Artificial intelligence humanities sandpits: Canada, UK and US

Artificial intelligence humanities sandpits: Canada, UK and US is sponsored by Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) / UKRI. AHRC and SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada) invite expressions of interest to attend a humanities-led, interdisciplinary research sandpit putting humanities insights and methodologies at the heart of artificial intelligence (AI) tech design.

Artificial intelligence humanities sandpits: Canada, UK and US invite only – UKRI Funding opportunity: Artificial intelligence humanities sandpits: Canada, UK and US invite only Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) , Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada 5 May 2026 9:00am UK time 28 May 2026 4:00pm UK time Last updated: 3 June 2026 - see all updates You must have been invited to apply for this opportunity.

You must be based at a UK, Canadian or US research organisation eligible for funding. You must have attended the sandpit in Montreal in February 2026 to be a project lead (PL) for this opportunity. Apply for funding to put humanities insights and methodologies at the heart of artificial intelligence tech design.

We will fund up to five grants. A total of £780,000 is available for UK-based teams. CAD$1,000,000 is available for Canada-based teams.

US-based team members can be funded from the UK or Canada budgets. Your project must begin before the 1 October 2026 and end before 30 April 2028. You can only apply for this funding opportunity if we have invited you to do so following attendance at the February 2026 workshop in Montreal.

This opportunity is open to organisations with standard eligibility, and organisations who are based overseas. Check if your organisation is eligible . Researchers based at a UK, Canadian or US research organisation eligible for funding from Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) or Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Researchers who have attended the February 2026 workshop in Montreal International researchers As AHRC is a lead funder for this opportunity, international researchers can apply as project co-lead (international) (PcL (I)). You should include all other international collaborators (or UK partners not based at approved organisations) as project partners.

Any Canadian PcL (I) must be affiliated with a Canadian postsecondary institution that holds institutional eligibility at SSHRC. Canadian PcL (I) must also comply with the Regulations Governing Grant Applications , the regulations set out in the Tri-agency Guide on Financial Administration , and the Policy on Sensitive Technology Research and Affiliations of Concern .

Equality, diversity and inclusion We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers. We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances.

This includes: support for people with caring responsibilities alternative working patterns UKRI can offer disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders during the application and assessment process. All research must involve meaningful collaboration between humanities or arts scholars and technical artificial intelligence (AI) researchers.

Projects should demonstrate clear potential to: develop functioning prototypes that show measurable improvements in AI systems’ interpretive capabilities integrate humanities or arts methodologies into technical design pipelines, showing direct influence on system design contribute to an open ecosystem of tools, resources and technical components for interpretive AI Generate transdisciplinary insights and approaches that advance the field of interpretive AI advance understanding and knowledge of individuals, groups and societies, what we think, how we live, and how we interact with each other and the world around us While we do not expect to fundamentally redesign AI systems in a single project, or group of projects, these initiatives will help lay the groundwork for longer-term innovation.

Funded projects must produce one or more of the following: novel evaluation frameworks and benchmarks that assess interpretive depth (for example, cultural sensitivity, contextual awareness, perspectival reasoning) adapted training or fine-tuning approaches that enable systems to represent multiple perspectives, cultural contexts or interpretive pluralities modular representation methods built on existing architectures (for example, context-aware layers, ambiguity-handling mechanisms, plurality-preserving outputs) integration of humanities methodologies into technical design pipelines (for example, hermeneutic, aesthetic or narrative reasoning used to create new models, system components or benchmarks) computational approaches that operationalise humanities concepts/methods into implementable technical components In applications, we must see: consideration of relevance to the sandpit’s key challenges consideration of activity feasibility and scale examples of potential real-world use cases Applications will need to make clear their planned outputs, how these will lead to the expected outcomes and the impacts these may generate.

Project teams are expected to consist primarily of sandpit participants. Additional members who did not attend (for example, PhD students, research assistants, technicians, industry partners) may be included, but their involvement must be clearly justified. Proposals should explain the specific skills or expertise these individuals contribute, and why these capabilities were not available within the sandpit cohort.

The duration of this award is 18 months. Projects must commence on, or before, 1 October 2026 and must be completed by March 2028 at the latest. Funding available (UK-based Team Members) The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £156,250.

Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) will fund 80% of the FEC (£125,000). Funding available (Canada-based Team Members) A maximum of CAD$200,000 is available per project. Funding available (US-based Team Members) Funding for US-based team members will be drawn from the UK and Canada budgets.

Specifics relating to costs/how funding is spent Staff costs for Canadian team members are not included in the grant amount, as salary costs are covered elsewhere. According to Canada’s Tri-agency Guide on Financial Administration , Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) grant funds must not be used to pay compensation to applicant team members.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.

As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks. See further guidance and information about TR&I , including where you can find additional support.

