The DISKAH is a training network initiated through a collaboration between the University of Brighton, Durham University, the University of the Arts London, and the University of Exeter, N8 Centre of Excellence in Computationally Intensive Research (N8 CIR), King’s Digital Lab, UCL’s Centre for Advanced Research and the European Digital Research Infrastructure for the Arts and Humanities (DARIAH). The network will expand via the fellowship scheme by supporting researchers to access and co-develop a UK-wide training program to enhance computational and data literacy as well as engage with cutting-edge Digital Research Infrastructures (DRI). 

The DISKAH Fellowship is a year-long programme designed to provide an opportunity to broaden engagement with large-scale computational methods via state-of-the-art national digital research infrastructure to support A&H original research projects. DISKAH Fellows will gain access to resources and networks to develop their projects, build capacity, co-design training for A&H, as well as contributing to the DISKAH network.   

A key aspect of the fellowships is the hands-on deployment and testing of research software by accessing large-scale computing infrastructure to scale up existing software and/or create new ones to address larger or more complex datasets. The DISKAH Fellowships involve developing exemplary use-cases for DRI in A&H and deliver training for wider capacity building within their institutions and communities. The programme of work is as follows: 

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DISKAH Fellows are expected to commit up to 165 hours to the programme, including at least 60 hours for independent hands-on experimentation utilising DRI. Fellows will also be expected to co-design the DISKAH curriculum. Training workshops will support Fellows with relevant technical and non-technical skills, including communicating research through academic and non-academic outputs. Fellows are expected to develop an independent piece of work utilising DRI to produce an exemplary use-case for DRI; as well as lead the delivery of one face-to-face training event between January and March 2026 within their network or community/ies. This event will be an opportunity for them to share the knowledge and skills they have developed during the programme.  

Additionally, they might further disseminate their use-case for DRI in A&H to build capacity in the community. For example, via training materials (e.g. Carpentries-style), digital research outputs (e.g. Programming Historian, research paper), blog posts, datasets, and/or software prototypes. Fellows are expected to make these outputs, including software and datasets, findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable (FAIR). Fellows will be invited to showcase their programme of work at a network DISKAH event towards the end of the project.

Fellows will be supported financially for 165 hours between April 2025 and March 2026. A flat rate of £6,500 will be provided to fellows’ institutions during the programme. Additional funding to attend the programme activities, including workshops, organised by the network, will be handled centrally. Other costs associated to the project and organising training event will be available once the programme has started. 

The duration of the Fellowship is one year from April 2025 to March 2026. 

UKRI states that the digital research infrastructure (DRI) system includes: large-scale compute facilities, including high-throughput, high-performance, and cloud computing; data storage facilities, repositories, stewardship and security; software and shared code libraries; mechanisms for access, such as networks and user authentication systems; and the users and experts who develop and maintain these powerful resources.

High-performance computing (HPC) – sometimes informally referred to as “cluster” computing – is an important component of DRI. It refers to shared-use compute facilities at a variety of scales, ranging from local installations within a department or research group to those world-leading facilities shared by the whole UK-based research community. HPC supports computationally intensive research at scales beyond what is possible on an individual desktop or workstation computer. Lately, they are the site for general-purpose graphics processing units (GPUs), the accelerators used to support the development and deployment of modern artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, including large-scale machine learning and deep-neural networks.

To be eligible for the Fellowship you should be able to lead or enable the delivery of research outputs and impact from research, for example as a PhD candidate, an Early Career Researcher (ECR), an established researcher or a Research Technical Professional (RTP). 

Yes, you need to be employed by a Higher Education Institution (HEI) or an Independent Research Organisation (IRO) in the Arts and Humanities in the UK. If you are not sure about the eligibility of your institution, feel free to contact us to clarify: M.Samaroudi3@brighton.ac.uk  

Yes, the letter of support from the applicant’s affiliated institution should confirm that the candidate will be allowed to buy out 10% of their time for a maximum duration of one year between April 2025 and March 2026. This should be signed by someone who has managerial responsibilities for the candidate. 

Your employment should last for the whole duration of the DISKAH Fellowship. Exceptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis. 

The Fellowship should last for a full year from April 2025 to March 2026. Exceptions will be considered on a case-by-case basis. 

All Higher Education Institutions (HEI) or Independent Research Organisations (IRO) for the A&H in the UK are eligible as the applicant’s affiliated organisation. 

Yes, you can apply for the Fellowship Programme if you have a valid work visa or work permit for the duration of the Fellowship. 

Yes, you can apply as a PhD candidate holding a UK Student Visa. The hours you work for DISKAH must align with any other work you are undertaking outside of your PhD, so that total working hours do not exceed 20 hours per week. Your Student Visa should remain valid for at least the 12-month duration of the Fellowship.  

Applications are welcome from people at different career stages. This includes PhD candidates, Early Career Researchers (ECRs), established researchers or Research Technical Professionals (RTPs). 

Yes, you can apply for the DISKAH Fellowship if you work part-time (PT). 

Applicants do not need to demonstrate proficiency in software development and no prior experience of digital research infrastructure is needed. Instead, your application should clearly identify your strengths and readiness to engage with these skills and infrastructures. This will allow us to identify training requirements.

No, you do not need to already have access to DRI/HCP through your affiliated institution. If you do happen to have access to DRI/HCP already, please mention that in your application. 

All Arts and Humanities disciplines are eligible for the DISKAH Fellowship Programme. A full list of the disciplines can be found in this guide (pages 43-50). 

All Arts and Humanities research is eligible for the DISKAH Fellowship Programme. Research technical professionals (RTPs) and researchers coming from other disciplines but supporting research and proposing an Arts and Humanities related project are eligible to apply.

You can submit your application by using this online form: https://survey.chws.brighton.domains/index.php/987845 

No, the FTE costs for the fellowships are set, and additional funding to attend the programme activities, including workshops, organised by the network, will be handled centrally. Other costs associated with the project and organising training events will be available once the programme has started.

The letter of support should be provided and signed by someone in your affiliated institution. The letter should confirm the support of the affiliated institution for the applicant’s involvement in the DISKAH Programme, including agreement for time buy-out. The letter can be signed by their line manager, Head of Department or equivalent. 

A panel will assess and score applications according to the following criteria (each criterion will be scored between 0 and 5):  

• Proposed Project 
  • Quality of the proposed work including underlying concepts, existing research software and datasets.
  • Pertinence of the approaches to benefit from the capabilities of large scale computing infrastructure.
  • Potential for the proposed project to develop one exemplary use-case for DRI in A&H. 
• Impact and Personal statement:
  • Quality of the applicant’s track record.
  • Extent to which the wider networks will benefit from capacity building through the fellowship. 
  • Readiness to engage with large scale computing infrastructures.

We aim to complete the assessment process within 4 weeks of receiving your application and feedback will also be shared with the applicants. 

We aim to provide feedback to applicants after the panel decisions.  

Yes, another call for the second round of the DISKAH Fellowships will be launched in January 2026. 

Yes, you can apply again for the second round of the Fellowship Programme as long as you meet the eligibility criteria as defined in the future call.