This call invites submissions for projects of up to 6 months duration, to begin by 1 June 2022 and conclude by end of December 2022, and to report results by 31 January 2023. There will be opportunities to disseminate the results through Creative Informatics.
Timeline
25 April 2022 5pm: Deadline for submission
Early May 2022: Reviews and panel
23 May 2022: Aim to announce successful projects
Data and the Creative Industries
Is there a research project related to the creative sector you’d love to explore if you only had resources and support? Does it involve some kind of exploration or investigation into data or digital technologies?
Creative Informatics is launching an open competition for small research grants of around £5,000 aimed at academics and researchers at any stage of their career, including PhD students. Project Principal Investigators (who can be PhD students) must be based at either the University of Edinburgh or Edinburgh Napier University. Proposed projects or activities should explore innovative uses or applications of data or digital technologies in the creative and cultural sectors. We aim to fund at least 5 of these projects.
Creative Informatics is an AHRC funded research and development programme based in Edinburgh, which aims to bring the city’s world-class creative industries and tech sector together to explore the opportunities and challenges of data-driven innovation in the creative sector. Creative Informatics is delivered by the University of Edinburgh in partnership with Edinburgh Napier University, Codebase and Creative Edinburgh. The programme is funded by the AHRC Creative Economy Programme with support from the Scottish Funding Council. The programme is part of the City Region Deal Data Driven Innovation initiative.
The Call
This is an open call, and we aim to select a diverse portfolio of projects, however, we will especially encourage applications that address any of the following areas:
- Data and Creative Practice
- Creativity and Data Literacy
- Future of Work in the Creative Industries
- Beyond Economic Value in the Creative Industries
- Physical/Virtual/Hybrid Creative Practices and collaboration over distance
- Remote and Online Work in Creative Industries
- Augmented physical and virtual spaces
- Digital Platforms and Equality, Diversity & Inclusion in the Creative Industries
- Freelancing, Gig-Work and Platform Economies in the Creative Industries
- Sustainable Creative Practice through Data
- New Data-Driven Economies in the Creative Industries
- Futures of Digital Festivals and Online Performance
- FinTech, Fundraising and Digital Payments in Creative Industries
- Unlocking value from digitised heritage content
- IP ownership and human-machine coproduction
- Machine Learning, AI and Automation in the Creative Industries
Examples of successfully funded projects from previous rounds of this call can be found here:
To support dissemination of the research and developing a wider Creative Informatics research community, we will ask successful projects to provide a short report and blog post detailing their activities and outcomes by 31 January 2023. We will invite all the projects to engage with the research team through drop-in sessions while the projects are taking place, and to take part in a Creative Informatics event to share their research outcomes in early 2023.
Eligible Costs and Support
This funding is intended to cover the direct project costs of the proposal, and the costs should be clearly attributable to the project activities. Eligible costs may include:
- Staff costs (see below)
- Research assistance
- Developing pilot projects
- Art or research interventions
- Workshops, meetings, events or exhibitions (where possible)
- Resources and materials including software licences to support your research
- Participant compensation
- External partners to support your research (e.g., transcription, design work, software development)
- Training or development necessary for the proposed project
- Travel / dissemination activities (where possible)
Staff costs from the University of Edinburgh, or Edinburgh Napier University should not include institutional overheads or indirect costs, or any element that should properly be ascribed to institutional overheads. You should liaise with your relevant research office to ensure staff time is appropriately costed. In-kind contributions are not required for these proposals, however where additional support from other organisations is committed, please describe this in the application form.
*Updated Guidance Around Covid-19*
The landscape of what research we can safely and ethically do now, and indeed the value of that research, has changed quite rapidly as a result of COVID-19. As far as possible, we therefore ask applicants to be responsible and take into account the feasibility of any proposed research activities during this time. You should take note of any limitations to travel, face-to-face contact, and any changes to your local university ethics policies that are in place. There is still a great deal of uncertainty here, and we ask you to consider in your application form any contingency plans for conducting your research under restricted circumstances. Please check with your own Research Office for latest guidance.
For some initial examples of possible alternatives to face-to-face research please see here.
Application and Selection Process
Applications are open now and close at 5pm on Monday 25 April 2022. Application forms should be completed online here.
A sample pdf application form can be downloaded here.
Applications will be reviewed and scored by an interdisciplinary panel of Creative Informatics researchers, supported by the wider Creative Informatics team. We aim to fund at least 5 projects of up to 6 months duration. We aim to notify applicants by early to mid-May 2022. Projects must begin by 1 June 2022 at the latest, and conclude by 31 December 2022.
We are looking for interdisciplinary research questions that challenge existing theoretical and methodological paradigms, and have potential economic, social or cultural impact (or all of these) for the creative industries in the Edinburgh and South East Scotland Region. Applications should bear in mind ethical approaches to research, abiding by host university regulations and procedures, and Creative Informatics own ethical guidelines for funded projects available here.
Projects will be judged on:
- Clearly identified aims and objectives
- Academic rigour and appropriateness of methodology
- Novelty of the research questions and relevance of the project and relation to the Creative Informatics core research themes
- Clear definitions of how the research will engage and could benefit others in the creative sector
- Appropriate budgeting for the activities described in the proposal
- Compliance with ethical guidelines for funded Creative Informatics projects (see above)
- Feasibility under restricted circumstances related to COVID-19
This call is led by Creative Informatics’ Research Associates, Vikki Jones and Caitlin McDonald, who can additionally provide support to successful projects to forge connections with academic and creative partners.
Eligibility and Award Conditions
This call will open on 1 February 2022 to researchers at the University of Edinburgh and Edinburgh Napier University, with a submission deadline of 5pm on 25 April 2022.
Specifically, principal applicants should:
- Be currently employed at the University of Edinburgh or Edinburgh Napier University
- Be a researcher or research academic
- Or a PhD student with the approval of their supervisor
Costs for collaborations from other organisations are also eligible. Applicants should also notify and provide details of their relevant research office, and have applications signed off by an appropriate line manager or academic supervisor.
Funds should be spent by the end of December 2022. Successful projects will be asked to provide a brief report and documentation of their research project by 31 January 2023 and to participate in a subsequent research event taking place in Edinburgh, or online, to disseminate their research.
For further information about this call, please contact:
For research enquiries: Vikki Jones or Caitlin McDonald
For queries on the application process: creativeinformatics@ed.ac.uk