme delivery, as well as monitoring, evaluation and reporting. Your data will be managed confidentially. It will be held by the BRAID’s delivery team based at the University of Edinburgh, with some data shared with our delivery partners BBC and the Ada Lovelace Institute, and with our funder the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC).  When reported for monitoring and evaluation, your data will only be presented in anonymous aggregated form.

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).

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.