Funding opportunity

Funding opportunity: XRtists: supporting the implementation of immersive technologies

Apply for funding to lead a consortium to deliver a new three-year creative research and development innovation programme, XRtists.

You will support the adoption and implementation of creative immersive technologies within the arts and culture sector across the UK.

The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £6,000,000. AHRC will fund:

  • non-exceptional costs at 80% FEC
  • exceptions (including devolved funding) at 100% FEC

The maximum duration is three years.

Projects must start on 1 February 2024.

This funding opportunity is being administered by AHRC on behalf of all the funding partners.

See the Welsh translation of the funding opportunity information under ‘Additional info’ section.

Webinars will be hosted on 25 May 2023 and 6 June 2023. Webinar registration details can be found under the ‘Additional info’ section.

Who can apply

Before applying for funding, check the following:

Who is eligible to apply

We are looking for applications from a consortium of organisations who, collectively, can deliver the activities, outputs and outcomes required for the XRtists programme.

Applications must be led by an organisation eligible to receive UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) funding (the lead hub). Consortia must have an on the ground presence in all four UK nations, including partners based in at least two different regions of England.

Consortia

As a minimum consortia must include five partners from across the UK. This will support one hub and a minimum of four regionally dispersed partners which must include:

  • two partners based in England, at least one of which must be outside of London
  • one partner based in Northern Ireland
  • one partner based in Scotland
  • one partner based in Wales

Consortia may include more partners, including a mix of partners from cultural organisations and the commercial sector as well as research organisations. The number and combination of these partners will be determined by consortia based on their ability to support the delivery of XRtists objectives and activities.

Consortium partners from cultural organisations and the commercial sector that contribute to the delivery of XRtists activities can receive funds from the consortium lead hub organisation to cover their involvement.

You can only apply once to be a lead hub organisation but may be named as a partner on multiple other applications.

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:

  • career breaks
  • support for people with caring responsibilities
  • flexible working
  • alternative working patterns

Find out more about equality, diversity and inclusion at UKRI.

What we're looking for

Scope

AHRC and all four UK national arts development bodies want to commission a consortium to develop and deliver a new three-year creative research and development innovation programme, XRtists. This builds on the learning and successes of the CreativeXR, and Creative Industries Clusters programmes.

The programme will support the adoption and implementation of creative immersive technologies, and where appropriate other new technologies with the potential to influence the development of creative practice within the arts and culture sector across the UK.

The consortium will draw together partners with relevant knowledge and expertise from across cultural organisations, the commercial sector and research organisations. The consortium will deliver the programme in accordance with the objectives and targets required by the funding partners.

Objectives

The objectives are to:

  • support the arts and culture sector in the UK to develop skills and knowledge in immersive content and experience development, production and distribution
  • develop a pipeline of funding opportunities to support organisations and individuals at different scales and readiness
  • support the presentation and distribution of new immersive innovations enabled by XRtists via an annual industry showcase, championing and celebrating projects which derive from the programme
  • support knowledge exchange and mentoring in immersive production and distribution between the academic, creative industries and arts and culture sectors
  • support collaboration and ecology building across all regions of the UK in order to strengthen the UK’s creative immersive industries
  • undertake research and mapping which will support the growth of the UK arts and culture sector and the creative immersive industries in the long term
  • develop a programme brand and identity for XRtists that is widely understood and well regarded, nationally and internationally
  • proactively champion and enable diversity and equality of opportunities to participate in the making and enjoyment of creative immersive productions by people of all backgrounds and across all areas of the UK

What will the successful consortium be expected to deliver

The successful consortium will deliver four primary strands of activity to enable the objectives to be realised across the UK:

  • run devolved funding programmes (minimum 60% of total budget)
  • provide training and skills development for individuals and cultural or creative organisations
  • undertake research
  • organise an annual industry showcase

Consortia should also propose additional activities and engagement strategies to support the realisation of objectives not covered within the four strands, such as:

  • ecology building
  • convening networks
  • developing a brand identity which is meaningful for the sector.

