Currently 5 active tech and infrastructure grants, fellowships and residencies open to applicants in the UK. Hand-curated and updated weekly. Almost every entry is funded; a few notable unpaid open calls and festival submissions are included as clearly flagged exceptions. Browse the list below, or use the interactive desk for filtering and shortlisting.
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Next Wave Breakthrough Wave 1 is Innovate UK's current open Createch competition, investing up to GBP 10 million in early-stage innovation at the intersection of creative technology and the frontier industries named in the Industrial Strategy: video games, advertising and marketing, film and television, and music and the performing and visual arts. It funds industrial research to take innovations beyond proof of concept and de-risk future investment, with individual projects between GBP 100,000 and 500,000 in total costs. Grant rates depend on organisation size, from 70 percent for micro and small enterprises down to 50 percent for large organisations, so applicants must supply match funding for the remainder. The lead must be a UK-registered SME; non-profits and CICs are barred from leading, though they can participate as collaborators alongside a commercial lead. Non-funded partners may be based internationally. The competition opened 23 June 2026 and closes 11 August 2026 at 11:00am UK time. NOTE ON FIT: this is an R&D competition for creative-technology product development, not a fund for delivering festivals or exhibitions, so it suits an organisation whose work can be framed as industrial research with a commercial SME lead.
Human Rights Watch is hiring an AI Strategy and Solutions Lead into its Operations Department to build the foundation for responsible AI adoption across the organisation. The role deliberately sits between strategy and execution: assessing organisational readiness, mapping partnerships and governance, and also prototyping and shipping working systems. THE WORK, in four strands. (1) STRATEGY AND READINESS: with the CIO and the Information Security and Technology (IST) leadership team, build an AI strategy covering data foundation requirements, infrastructure gaps and organisational readiness; assess current state and shape a roadmap balancing quick wins against long-term capacity; research what peer nonprofit, humanitarian and human rights organisations are doing and find collaboration openings. (2) FLAGSHIP SOLUTIONS: work with departments to find high-impact use cases, translate business needs into technical approaches, build and deploy AI/ML solutions with measurable value (time saved, efficiency, better outcomes), using the Microsoft AI ecosystem (Copilot Studio, Azure AI, Power Platform) among other tools, and oversee consultants and vendors to extend delivery capacity. (3) ADOPTION AND CAPACITY: balance onboarding staff onto AI tools against building custom solutions where they amplify the organisation's strengths; write training material pitched at different work areas and skill levels covering prompting and responsible use; support working groups and communities of practice; produce playbooks and guides for non-technical staff. (4) GOVERNANCE: partner with IST leadership on risk assessment frameworks, align solutions with security, infrastructure and architecture requirements, contribute to AI policy development and its operationalisation, set standards for evaluating proofs of concept and MVPs, and engage business units so outcomes are co-owned; all of it balanced against data quality, security and resource constraints and HRW's mission as a human rights organisation. WHO THEY WANT: a bachelor's degree or equivalent work experience in computer science, data science, information systems, mathematics, AI/ML implementation or a related technical field; a minimum of seven years' relevant experience including two to three years on AI and two to three years implementing AI/ML in production; experience contributing to technology strategy and assessing organisational readiness for new technology; strong Python and ML library/framework skills; hands-on predictive modelling, data science and statistical analysis; experience with low-code/no-code AI platforms such as Copilot Studio or Power Platform; a track record of scoping and delivering under resource constraints; a grasp of both generative AI and traditional ML; and the ability to explain technical concepts plainly to mixed audiences, engage stakeholders and lead technology adoption as an internal partner to business teams. PREFERRED: nonprofit, humanitarian or human rights experience; data privacy, security and ethical AI knowledge; familiarity with responsible AI frameworks and governance models; vendor and consultant management; and a background in politically sensitive or high-risk environments. APPLY: through the HRW job portal with a cover letter and CV, preferably as PDFs, by 30 August 2026. Only complete applications are reviewed and only shortlisted candidates are contacted; no calls or email enquiries. HRW states that it does not discriminate on the basis of disability, age, gender identity and expression, national origin, race and ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexual orientation or criminal record.
Senior leadership post at the Digital Creativity Institute, the joint venture between the Communication University of China Nanjing (CUCN) and UEA, sitting in UEA's Faculty of Arts and Humanities. The Deputy Dean leads UEA's academic contribution to the Institute, covering curriculum and programme development, staffing and quality assurance across digital media, creative technology and related disciplines, and works with the CUCN partner leadership on strategy, recruitment and partnership growth. This is a rare senior role for someone who works across creative practice and digital technology rather than in a single discipline, and it involves regular engagement with the partner institution in China. Salary GBP 69,488 to 73,709. Advertised 3 August 2026 through jobs.ac.uk and the UEA vacancy portal; closes 31 August 2026. Check the UEA posting for the full person specification and whether the role requires periods based in Nanjing.
The Paul Mellon Centre funds scholarship and dissemination in British art, visual culture and architectural history, from the medieval period to the present and across the relevant geographical and cultural contexts. This is the Autumn 2026 round, the first under the Centre's restructured funding scheme announced earlier in 2026, and all grants in the round close together on Monday 14 September 2026 at 23:59 BST. ELIGIBILITY: the Centre's funding is open to INTERNATIONAL applicants, not just UK-based ones (the exceptions are the MA/MPhil Studentship and Doctoral Scholarship, which are not part of this round). Every applicant must show how the award advances their research on British art, visual culture and/or architecture. SUPPORT: general application guidance, an updated FAQ and the Our Funding Focus page set out what the Centre looks for, and there are writeups of previously successful projects. The grants team will take specific questions or arrange a call at grants@paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk. No application fee. THIS GRANT: up to GBP 5,000 for organisations making their collections freely available online through digitisation. It covers both the personnel working on the project and the equipment the digitisation process needs, which makes it unusually practical for small collections without in-house capacity.
The British Council's standing Travel Grant Fund helps early to mid-career UK filmmakers and XR creatives represent their work abroad, build networks, reach new audiences and raise the international profile of new and emerging UK film and immersive talent. Supported by BFI National Lottery funding in partnership with BFI NETWORK and the BFI International Fund. WHAT IT FUNDS: travel to attend international film festivals, showcases, training and development labs, and co-production forums, across five strands: short film festival grants, feature film festival grants, interactive/XR grants (including VR, immersive storytelling experiences and installations), lab grants and co-production forum grants. AMOUNTS: short and feature festival grants GBP 150 to 1,500 (typically up to GBP 750); XR travel-only grants GBP 150 to 1,500; large XR grants GBP 1,500 to 5,000; lab grants up to GBP 6,000; co-production forum grants up to GBP 2,000. WHO CAN APPLY: UK residents or citizens aged 18+; applicants can be directors, producers or writers attached to the selected project. KEY CONDITIONS: the festival, lab or forum must appear on the British Council's Key Lists of eligible events, and the project must be registered on the British Council's UK Project Database. DEADLINE: rolling, no fixed deadlines; submit at least two weeks before the event starts (retrospective applications for past events are not accepted). Free to apply.