We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service, so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system. The UK-based project lead is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.

Only the lead UK research organisation can submit an application to UKRI. This funding opportunity is by invitation only. When received, please click on the invitation link to start your application.

Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page: Confirm you are the project lead. Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers.

If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page. Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.

Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing. Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.

Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

When including images, you must: provide a descriptive caption or legend for each image immediately underneath it in the text box (this must be outside the image and counts towards your word limit) insert each new image on a new line use files smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words.

The following are not permitted, and your application may be rejected if you include: sentences or paragraphs of text excessive quantities of images A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column.

For more guidance on the Funding Service, see: how applicants use the Funding Service how research offices use the Funding Service how reviewers use the Funding Service References should be included within the word count of the appropriate question section. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application. Hyperlinks can be used in reference information.

When including references, you should consider how your references will be viewed and used by the assessors, ensuring that: references are easily identifiable by the assessors references are formatted as appropriate to your research persistent identifiers are used where possible General use of hyperlinks Applications should be self-contained. You should only use hyperlinks to link directly to reference information.

You must not include links to web resources to extend your application. Assessors are not required to access links to conduct assessment or recommend a funding decision. Generative artificial intelligence (AI) Use of generative AI tools to prepare funding applications is permitted, however, caution should be applied.

For more information see our policy on the use of generative AI in application and assessment . Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) must receive your application by 28 May 2026 at 4:00pm UK time. You will not be able to apply after this time.

Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines. Following the submission of your application to this funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and submitted applications will not be amended. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.

AHRC, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications. We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice .

AHRC, as part of UKRI, will need to share the application and any personal information that it contains with Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), so that they can participate in the assessment process. See more information on how SSHRC uses personal information . If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email international@ahrc.

ukri. org Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].

Typical examples of confidential information include: individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave) additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection the application is an invited resubmission For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read UKRI’s privacy notice .

Institutional Matched Funding There is no requirement for matched funding from the institutions hosting the project lead, project co-leads or other staff employed on the application, beyond the standard 20% full economic cost (FEC). Expert reviewers and panels assessing UKRI funding applications must not consider levels of institutional matched funding as a factor on which to base recommendations.

Direct and in-kind contributions from third party project partners are encouraged. This policy does not remove the need for support from host organisations who must provide the necessary research environment and infrastructure for award-specific activities funded by UKRI. For example, research facilities, training and development of staff.

If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research . In plain English, provide a summary of your proposed research project. We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information.

Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example: the wider research community Guidance for writing a summary Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of: the challenge the project addresses potential applications and benefits List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following: project co-lead (UK) (PcL) project co-lead (international) (PcL (I)) professional enabling staff research and innovation associate Only list one individual as project lead.

Only UK-based applicants can be listed as project lead (PL).

Canada-based and US-based applicants: must be listed as project co-lead (international) (PcL (I)), where they are co-leading the proposals alongside the UK-based researcher(s) due to the design of the submission system all project leads and co-leads are considered to have equal responsibility for the design, implementation and overall leadership of the project can use all other categories listed above for team members who do not have leadership responsibility within the project team UKRI has introduced a new addition to the ‘Specialist’ role type.

Public contributors such as people with lived experience can now be added to an application. Find out more about UKRI’s core team roles in funding applications . Discipline classification – primary Please provide the primary discipline classification of your proposal.

This information will be used for the purposes of processing your proposal and in the selection of appropriate assessors.

What the assessors are looking for in your response You must select from one of these research disciplines: cultural and museum studies drama and theatre studies information and communication technologies library and information studies political science and international studies theology, divinity, and religion Discipline classification – secondary Please describe, using keywords, the research area of your proposal and where relevant the approach, time period or geographical area.

This will further help with the selection of appropriate assessors. What are you hoping to achieve with your proposed work? In which ‘real world’ scenarios could your work make a positive impact, and how would it improve on existing AI tools/services in this area?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Explain how your proposed work: is of excellent quality with clear relevance and potential to make a distinctive and novel contribution to addressing the research challenges linked to interpretive technologies demonstrates genuine and mutual enrichment between technical and humanistic methods, where technical innovation both draws from and challenges interpretive frameworks clearly articulates the potential benefits to society, environment, or economy is timely given current trends, context, and needs References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service. How are you going to deliver your proposed work?

What is the added value of working with international partners?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Explain how you have designed your approach so that: the intended outputs of the project are ambitious but realistic within the timeframe and funding available through the opportunity it is effective and appropriate to achieve your objectives it comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed it uses a clearly written and transparent methodology (if applicable) it summarises the previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed (if applicable) it will maximise translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts it describes how your, and if applicable your team’s, research environment (in terms of the place and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work References may be included within this section.

