The first and largest grant competition provided funding for international research contributing to the core questions and themes of the Understanding Unbelief programme.


RFP1 opened in Summer 2016, and is now closed. We are no longer accepting applications. You can find out about the research that was awarded funding here


***Call for proposals***

Research Grants (RFP1)

AUTUMN 2016

Through a generous grant from the John Templeton Foundation, the University of Kent welcomes proposals contributing to the Understanding Unbelief programme. Over the next three years, this initiative will provide £1m for international research from the human sciences (e.g. anthropology, cognitive science, psychology, political science, and sociology) to advance our empirical understanding of the array of phenomena commonly labelled as ‘unbelief’. We aim to fund a minimum of 8 projects of up to 24 months in duration; individual researchers or project teams can apply for funding to a maximum project value of £300,000.

We are now inviting submission of Letters of Inquiry, following which we will invite a limited number of researchers and research teams to submit full proposals. For more information about the parameters of the programme and the evaluation criteria for submissions, please refer to the information sheet provided by selecting one of the following two formats:

Deadline for Letters of Inquiry: Friday 14 October 2016