Emails have been circulating this week about this so it may already be familiar, but ‘digital’ academics may be interested in this… The below is more or less the text of the emails I’ve seen.
The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) offer support to interdisciplinary research partnerships with the potential to create new knowledge and address major challenges for the development of the next generation of immersive experiences.Proposals are invited from interdisciplinary research partnerships in the areas of:
– Memory – how can new immersive experiences extend the access, interpretation and reach of memory-based institutions such as museum, galleries, archives and collections?
– Place – what new experiences can be created by the combination of immersive technology and place based services?
– Performance – what new creative practices are enabled by immersive technology, what new experiences can be offered to audiences and how can this transform or extend models of performance?
One of the primary aims of this call is to build interdisciplinary capabilities, collaborations, and partnership which will be well placed to take advantage of future opportunities for research and innovation (both from UKRI and beyond). As such AHRC expect partnerships funded through this call to have a life beyond the end of the funding period.
It is expected that the outputs from the funded projects and the wider cohort will include:
- Interdisciplinary partnerships including academic researchers and creative economy partners;
- The potential research questions within this space to have been further developed and refined;
- Sufficient proof of concept(s) / prototypes / visualisations to have been developed by researchers;
- Tangible advances in creativity, insights, knowledge and understanding in the area of immersive experiences across one or more of the themes;
- Working with AHRC, EPSRC, IUK and other funders to understand the complexities of funding research in the immersive experience space and potential barriers to exploitation and scaling up of research outputs.
All outcomes should ensure that the UK creative economy can be a world leader in the conceptualisation, design, production and distribution of commercial and cultural immersive experiences in the future.
This call represents an initial stage of investment in the next generation of immersive experiences. AHRC are currently scoping what form further stages of investment might be, and the outcomes of this call will help to inform these further stages.
The maximum value of applications at 100% FEC is £75,000; the deadline for submissions is 5 October 2017. For further details, see the AHRC website.
The Call Document (PDF, 239KB) provides further information on the context and aims for, and the scope of, the call as well as information on how to submit applications.
The AHRC are running a series of engagement events in early July 2017 to cover this call. Details of these events can be found here