Atlantic Equity Challenge

Through the Atlantic Equity Challenge (AEQ), AFSEE seeks to promote research collaborations between LSE academics and AFSEE Senior Fellows, as well as other partners where relevant. The research grant is envisioned as more than a funding opportunity: it is the beginning of a long-term partnership between the project teams, the AFSEE programme, and the LSE International Inequalities Institute.

Atlantic Equity Challenge 2026: Call for Proposals Now Open

The Atlantic Fellows for Social and Economic Equity (AFSEE) programme at the International Inequalities Institute is pleased to announce the third round of the Atlantic Equity Challenge (AEQ) research grant. This grant offers researchers and practitioners an opportunity to undertake innovative, solutions-oriented, collaborative research and thinking directed at tackling social and economic inequalities. In this round of the AEQ research grant, the AFSEE programme again seeks to promote research collaborations between LSE academics and AFSEE Fellows for projects addressing fundamental questions related to socio-economic inequalities.

Since 2021, the AEQ has funded nine projects across Asia, Africa, Latin America, the Caribbean, and the UK, bringing together researchers and practitioners to generate new insights, models, and approaches for tackling socio-economic inequalities.

About the AEQ 2026

The AEQ provides up to £100,000 for 24-month research projects that:

• offer paradigm-shifting insights into alternatives and solutions to inequality,

• draw on multiple forms of knowledge and experience from across disciplines and sectors,

• incubate new models, policies, and approaches that have the potential to disrupt the systems and structures driving inequality.

Who Can Apply

Applications are invited from research teams only. Each team must include:

• at least one LSE academic or research staff member, and

• at least one AFSEE Senior Fellow, both serving as Co-Principal Investigators.

Teams may also include additional researchers, practitioners, and AFSEE Fellows (including the 2025–2026 Cohort).

All project teams are expected to produce a written research output that is widely accessible in its language and style. Alongside research publications, teams are invited and encouraged to produce policy briefs, reports and other outputs to disseminate their findings to various audiences (academic and non-academic).

Key Dates

• 15 May 2026 – Application deadline

• 30 June 2026 – Award notification

• 1 October 2026 – Project start date

For further information or support in identifying collaborators, please contact Anastasia Nazaryan, AFSEE Projects Manager: a.nazaryan@lse.ac.uk or Dr George Kunnath, Associate Professor (Education) and AFSEE Academic Lead: g.kunnath@lse.ac.uk.