Devolved funding

The consortium will utilise a minimum of 60% (£3.6 million) of the total award budget to develop and run devolved funding programmes over the three years of the award. The devolved funding will provide approximately 200 to 250 awards in total, supporting three levels of applicants:

  • entry-level: these awards are expected to range from £5,000 to £10,000. The awards aim to support small-scale research and development projects for organisations and individuals with limited prior experience of immersive technologies to test ideas or proofs of concept which could potentially result in applications for prototype funding
  • prototype: these awards are expected to be in the range of £20,000 to 25,000. The prototype awards will be expected to push the boundaries of creative immersive production. Some awards might assist small-scale research and development projects to make the transition to full-scale prototypes. To support prototype development the consortium should provide access to mentors, workshops and facilities in addition to funding for production
  • follow-on funding: these awards are expected to be in the range of £50,000 with the aim of enabling a small number of the successful prototypes to continue development. This funding will support audience-facing projects to become market-ready and sustainable in the longer term

We realise that 200 to 250 is a large number of devolved projects, but some basic modelling is provided as an example as how this may run from year to year.

Devolved funding basic modelling
Year one Year two Year three
  • 40 entry level awards
  • 27 prototype awards
  • 45 entry level awards
  • 27 prototype awards
  • 7 follow-on awards
  • 45 entry level awards
  • 27 prototype awards
  • 7 follow-on awards

Any partners who form part of the successful consortium will be ineligible to apply for devolved funding.

The successful consortium will be expected to clearly demonstrate how they will ensure that the opportunities of the programme are widely available, and the benefits are spread across the four nations of the UK.

The successful consortium will work with the funding partners to ensure that the devolved funding meets the necessary terms and conditions of the overall award. Consortia will need to consider how the devolved funding will be allocated via an appropriate review and assessment process.

The allocation of the devolved funds must be fair and transparent and within the framework of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) principles of assessment and decision making.

Training and skills development

The consortium will need to offer a package of skills development and provide entry-level or introductory training programmes. This will give organisations and individuals from across the UK with limited prior experience of XR production access to facilities, expertise and mentoring.

The consortium should consider:

  • how participants can be supported to apply for the entry level awards at the end of the training where this is appropriate
  • how programme beneficiaries could progress from entry level funding to prototype and follow-on funding in later stages

Research

The consortium will undertake research and mapping which will support the adoption and implementation of creative immersive technologies within the arts and culture sector across the UK.

The consortium is expected to engage stakeholders from the UK arts and culture sector and the creative immersive industries to establish the research priorities.

Examples of research areas which could be explored include (not exhaustive):

  • how creative immersive projects are brought to market and distributed to benefit audiences
  • the audience experience of and engagement with creative immersive projects
  • business and funding models for creative immersive projects
  • how the nature of productions and performances changes in response to technology use
  • workforce skills and training

Annual industry showcase

The consortium will develop and run an annual industry showcase. The aim of the showcase will be to create a national and international profile for the XRtists programme and its outputs and to attract distribution opportunities and onward investment. The showcase does not need to be held in the same location each year, it can change location to reflect the geographic diversity of the programme.

Duration

The duration of this award is 36 months.

Projects must start by 1 February 2024.

Funding available

The funding partners have allocated £6 million for this funding opportunity at FEC.

The devolved funding activity will account for a minimum of 60% of total budget and should be costed at 100% FEC. Other (non-exceptions) costs should be costed at 80% FEC in line with standard UKRI terms and conditions.

Consortia will be expected to ringfence a minimum 60% of the total award (£3.6 million) for distribution via devolved funding. The devolved funding budget should be approximately distributed as follows:

  • entry level: 30%
  • prototype: 50%
  • follow-on: 20%
Example of the total funding breakdown and devolved funding
Item Percentage of award
Consortium funding to be disbursed via devolved funding activities:

  • entry level awards (£5,000 to £10,000 each)
  • prototype awards (£20,000 each)
  • follow-on awards (£50,000 each)
  • 145 entry level awards
  • 75 prototype awards
  • 14 follow-on awards

£3.6m at 100% FEC

60%
Allocation for consortium support activities:

  • staff costs, admin and overheads
  • programme specific website
  • consortium developed training for creative practitioners, industry reps and academics
  • research undertaken by the consortium
  • event costs, including organising annual showcase
£2.4m at 100% FEC (including the additional standard research organisation contribution of 20% required for all non-exception costs) 40%

Management

The consortium will need to demonstrate a strong management plan and operational structures to deliver a programme of this scale. In building the consortium team, you are encouraged to consider the range of capabilities you will need to deliver the objectives and activities.

This could include:

  • leadership of the hub (director role and co-directors if appropriate)
  • the role of partner organisations
  • programme management and administration
  • communications and engagement (including with funders, devolved awards, and the wider landscape of stakeholders and potential programme beneficiaries)
  • supporting potential business development opportunities which may be created
  • performance monitoring and reporting

You may draw upon existing resources, either within a research organisation or partner organisation in building your teams.

