Apply to take part in Being Human Festival 2025!

Calling all humanities researchers! Apply to hold a public engagement event as part of this year’s Being Human Festival.

Being Human is the UK’s national festival of the humanities. Each year we invite humanities researchers and staff from universities and research organisations around the UK and beyond to take part in the festival by organising a public engagement event or activity. This year’s festival will take place 6–15 November, with the theme ‘Between the Lines’.

Finding inspiration

At the festival we encourage researchers to move away from lectures and seminar-style events and instead look to champion innovative, participatory and creative activities that foster two-way connections between researchers and non-specialist audiences and communities. Researchers are also encouraged to move off campus and bring activities to venues and locations in their local communities.

Events to date have taken place in over 1,100 different venues and locations, including local parks and gardens, shopping centres, bookshops, pottery studios, cinemas, cemeteries, theatres, galleries, museums, heritage houses, cafes and more! We encourage event organisers to find inspiring spaces and venues, that are suitable for their target audiences and activities. (You can find more on this topic in our ‘Finding the right venue’ toolkit).

Over the years we have supported an array of ambitious and creative events including pottery workshops, boat tours and trips, cooking classes, behind-the-scenes tours, star gazing, tea parties, a circus show, street parades, quizzes, museum lates and wildlife walks. If you’re looking for some guidance or inspiration for a potential festival activity, we'd recommend looking at our ‘Finding the right format’ toolkit, and browsing the following:

• More information on our festival theme - 'Between the Lines' for prompts and inspiration
• Case studies
• Being Human Festival 2024 film
• Being Human Festival 2024 highlights piece
• Past festivals
• Toolkits

Remember that all Being Human Festival activities need to be rooted in humanities research, and audiences should come away having learnt something new about that research!

Why take part?

Being Human is the UK's national festival of the humanities, and together we can advocate for the importance of these subjects across the country.

Organising a public engagement activity can be challenging, but festival organisers typically find the process rewarding, and there are lots of benefits to taking part. Organising a festival event can be a great way of piloting a new type of activity or trying out a new event format. In the past, many organisers have found that organising an event for the festival has acted as a catalyst to get a project up and running which wouldn’t otherwise have happened. Previous organisers have also found that participating in the festival has helped to nurture work with community and cultural partners and establish new partnerships. The festival is a great way to raise visibility of your research, both nationally and within your own institution.

We believe that just being a part of the whole festival process provides a framework for developing key skills around planning, marketing and promotion and delivering engagement events. All festival organisers will receive public engagement advice and support from the festival team.

And don't just take it from us: in 2024, 83% of event organisers felt they had developed skills in community collaboration, and 80% felt they had developed skills in event planning and management. One 2024 festival organiser described it as "A really instructive, challenging and positive experience.”

How to apply

You can organise an activity to take place as part of the festival, with or without funding from us. The festival is looking to support high quality, innovative and ambitious public engagement events, and all activities need to involve a professional humanities researcher in both their planning and delivery.

There are two types of funding grants on offer to enable activities to take place as part of the festival. Applicants based at UK Higher Education Institutions and AHRC-recognised Independent Research Organisations are eligible to apply for this funding.

• Institutional Grants: £4,000-£8,000 to coordinate and deliver a Festival Hub
• Festival Event Grants: £4,000 to run a single event or multiple events as part of the festival

The deadline for Institutional Grants and Festival Event Grants is Thursday 10 April.

The deadline to apply to organise an event without funding from the festival, via the Festival Event pathway, is Friday 4 July.

Please visit the 'Get Involved' page to find out more about the different application pathways, full eligibility criteria and priorities for funding.

We look forward to receiving your applications!