Three AHRC Responsive Mode schemes (Standard Research Grants, Catalyst Awards and Curiosity Awards) will be moving into an ‘always open’ format. This means that there will not be a deadline for applications and applicants can apply at any point.
This change has already been applied to Standard Research Grants and will be applied to what would have been round seven of the Catalyst and Curiosity Awards (round six closes 30 January 2025).
Changes have also been made to how Responsive Mode applications will be assessed.
Applications that receive an average review score of 4.5 or below across the three sets of reviewers’ comments will be sifted out before the applicant response stage and will not proceed to panel. The only exception to this is if an application receives an average review score of 4.5 or below but has two out of three review scores averaging 5.5 or above (for example, two scores of 6, 6 or 6, 5). In this case, the application will proceed to panel, and the applicant will be given the opportunity to respond.
This rule may be applied to additional AHRC opportunities in the future – however, this will be done on a case-by-case basis and details will be included within the UKRI Funding Finder text for specific calls.
AHRC’s research funding guide will also be updated to clarify this process.