Both funding agencies want to strengthen international cooperation in the fields of Arts and Humanities to fund academic research of the highest quality within their own countries, and are aware that some of the best research can only be achieved by working with the best researchers internationally. The scheme will provide funding for integrated UK-German projects. The partner agencies will organise a coordinated peer review and a single joint selection process. Funding will be distributed among the research partners according to scholars’ place of work and, more generally, according to the funding rules of each individual agency.
Proposals may be submitted in any area of the Humanities, as defined in the research funding guides of both agencies. Only proposals whose primary aim is to make fundamental advances in human knowledge in the relevant fields may be submitted in response to the call for proposals. Applicants who are uncertain whether their proposal would be eligible should contact the relevant agencies for clarification.
Projects must have well-defined joint working programmes that are clearly demonstrating the added value of UK-German collaboration. It is expected that each partner substantially contributes to the common project; this also includes taking on organisational responsibilities.
The duration of the projects will normally be and must not exceed three years. Successful projects will be expected to start in early 2027.
The UK component may seek up to 420.000 GBP (483.737 EUR) full economic costs (FEC), to which the AHRC will normally contribute 80 percent FEC. Projects should be integrated but do not have to be symmetrical in the sense that neither the sums nor the items requested have to be identical on the UK and German sides. However, the work packages would be expected to be delivered in reasonably equal shares.
The closing date for this call is Wednesday, 11 February 2026. Proposals under this call will need to be submitted through the UKRI system with parallel submission to the DFG’s elan portal .
