UKRI International Placement Scheme 2026: Archived Funded Research Placements

The UKRI International Placement Scheme (IPS) 2026 was a funded research-placement opportunity for early career researchers, doctoral-level research assistants, and eligible doctoral students. The round is now closed. UKRI records the closing date as 19 March 2026 at 4:00pm UK time, and its opportunity page says that applications could not be submitted after that time. This page is therefore a historical reference for the 2026 round, not a live application listing.

The scheme is led by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), with the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) involved for Library of Congress placements. It supports research stays at selected cultural institutions in the United States, Japan, and China. The central idea is specific access: applicants propose a defined package of work that depends on a host’s collections, expertise, programmes, or facilities, then spend a concentrated period working with that host.

UKRI’s broader scheme page describes IPS as ongoing, with annual application rounds opening between November and March each year. However, the official pages checked for this update do not announce a subsequent round after IPS 2026. Do not treat the archived 2026 page as permission to apply now or assume that the next host list, dates, or rules will be identical.

At a glance

What the 2026 scheme funded

The financial package had two components. The applicant’s UK research organisation received a £2,500 living stipend for each month of the placement and a one-off contribution for travel and visa costs. The standard one-off amount was £1,000. Applicants to the National Institutes for the Humanities (NIHU) and Shanghai Theatre Academy were eligible for £1,200 for travel and visa costs. UKRI listed the overall award range as £6,000 to £16,200, depending on the placement length and host location.

The award was not described as a general travel grant. It was intended to support a defined research placement at an IPS host institution. The proposed work needed to complement, strengthen, or build on the applicant’s current research, including doctoral research where relevant. An applicant had to explain both why the host was the right place for the work and why the proposed research could not be completed as effectively without the placement.

UKRI also stated that the stipends would be paid to the submitting UK research organisation at 100% full economic cost. The organisation was required to pay the funds to the awardee in advance so that flights and accommodation could be arranged. Awardees could continue to receive any stipend or salary attached to an existing AHRC or ESRC award. For doctoral students, time spent on the placement did not extend the end date or submission date of the doctoral award.

The usual duration was two to six months, although the 2026 guidance identified the Harry Ransom Center and Shanghai Theatre Academy as exceptions to that general duration statement. Anyone preparing for a later round should read the host-specific available-placements document rather than assuming every institution offers the same length, dates, or number of places.

Who was eligible

Eligibility depended on both the applicant’s role and the proposed host.

AHRC-funded doctoral students could apply to any of the listed hosts. Their placement had to take place during the funded period of the doctoral award, and the application had to include the doctoral training grant reference. The student also needed approval from the UK research organisation and supervisor before applying. The 2026 guidance made clear that no extra time would be added to the doctoral award to compensate for the placement.

ESRC-funded doctoral students had a narrower route. They could apply only for a placement at the Library of Congress, and their proposed primary research had to fit an ESRC research area. The application still needed the relevant ESRC award reference and confirmation that the placement could be completed within the funded doctoral period.

Early career researchers could apply in any arts or humanities subject, provided they were employed and supported by an eligible UK research organisation for at least the duration of the IPS grant. UKRI did not require a permanent contract, and it did not require the applicant to have a contract in place at the moment of submission. An ECR was expected either to hold a doctorate by the start of the placement or to demonstrate equivalent research or innovation experience and training. UKRI said that ECR status could be self-identified; there was no fixed rule based on the number of years since the PhD.

Doctoral-level research assistants were also eligible. They needed postdoctoral standing, demonstrated by a PhD or equivalent research experience, and a contract with a UK research organisation at the time of application that extended beyond the placement end date. The application had to provide evidence for those criteria.

All applicants needed to propose research in the relevant subject area and to meet the standard eligibility requirements for the submitting UK research organisation. Eligibility was not the same as a guarantee of access to a collection. The host’s ability to support the proposed work had to be established as part of the application preparation.

Choosing a host and shaping the project

The 2026 hosts were the Harry Ransom Center, Huntington Library, Library of Congress, National Institutes for the Humanities in Japan, Shanghai Theatre Academy in China, Smithsonian Institution, and Yale Centre for British Art. These were not interchangeable destinations. Each applicant needed to identify the collection, programme, staff expertise, or institutional setting that made the chosen host appropriate.

For example, an applicant studying theatre history might build a project around materials and expertise at Shanghai Theatre Academy. A researcher working on British art could identify specific works, catalogues, or curatorial knowledge at the Yale Centre for British Art. A project using American archival sources might be appropriate for the Library of Congress, while a humanities researcher working with Japanese collections could consider NIHU. The application needed to name the relevant resources and show how the placement would produce a distinct research package rather than duplicate routine work already being done at the home institution.

