Funding opportunities for research and impact
Finding the right funding opportunity for you
Here we share a range of popular internal and external funding opportunities for social sciences researchers and academics. These funding schemes are either managed internally or externally, and are either open to applications, and/or further rounds may be open to applications in future.
John Fell Fund
Mid-Career Researcher Incentives Pilot Scheme
Strategic Research Fund
Interdisciplinary Hubs
ESRC IAA
SDG Impact Fund
KE Seed Fund
Business Engagement Seed Fund
Engagement Fellowships
To enable social scientists to engage with non-academic stakeholders and build lasting partnerships and research impact.
Fixed-term Researchers Support Fund
Stay up to date with the latest opportunities
Monthly Funding and Opportunities Digest
The Social Sciences Research, Impact, and Engagement (RIE) Team curates and circulates the latest opportunities in an easy to read monthly newsletter. It primarily focuses on research, impact, and engagement funding suitable for researchers in the social sciences but also includes regular calls, annual competitions, prizes, and one-off funding schemes. Simply select your career stage and preferences when you subscribe to receive opportunities of most interest to you or visit the RIE SharePoint to browse all items.
Subscribe to the Funding and Opportunities Digest
Browse all open and upcoming opportunities on the RIE SharePoint
All the information in the Funding and Opportunities Digest is accessible anytime on our SharePoint site too, along with resources and guidance on how to apply. Don't forget, the RIE team are available to help with applications, advice and more details.
Explore the latest funding opportunities and guidance on our SharePoint
For bespoke funding opportunities, we also suggest logging on to Research Professional using your University email address, where you can set up your own, regularly updated, funding email alerts. Information on using Research Professional can be found here. We also advise you to subscribe to the mailing lists of key funders: Research England, UKRI, ESRC, Leverhulme Trust, and the British Academy.
Funding support
Support for researchers in the Social Sciences Division is provided locally in each department; from the Research, Impact and Engagement (RIE) team in the Division; and centrally in the Research Services Grants team:
Departmental support
All departments in the Social Sciences Division have staff providing support and guidance for researchers making a funding application. Researchers are advised to contact their department in the first instance to discuss their proposed application, develop the associated budget, and obtain departmental approval prior to submission.
Divisional support
Members of the Division's Research, Impact and Engagement (RIE) team specialise in providing guidance and support on various aspects of research funding. The RIE team also provides bespoke training, advice, and funding information seminars for departments, research centres and researchers at particular career stages. Please contact:
For planning of impact and non-academic engagement within your research design, contact:
University support
University central support teams provide specialist advice and guidance about research funding, application submission, contract negotiation and post-award management to departments and Principal Investigators through:
Before you apply
Please speak to your departmental research support team in the first instance. Each department may have an internal selection process for particular funding opportunities with a bespoke deadline. If you are considering applying through Oxford, please contact the appropriate department. Before you apply, consider...
- The funder: Every funder has its own aims for investing in research. Discuss your research design with your departmental research support staff to make sure it aligns with the funder's aims, in order to increase your chance of success.
- Eligibility: Many funding schemes have applicant eligibility criteria, so make sure you comply before you apply.
- Resources: Many funding schemes will have a defined envelope of funds available, and some will have rules about what this can be spent on. It is worth checking the resource implications for your research design.
- Research design: Make sure your research is designed to answer the questions/objectives of the research, and with sufficient resource to management for successful delivery.
- Career stage: Research funding can be used to develop and demonstrate your career trajectory, build a portfolio with credible levels of management for successful delivery.
- Reviewing the application: Every successful research application has been reviewed. This is useful both within your discipline to recognise any gaps in knowledge, but also outside of your discipline to ensure that you have made a coherent argument that a multi-disciplinary panel would appreciate.