Projects that strengthen confidence, capability and culture around responsible AI use within doctoral research environments. This may include training resources, peer learning approaches, discipline-specific guidance or initiatives that support AI literacy and adoption.
Small Grants
2026 Funding Call
The AI.RDN+ Small Grants Call is a unique and exciting opportunity for doctoral researchers to showcase innovative and responsible uses of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) within the doctoral research ecosystem while helping shape future research practice, skills development and researcher development.
The Small Grants Call supports doctoral researchers to critically reflect on, document and share innovative AI-enabled research practices. Rather than funding the development of new commercial AI products or specialist AI technologies, the scheme focuses on capturing examples of how publicly available AI tools are being used across the doctoral research ecosystem.
We encourage applicants to share not only examples of effective practice, but also lessons learned, limitations encountered and challenges addressed, helping to build a richer understanding of responsible AI use in research.
Successful projects will generate practical resources, case studies and guidance that can be shared through the AI.RDN+ Portal, an online repository of resources, examples of practice and learning materials for the doctoral research community. These outputs will support doctoral researchers, supervisors, researcher developers and institutions in developing responsible, effective and innovative approaches to AI use.
Five grants of up to £5,000 each are available in this round of funding, supporting projects of up to six months.
Applications open on 1st September 2026, with a submission deadline of 31st October 2026.
You'll find full guidance and the application form at the bottom of this page.
There are four funding streams available:
1
Change
2
Innovation
Projects that demonstrate novel or methodologically significant uses of AI within doctoral research. Successful projects will document workflows, decision-making processes and lessons learned to inform wider practice.
3
Employer
Projects developed with employers, industry partners, or external organisations, exploring how AI supports doctoral research, researcher development, or future workforce skills. These projects are focused on generating learning and resources for the wider doctoral community, rather than commercial AI products or consultancy outputs.
4
Impact
Projects that examine the broader implications of AI within doctoral education, research culture or policy. This may include disciplinary comparisons, governance approaches, institutional models or sector-facing frameworks.
Applications are open to doctoral researchers registered at any AI.RDN+ partner institution:
