Pre-announcement: Expanding access to creative sector R&D infrastructure

Eligibility

• —To lead an application for this opportunity, you must: be a resident in the UK be employed at, or have a formal affiliation with an organisation eligible to receive UKRI funding under standard eligibility criteria (see above) have a doctorate or demonstrate equivalent professional experience or training have an outstanding track record of strategic planning and delivery of major capital or R&D and innovation programmes for the screen and performance sectors have or be able to build and maintain relationships with diverse stakeholders from the creative research community, screen (film, TV, games) and performance sectors government and the wider creative industries be engaged in leading-edge research and innovation of professorial or equivalent standing applicable to the creative industries demonstrate a level of skills, knowledge and experience appropriate to the nature of the project You should not apply if your organisation has limited knowledge or does not have expertise in R&D and innovation in the screen and performance industries and in technology related to the creative industries.
• —Please see AHRC’s research funding guide for further information on eligibility .

About this grant

Join the convergent screen technologies and performance in realtime (CoSTAR) Network and host national R&D infrastructure for the creative sector. You will reduce barriers to creative businesses’ technology adoption, improve commercialisation support for creative technology businesses and drive scale up and investment. You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for AHRC funding. Over 3 years via Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS)’s Createch Futures programme, Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) will fund up to 2 Showcase Labs (up to £4m each) and up to 2 Satellite Labs (up to £2m each). This is a pre-announcement and the information may change. The funding opportunity will open on 24 August 2026. More information will be available on this page then.