You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant. Further details are provided in the Funding Service. Applicant and team capability to deliver Why are you the right team to successfully deliver the proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Evidence of how you, and if relevant your team, have: ensured at least one UK-based and one Canada-based Project co-Lead (PL) ensured a balanced mix of skills/expertise across Humanities/Arts and technical disciplines and that the team has the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work clearly defined the roles and responsibilities of all members of the team, including those of users or stakeholders, in both research and impact activities balanced responsibilities for work packages/deliverables/outputs across team members from each country included team members from multiple career stages and provided genuine opportunities for growth and learning for ECRs the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others contributed to developing a positive research environment and wider community You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

Further details are provided in the Funding Service. The word limit for this section is 1,650 words: 1,150 words to be used for Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) modules (including references) and, if necessary, a further 500 words for Additions.

Use the R4RI format to showcase the range of relevant skills you and, if relevant, your team (project and project co-leads, researchers, technicians, specialists, partners and so on) have and how this will help deliver the proposed work. You can include individuals’ specific achievements but only choose past contributions that best evidence their ability to deliver this work. Complete this section using the R4RI module headings listed.

Use each heading once and include a response for the whole team, see the UKRI guidance on R4RI .

You should consider how to balance your answer, and emphasise where appropriate the key skills each team member brings: contributions to the generation of new ideas, tools, methodologies, or knowledge the development of others and maintenance of effective working relationships contributions to the wider research and innovation community contributions to broader research or innovation users and audiences and towards wider societal benefit Provide any further details relevant to your application.

This section is optional and can be up to 500 words. You should not use it to describe additional skills, experiences, or outputs, but you can use it to describe any factors that provide context for the rest of your R4RI (for example, details of career breaks if you wish to disclose them). Complete this as a narrative.

Do not format it like a CV. References may be included within this section. The roles in funding applications policy has descriptions of the different project roles.

Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI) What are the ethical and RRI considerations, implications and issues relating to the proposed work? If you do not think that the proposed work raises any ethical or RRI issues, explain why.

What the assessors are looking for in your response Demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated: the relevant ethical and RRI considerations, including both the research or topic area itself and the design and delivery of the project the wider implications of the proposed work, and how you will maximise the positive societal, environmental, and economic benefits arising from the project, while minimising unintended negative impacts, such as research misuse or accidental harm how you will manage these considerations throughout the lifecycle of the project If you are collecting or using data you should identify: any legal and ethical considerations of collecting, releasing and storing the data (including consent, confidentiality, anonymisation, security and other ethical considerations and, in particular, strategies to not preclude further reuse of data) formal information standards that your proposed work will comply with You may demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.

Further details are provided in the Funding Service. Please refer to the UKRI position statement on funding ethical research and Responsible innovation for more information around our expectations on ethical and responsible research and innovation . Resources and cost justification What will you need to deliver your proposed work, and how much will it cost?

You will need to upload a copy of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) budget form (which is in the ‘supporting documents’ in the ‘Additional information ’ section). US team members to be funded via the UK budget should only be included in the UK costings. Those to be funded from the Canadian budget should only be included in the SSHRC Budget form.

US team members should only appear once in either the UK or Canada budgets. Due to the application system design, all Canada-based and US-based individuals listed in the ‘Core Team’ section will appear in the UK budget section. Please enter £0 against each Canada-based applicant and any US-based applicants to be funded via the Canadian budget.

US-based applicants to be funded via the UK budget should be fully costed in the budget section.

What the assessors are looking for in your response that the level of resource(s) requested are appropriate and proportionate to the scale and complexity of the activity to be undertaken details of any resources requested to support co-creation with users details of resources allocated to engaging with the cohort of projects funded through this opportunity Justify the application’s more costly resources, in particular: significant travel for field work or collaboration (but not regular travel between collaborating organisations or to conferences) any equipment that will cost more than £25,000 any consumables beyond typical requirements, or that are required in exceptional quantities all facilities and infrastructure costs all resources that have been costed as ‘Exceptions’ You can request costs associated with reasonable adjustments where they increase as a direct result of working on the project.

For further information see Disability and accessibility support for UKRI applicants and grant holders . Assessors are not looking for detailed costs or a line-by-line breakdown of all project resources.

Overall, they want you to demonstrate how the resources you anticipate needing for your proposed work: are comprehensive, appropriate, and justified represent the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes maximise potential outcomes and impacts Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) budget form Please complete and include a copy of the SSHRC budget form with your application (XLSX, 28KB) .

The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply. Add details about any project partners’ contributions. If there are no project partners, you can indicate this on the Funding Service.

A project partner is a collaborating organisation who will have an integral role in the proposed research. This may include direct contributions for example cash, donated equipment and resources, or staff seconded to the project, or indirect and in-kind contributions for example use of project partner’s equipment, datasets, or facilities.

Project partners may be in industry, academia, third sector or government organisations in the UK or overseas, including partners based in the EU.

