Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Engagement Fellowship (EDIEF)

AHRC Funding Scheme Report 2020-21 by Dr Manuella Blackburn, Kevin Coutinho, and Hayley Suviste.

In 2020, the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) launched a new pilot funding call for Fellowships aimed at arts and humanities researchers whose work was both of outstanding quality and contained a significant Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (ED&I) dimension. In 2021, the AHRC commissioned an evaluation of the EDI Engagement Fellowships.

This report provides an assessment and commentary on the AHRC’s 2020—2022 Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Engagement Fellowship (EDIEF) pilot observing the successes, challenges, and benefits of its existence during its first iteration. The report aims to support subsequent rounds of EDIEF funding by highlighting lessons learned from the application process and the awarded projects so that improvements can be made to future calls.

The research for this report sought out and engaged a variety of stakeholders including applicants, award holders, research assistants, project partners, and AHRC colleagues, to comment on the processes the AHRC has for welcoming applications, reviewing proposals, awarding funding, and project delivery support. These voices (many of which are from underrepresented groups and have EDI expertise either professionally or through lived experience) have contributed to the below recommendations so that the EDIEF pilot can evolve effectively and support mainstreaming of innovations in other AHRC activities.