Get involved

Festival overview

Led by the School of Advanced Study, University of London, in partnership with the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) and the British Academy, Being Human is the UK’s only national festival of the humanities. The core festival objectives are:

• to demonstrate the value of humanities research to society in the UK and globally;
• to encourage, support and create opportunities for humanities researchers to engage with non-specialist audiences;
• to embed and join together public engagement activities in the humanities across the higher education (HE) sector;
• to demonstrate the relevance of the humanities to everyday life.

Being Human 2021

Being Human festival will return 11–20 November 2021, with the theme ‘Renewal‘.  There are several ways to take part in the festival and funding is available via our Hub Award and Small Award grants. Applications are now open!

Please submit your completed application form, activities grid and any relevant letters of support via email to apply.beinghuman@sas.ac.uk by the deadlines stated below.

2021 webinar

If you’re interested in applying to take part in this year’s festival but would like to find out more you may be interested in attending our webinar on 18 March. Find out more and book here.

Hub Award

Apply for a larger institutional grant of £2,000 – £5,000 to coordinate multiple activities as a festival hub.

Application guidelines | Application form | Activities grid

Deadline: Monday 3 May

Small Award

Apply for funding of up to £2,000 to enable activities.

Application guidelines | Application form | Activities grid

Deadline: Monday 3 May

Open Call

Organise an activity that does not require funding from us.

Application guidelines | Application form | Activities grid

Deadline: Monday 28 June

Being Human Cafes

A simple, off-the-shelf format for unfunded activities.

Toolkit | Application guidelines | Application form

Deadline: Monday 28 June

Find out more

Please see our FAQs page if you would like to know more about the festival and the application process. If you cannot find the answer to your question there, please email: beinghuman@sas.ac.uk. We encourage applicants to refer to our toolkits and case studies before making an application. A PDF version of the festival Terms and Conditions is available here.

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Photo: ‘Sisterhood of the ring’ 2018 – The University of Sheffield