Our programme is funded via the ESRC Impact Acceleration Account grant. The funder’s rules state that “any activity or project supported by the ESRC IAA should be at least 50% within ESRC’s remit”. This means that over 50% of the underpinning research for the projects we fund has to be in the social science disciplines as defined by the ESRC on this link.

Underpinning research can be completed or ongoing, and can be funded or unfunded. It does not need to have been funded by the ESRC, but should fall within the ESRC remit and therefore should be a candidate for ESRC funding.

We welcome applications from social scientists based in any Royal Holloway school and department if they work in a social science discipline. However, we would expect applications from non-social science departments to be the exception, and if this occurs, we would expect robust justification that the work is social science (for example, funding by ESRC, involvement of social science researchers, etc).  Certainly, we cannot fund proposals emerging from AHRC, EPSRC, BBSRC and STFCA funded research.

Underpinning research that is rooted in the arts and humanities methodologies, or in natural science methodologies is not considered to be social science, even where it explores topics of societal significance, or is applied to societal questions and issues. The social sciences are defined by foundational theories and methods; it is not just about being relevant to society. 

We encourage interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary collaboration, if it meets the minimum 50% + underpinning social science research requirement.