Governance

The funding partners will convene a funders forum to provide oversight of the programme and ensure the consortium is supported in its activities. The consortium lead will be expected to engage with this group and attend forum meetings where required. The funding partners will also work with the successful consortium to convene an advisory group which will include independent representation from sector leaders, creative and cultural practitioners and academics.

The successful consortium must ensure they have robust governance structures in place to which all partners show a commitment. The governance mechanisms (for example steering or management groups, or both) should be appropriate to support the successful delivery of the programme, both strategically and operationally, without being overly burdensome.

Consortia will be required to provide the funders with regular updates and reporting, with key performance indicators and metrics to be agreed post-award.

Performance monitoring and evaluation

Consortia should ensure that performance monitoring of the consortium’s activities, outputs and impacts is well-considered from the outset in order to effectively track the contribution and impacts across the cultural and creative sector. Consortia will be required to provide the funders with regular updates and reports, with key performance indicators and metrics to be agreed post-award.

The funding partners will commission an external evaluation of the programme and the successful consortium will be expected to engage with the evaluator and their processes, including the provision of relevant data, as required.

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)

The consortium must demonstrate a commitment to building an inclusive activity programme and a leadership and management team that reflects the diversity of the UK and that addresses current inequalities of opportunity.

You must ensure that proactive EDI measures are built into the structure of the consortium and its activities at a fundamental level. This commitment to promoting EDI should include the design and delivery of the devolved funding, training and events activities run by the consortium.

Please note that proactively championing and enabling diversity and equality of opportunities to participate in the making and enjoyment of creative immersive productions is a core objective of the programme.

Sustainability

The consortium should demonstrate how they will approach issues of environmental sustainability within their activities and will take a proactive approach to reducing their environmental impact and carbon footprint.

The XRtists programme should aspire to play a leadership role in the development of best practice in relation to sustainable design and development processes within creative immersive projects. The consortium should also encourage a proactive approach from the recipients of the devolved funding.

Supporting skills and talent

We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.

How to apply

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service

We are running the funding opportunity on the new UKRI Funding Service. You cannot apply for this funding opportunity on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.

If you do not already have an account with the UKRI Funding Service, you will be able to create one by selecting the ‘start application’ button at the start of this page. Creating an account is a two-minute process requiring you to verify your email address and set a password.

If you are a member of an organisation with a research office that we do not have contact details for, we will contact them to enable administrator access. This provides:

  • oversight of every UKRI Funding Service application opened on behalf of your organisation
  • the ability to review and submit applications

Research offices that have not already received an invitation to open an account should email support@funding-service.ukri.org

Submitting your application

Applications should be prepared and submitted by the lead research organisation but should be co-created with input from all investigators, and project partners, and should represent the proposed work of the entire consortia.

To apply:

  1. Select the ‘Start application’ button at the start of this page.
  2. This will open the ‘Sign in’ page of UKRI’s Funding Service. If you do not already have an account, you’ll be able to create one. This is a two-minute process requiring you to verify your email address and set a password.
  3. Start answering the questions detailed in this section of ‘How to apply’. You can save your work and come back to it later. You can also work ‘offline’, copying and pasting into the text boxes provided for your answers.
  4. Once complete, use the service to send your application to your research office for review. They’ll check it and return it to you if it needs editing.
  5. Once happy, your research office will submit it to UKRI for assessment. Only they can do this.

As citations can be integral to a case for support, you should balance their inclusion and the benefit they provide against the inclusion of other parts of your answer to each question. Bear in mind that citations, associated reference lists or bibliographies, or both, contribute to, and are included in, the word count of the relevant section.

Deadline

AHRC must receive your application by 13 July 2023 at 4:00pm UK time.

You will not be able to apply after this time.

You should ensure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines that may be in place.

General text on processing personal data

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 co-funders so that they can participate in the assessment process. For more information on how co-funders use personal information, please visit their websites:

General text on outcomes publication

AHRC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at: board and panel outcomes – AHRC.

If your application is successful, some personal information will be published via the UKRI Gateway to Research.

UKRI Funding Service: section guidance

Summary

In plain English, provide a summary that can be sent to potential reviewers to determine if your proposal is within their field of expertise.

This summary may be made publicly available on external facing websites, so please ensure it can be understood by a variety of readers, for example:

  • opinion-formers
  • policymakers
  • the general public
  • the wider research community
Guidance for writing a summary

Succinctly describe your proposed work in terms of:

  • its context
  • the challenge the project addresses and how it will be applied to this
  • its aims and objectives
  • its potential applications and benefits

Word count: 500

Applicants

List the key members of your team and assign them roles, for example:

  • principal investigator
  • business partner
  • co-investigator
  • researcher
  • technician

You should only list one individual as principal investigator.

Section: Approach

Question: how are you going to deliver your proposed work?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Explain how you have designed your approach so that it:

  • is effective and appropriate to achieve your objectives
  • is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed
  • will ensure a coherent programme of activities across the four delivery strands
  • will contribute to the development of creative immersive practice across the UK
  • will proactively champion diversity and provide fair and equal opportunities to creative and cultural organisations across the UK
  • if applicable, uses a clear and transparent methodology
  • summarises any previous work and describes how this will be built upon and progressed
  • will maximise translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts
  • describes how your team’s research environment (in terms of the place, its location, reputation and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work

Within the ‘approach’ section we also expect you to:

  • provide a detailed and comprehensive project plan including milestones and timelines. This must be in the form of a Gantt chart or similar (mandatory additional one-page A4 attachment)
  • clearly explain the role and contribution of partners
  • identify and account for beneficiaries of potential direct or indirect benefits

Word count: 4,000

Section: Applicant and team capability to deliver

Question: why are you the right individual or 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:

  • the relevant experience (appropriate to career stage) to deliver the proposed work
  • the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work
  • the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work and your approach to develop others

Use the Résumé for Research and Innovation (R4RI) format to showcase the range of relevant skills you, and if relevant your team (investigators, researchers, other (technical) staff for example research software engineers, data scientists and so on, and partners), have and how this will help to 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. You should 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:

The R4RI module headings are:

  • 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
  • additions (you can use this heading to provide information which provides context to the wider application, such as detail of career breaks. It is not a requirement)

Additions: 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).

You should complete this as a narrative and you should avoid CV type format.

Word count: 2,000

The word count for this section is 2,000 words, 1,500 words to be used for R4RI modules and, if necessary, a further 500 words for additions.

Section: Project partners: contributions

Question: provide details about any project partners’ contributions using the template provided.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

If you do not have any project partners, simply add ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and move to the next section.

If you do have project partners, download and complete the project partner contributions template (DOCX, 52KB) then copy and paste the table within it into the text box.

Ensure you have obtained prior agreement from project partners that, should you be offered funding, they will support your project as indicated in the template.

Word count: 500

Section: Project Partners: letters (or emails) of support

Question: upload a single PDF containing the letters or emails of support from each partner you named in the table in the previous ‘contributions’ section.

What the assessors are looking for in your response

If you do not have any project partners, simply add ‘N/A’ into the text box, mark this section as complete and move to the next section.

If you have named project partners in the previous ‘contributions’ section, enter the words ‘attachment supplied’ in the text box.

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

Please refer to AHRC’s funding guide for more guidance.

Please do not provide letters of support from host and co-investigator’s research organisations.

Unless specifically requested, please do not include any personal data within the attachment.

Upload details are provided within the service on the actual application.

For audit purposes, UKRI requires formal collaboration agreements to be put in place if an award is made.

Word count: 5

Section: Data management plan (DMP)

Question: 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 DMP that outlines your project’s approach to managing data.

You must follow AHRC’s guidance on writing a DMP, which can be found in AHRC’s funding guide.

Following AHRC’s DMP guidance, you should describe:

  • how your approach to managing data is appropriate for the research project being proposed
  • how the DMP will enable the project’s data creation, outputs and storage needs
  • how the plan for data is feasible, sensible, appropriate and valid

Word count: 1,000

Section: Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)

Question: what are the ethical or RRI 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

Using the text box, demonstrate that you have identified and evaluated the relevant ethical or responsible research and innovation considerations, and how you will manage them.

Word count: 500

Section: Resources and cost justification

Question: what will you need to deliver your proposed work and how much will it cost?

What the assessors are looking for in your response

Download the FEC template (DOCX, 97KB), complete it and then upload it as explained.

Using the text box, 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
  • how the ringfenced budget for devolved funding will be allocated

This section should not simply be a list of the resources requested, as this will already be given in the detailed ‘costs’ table. Costings should be justified on the basis of FEC of the project, not just on the costs expected from UKRI. For some items we do not expect you to justify the monetary value, rather the type of resource, such as amount of time or type of staff requested.