Host contact was particularly important in the 2026 guidance. Applicants to NIHU, the Huntington Library, and the Smithsonian Institution were required to contact the institution about the collections they wanted to access before applying. For the other hosts, prior contact was optional but strongly recommended. The Huntington also required placement participants to spend 20 working days per month in the library, and the guidance warned that renovation work could restrict access to particular collections. A good project plan therefore had to account for local rules, opening times, access permissions, supervision, and any travel or visa constraint.

AHRC applicants could submit separate applications for more than one institution in the same round, but each application had to describe separate and distinct research work packages. The dates could not overlap, the placements had to occur in one continuous block, and the packages could not depend on one another. Applicants also had to check whether visa rules allowed them to return to a host country within the same year. The same institution could be used only once at each career stage, such as once as a student and once as an ECR.

How the 2026 application worked

The 2026 application was made through the UKRI Funding Service by an eligible UK research organisation. The practical sequence was:

1. Confirm your applicant category, eligible organisation, funding status, and host-specific route. In particular, check whether you are an AHRC-funded doctoral student, an ESRC-funded doctoral student applying to the Library of Congress, an ECR, or a doctoral-level research assistant.
2. Discuss the placement with your supervisor if you are a PhD student, or with your head of department if you are an ECR or research assistant. Their support needed to confirm that you could attend the full placement and that the work fitted your current research or parent project.
3. Identify a specific host collection or programme and contact the host early. For NIHU, the Huntington, and the Smithsonian, this contact was a required part of preparation. Ask about access, supervision, working arrangements, visa support, and any restrictions that affect the proposed dates.
4. Define a distinct research package. Explain the current research context, the question to be addressed during the placement, the methods, the reason travel was necessary, the time required, and the outputs that would follow.
5. Complete the Funding Service sections and supporting statements. The 2026 form included a plain-English summary, primary and secondary discipline classifications, individual eligibility, the purpose and need for travel, applicant and team capability, and supervisor or head-of-department support. The purpose section required a breakdown of how the time abroad would be used.
6. Submit through the UKRI Funding Service by the published deadline, while also meeting any earlier internal deadline set by your research organisation. UKRI stated that submitted applications could not be changed afterward and that applications received after 19 March 2026 at 4:00pm UK time would not be accepted.

Because this round is closed, those steps are useful preparation for a future announcement only. The next round may change the hosts, eligible dates, form questions, funding amounts, or supporting-document requirements.

What a strong application needed to show

The proposal needed a close connection between the applicant’s current research and the host’s resources. A list of famous institutions was not enough. The assessors wanted to see why the specific collection or expertise mattered, what could be achieved during the requested period, and what the applicant would contribute to the host community.

The purpose section asked applicants to address the added value of travel, collaboration, skills development, benefits to the countries and organisations involved where appropriate, their preparation for the work, and the reason the chosen place and people were the best fit. The application should therefore have included concrete collection names, a realistic schedule, access or contact evidence, and a clear explanation of outputs.

The capability section needed to connect the applicant’s experience to the proposed work. Relevant archival, language, methodological, curatorial, or fieldwork experience could help demonstrate readiness, but the case had to be appropriate to the applicant’s career stage. A supervisor or head-of-department statement also needed to explain why the host was suitable, what support would be available during the placement, and why the visit would not require extra time on the current AHRC or ESRC-funded research.

Applicants should also have checked practical matters early: visa eligibility, accommodation, insurance, accessibility, collection permissions, working-day requirements, ethical approval, data handling, and internal research-office sign-off. These details matter because the award was for a defined placement, not an open-ended period of overseas study.

Assessment and outcomes

After the opportunity closed, UKRI checked applications for eligibility. Eligible applications were shared with the relevant placement institutions and reviewed by experts there. AHRC and ESRC then moderated the host reviews. Applications that failed eligibility checks could be rejected before the review stage.

Successful applicants were asked to confirm their placement start and end dates. The UKRI guidance said that successful applicants had 10 working days to confirm those dates; otherwise AHRC could use the dates originally selected. Later changes required discussion with the host and approval from AHRC. Recipients also had reporting responsibilities through Researchfish, subject to the rules that applied to their career stage and existing research funding.

Archived status and future monitoring

The official IPS 2026 opportunity is closed, and this page retains its real closing date rather than replacing it with a guessed future date or a misleading “rolling” label. The UKRI scheme overview says that IPS is an ongoing programme with annual rounds opening between November and March, but no next opportunity is announced on the official pages checked for this update. Readers interested in a future round should monitor the UKRI funding finder and the AHRC international placement scheme page, then rely on the new opportunity’s own host list, eligibility rules, dates, and application guidance.

The official 2026 opportunity page remains the authoritative archive for the closed round: https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/international-placement-scheme-2026/