Add the following project partner details: the organisation name and address (searchable via a drop-down list or enter the organisation’s details manually, as applicable) the project partner contact name and email address the type of contribution (direct or indirect) and its monetary value If a detail is entered incorrectly and you have saved the entry, remove the specific project partner record and re-add it with the correct information.

For audit purposes, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made. Project partners: letters (or emails) of support Upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the project partners section. These should be uploaded in English or Welsh only.

What the assessors are looking for in your response Enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box, or if you do not have any project partners enter ‘N/A’.

Each letter or email you provide should: confirm the partner’s commitment to the project clearly explain the value, relevance, and possible benefits of the work to them describe any additional value that they bring to the project have a page limit of two sides A4 per partner The Funding Service will provide document upload details when you apply.

If you do not have any project partners, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service. Ensure you have prior agreement from project partners so that, if you are offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the project partners section. For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

Data management and sharing How will you manage and share data collected or acquired through the proposed research? What the assessors are looking for in your response Provide a data management plan that clearly details how you will comply with UKRI’s published data sharing policy , which includes detailed guidance notes.

Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) Does your proposed work relate to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s Trusted Research and Innovation principles?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Demonstrate how your proposed work relates to UKRI’s Trusted Research and Innovation principles including: list any dual-use (both military and non-military) applications to your research if this project is relevant to one or more of the 17 areas of the UK National Security and Investment (NSI) Act , please list the area(s) please read the academic export control guidance and confirm if an export control licence is required for this project and the status of any application(s) if your project involves any items or substances on the UK strategic export control list, please provide a list We may ask you to provide additional TR&I information later, in line with UKRI TR&I principles and funding terms and conditions (RGC 2.

6. 2, 2. 7.

1 and 2. 7. 2).

International collaboration Does the proposed work involve any international collaboration or engagement?

What the assessors are looking for in your response Provide details about your expected international collaboration or engagement, including: a list of the countries your international project co-leads, project partners, visiting researchers, or other collaborators are based in details of any subcontractors or service providers If your proposed work does not involve international collaboration or engagement, you will be able to indicate this in the Funding Service.

How we will assess your application We will assess your application using the following process. The Sandpit Director and Mentors will constitute the assessment panel. The panel will be chaired by an independent academic (not present at the sandpit).

For more information on how we prioritise applications for funding please visit How we make decisions . We aim to complete the assessment process within 2 months of receiving your application. We support the San Francisco declaration on research assessment and recognise the relationship between research assessment and research integrity.

Find out about the UKRI principles of assessment and decision-making . Using generative artificial intelligence (AI) in expert review Reviewers and panellists are not permitted to use generative AI tools to develop their assessment, including to correct language, spelling, grammar and formatting.

Using these tools can potentially compromise the confidentiality of the ideas that applicants have entrusted to UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to safeguard. For more detail see our policy on the use of generative AI .

Sharing data with co-funders We will need to share the application (including any personal information that it contains) with Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), so that they can participate in the assessment process. See more information on how SSHRC uses personal information . We reserve the right to modify the assessment process as needed.

The assessment areas we will use are: Applicant and team capability to deliver Ethics and responsible research and innovation Resources and cost justification Data management and sharing Trusted research and innovation Find details of assessment questions and criteria under the ‘Application questions’ heading in the ‘How to apply’ section.

Get help with your application If you have a question and the answers aren’t provided on this page. The helpdesk is committed to helping users of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service as effectively and as quickly as possible. In order to manage cases at peak volume times, the helpdesk will triage and prioritise those queries with an imminent opportunity deadline or a technical issue.

Enquiries raised where information is available on the Funding finder opportunity page and should be understood early in the application process (for example, regarding eligibility, content or remit of a funding opportunity) will not constitute a priority case and will be addressed as soon as possible.

For help and advice on costings and writing your application please contact your research office in the first instance, allowing sufficient time for your organisation’s submission process. For questions related to this specific funding opportunity please contact international@ahrc. ukri.

org For queries related to Canadian costs, eligibility or process please contact partnerships@sshrc-crsh. gc. ca Any queries regarding the system or the submission of applications through the Funding Service should be directed to the helpdesk.

Email: support@funding-service. ukri. org Our phone lines are open: Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm To help us process queries more efficiently, we request that users highlight the council and opportunity name in the subject title of their email query, include the application reference number, and refrain from contacting more than one mailbox at a time.

For further information on submitting an application read How applicants use the Funding Service . This opportunity builds on the Doing AI Differently white paper , specifically the Interpretive Technologies challenge.

Research and innovation impact Impact can be defined as the long-term intended or unintended effect research and innovation has on society, economy and the environment; to individuals, organisations, and the wider global population. Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) budget form (XLSX, 28KB) Updated 'To apply' section under 'How to apply'.

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