Where you do not provide adequate justification for a resource, we may deduct it from any funding awarded.

You should identify:

  • support for activities to either increase impact, for public engagement, knowledge exchange or to support responsible innovation
  • support for access to facilities, infrastructure or procurement of equipment
  • support for preserving, long-term storage, or sharing of data
  • support from your organisation or partner organisations and how that enhances value for money

Word count: 1,000

How we will assess your application

Assessment process

We will assess your application using the following process.

Peer review

We will invite expert peer reviewers to review your application independently, against the specified criteria for this funding opportunity.

Shortlisting

Following peer review, a panel of experts will moderate the peer review scores and comments against the criteria. A ranked list of applications will then be agreed by the panel and up to five applications will be invited to interview.

Should your application not be selected for interview you will receive your peer reviews as feedback.

Interview

For shortlisted applications, an expert interview panel will conduct interviews with you after which the panel will make a funding recommendation to the funding partners. The expert peer review comments will form part of the interview assessment and you should be prepared to answer questions on themes brought up in your reviews.

We expect interviews to be held virtually using video conferencing in mid-November 2023.

Interview feedback

Following the interview process the panel will provide generalised feedback summarising the strengths and weaknesses of each application.

Principles of assessment

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.

We reserve the right to modify the assessment process as needed.

Assessment criteria

What we are looking for

Section: Approach

Have the applicants demonstrated that they have designed their approach so that it:

  • is effective and appropriate to achieve their objectives
  • is feasible, and comprehensively identifies any risks to delivery and how they will be managed
  • ensures a coherent programme of activities across the four delivery strands
  • contributes to the development of creative immersive practice across the UK
  • will proactively champion diversity and provide fair and equal opportunities to creative and cultural organisations across the UK
  • if applicable, uses a clear and transparent methodology
  • summarises any previous relevant work undertaken by the hub lead and the project partners, describing how this will be progressed through the delivery of XRtists
  • maximises the translation of outputs into outcomes and impacts
  • describes how their team’s research environment (in terms of the place, its location, reputation and relevance to the project) will contribute to the success of the work
Section: Applicant and team capability to deliver

Have the applicants provided evidence of how they, and if relevant their team, have:

  • the relevant experience (appropriate to career stage) to deliver the proposed work
  • the right balance of skills and expertise to cover the proposed work
  • the appropriate leadership and management skills to deliver the work and their approach to develop others
Section: Data management plan (DMP)

Have the applicants demonstrated in their DMP that:

  • the approach to managing data is appropriate for the research project being proposed
  • the DMP will enable the project’s data creation, outputs and storage needs
  • the plan for data is feasible, sensible, appropriate and valid
Section: Ethics and responsible research and innovation (RRI)

Have the applicants identified and evaluated the relevant ethical or RRI considerations, or both, and how they will be managed.

Section: Resources and cost justification

Have the applicants demonstrated how the resources they anticipate needing for their proposed work:

  • are comprehensive, appropriate, and justified
  • represent the optimal use of resources to achieve the intended outcomes
  • maximise potential outcomes and impacts
  • how the ringfenced budget for devolved funding will be allocated

Contact details

Get help with your application

For help on costings and writing your application, contact your research office. Allow enough time for your organisation’s submission process.

Ask about this funding opportunity

Email: support@funding-service.ukri.org

We aim to respond to emails within two working days.

Phone: 01793 547490

Our phone lines are open:

  • Monday to Thursday 8:30am to 5:00pm UK time
  • Friday 8:30am to 4:30pm UK time

Additional info

Webinar for potential applicants

We held two webinars, on 25 May and 6 June 2023. These webinars provided more information about the funding opportunity and gave potential applicants a chance to ask questions.

Watch webinar recordings:

Supporting documents

Full funding opportunity information in Welsh (PDF, 226KB)

XRtists frequently asked questions (PDF, 185KB)

XRtistiaid cwestiynau cyffredin (PDF, 248KB)

Updates

  • 6 July 2023
    Welsh translation of the frequently asked questions document added under 'Additional info' section.
  • 20 June 2023
    Frequently asked questions document updated and links added to webinar recordings under 'Additional info' section.
  • 2 June 2023
    Frequently asked questions document added under 'Additional info' section.
  • 15 May 2023
    Welsh translation of the funding opportunity information added under 'Additional info' section.

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