New Knowledge Transfer Fellowship awards in the Creative Industries.

The Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and South West Regional Development Agency (SWRDA) are collaborating to support a number of exciting Knowledge Transfer Fellowship awards in the Creative Industries.

Ring-fenced funding is available to support cutting-edge projects which involve a KT Fellow working with the Creative Industries in the South West region.

The call, which will run alongside the May 2009 round of the standard KT Fellowship competition, will allow businesses in the Creative Industries sector in the South West to work with arts and humanities researchers based anywhere in the UK on a well-defined programme of knowledge exchange and benefit from the application of high-quality research in a practical context. It is expected to reap significant benefits for South West businesses, as well as providing an opportunity to raise the profile of the South West as a centre of excellence in areas where arts and humanities research is utilised by the Creative Industries, especially Digital and Pervasive Media.

As the call sits within the KT Fellowship scheme, all eligibility and assessment criteria and other guidance relating to the main scheme apply, however there are three additional criteria:

• Business partners must be based in the South West and operating within the Creative Industries sector.
• Proposals to the joint call may have a maximum Full Economic Cost of £125,000. Awards will be paid at 80% of the Full Economic Cost.
• Projects can last up to 12 months.

During the Fellowship the academic partner can be located at the partner organisation, or vice-versa the non-academic partner can spend time working within the host HEI or IRO. The jointly-funded call, worth £400k, is expected to fund around four to five projects.

The deadline for applications is 4pm on 14th May 2009. Applications must be submitted by the academic partner through the Research Councils’ joint electronic submission system (Je-S).

Further information on this joint initiative is available here.

The May 2009 round of the standard KT Fellowship scheme competition will not be affected by the additional pilot call.

The 6th round of the standard Knowledge Transfer Fellowship competition is still open for applications until 4pm on 14th May 2009.

The scheme is designed to support academics to undertake a programme of knowledge transfer activity in a flexible way.
KT Fellowship projects

• Should be planned around an existing piece of completed arts or humanities research
• Should last between 4 months and 3 years
• Must involve at least one non-academic project partner
• May involve the PI (KT Fellow) on either a full time or part time basis
• May involve a PI working alone or supported by an academic team
• Can work with project partners in a wide range of sectors e.g. business, heritage, film and media or public policy
• Must deliver tangible benefits to non-academic project partner/s (or the audiences served by the project partners) such as economic, cultural or social benefits

The first five rounds of the scheme have already resulted in a number of awards which are now underway: further information on these awards can be found on the AHRC website. The existing awards demonstrate the breadth of activity that can be supported through the scheme, with academics collaborating with a wide range of project partners.

Projects must utilise completed high-quality research within the arts and humanities subject domain. This does not necessarily need to have been funded by the AHRC. The Knowledge Transfer Fellowship scheme will not support individuals or teams to conduct research. For further information, guidance and contacts please visit the AHRC website.

Applications must be submitted via the Je-S system by 4pm on Thursday 14th May 2009.