ESRC Festival of Social Sciences 2025 – Grant Applications Now Open (Closing date 9th May)

Lancaster has been able to access ESRC funding to support activities during this year’s Festival of Social Science (FoSS), which will run from 18th October – 8th November 2025.

We are inviting expressions of interest from researchers for funding up to £1000 to support a series of events during the festival period. Exceptionally, if several researchers want to work together to put on a larger event, a higher amount of funding (>£1,000) may be considered, depending on demand and quality of submissions received.

Festival Theme

The ESRC’s chosen theme for this year is “Our Working Lives.” (But not all events need to be aligned to this*)

Events focussing on Our Working Lives might explore topics such as:

  • How have working lives changed?
  • How do people management practices impact the quality of working life?
  • Employee voice is linked to greater trust at work and productivity. How do employees share their views and ideas, including in new remote working environments? What are the challenges? What are the opportunities?
  • Regional labour market challenges, current labour market conditions and experiences impact working lives. Exploring barriers and opportunities for accessing good work.
  • Understanding of how digital technologies are changing work and the implications for employers, workers, job seekers and governments.
  • Jobs of the future: What will our children be doing in 2040?

*We are aiming to have at least 50% of Lancaster’s events aligned to the Working Lives theme, but have flexibility with the remaining 50% provided the events align with ESRC discipline areas. So please submit an Expression of Interest if you have a great idea!

Before submittinh an EOI

If you are interested in running an event, please read through the FOSS Event Leader Pack and FOSS Event Lead Job Description BEFORE spending time completing the Expression of Interest form. If your event is funded, you will also need to commit to attending the ESRC mandatory online training for event leaders, which will be run in June and repeated in September.

Please also review the information here relating to FOSS Event Eligible Costs .

Please also note that the ESRC is aiming to target primarily public and youth audiences. More guidance on this can be found in the event leader pack.

The deadline for completing the Expression of Interest form is 5pm on Friday 9th May.

If you have any questions or would like an informal discussion before submitting an EOI, please contact Jo Taylor j.taylor38@lancaster.ac.uk

accordion