Research Funding Sources:
The following list provides links to potential sources of research funding:
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
The Arts and Humanities Research Council supports research within a huge subject domain from traditional humanities subjects, such as history, modern languages and English literature, to the creative and performing arts. Eight subject panels cover the Council’s remit and Panel 2 is addressed to Visual Arts and Media: practice, history, theory.
Schemes for which applications are sought from all areas:
Research Grants
Research Leave
Research Networks and Workshops
Resource Enhancement
Strategic Initiatives:
Landscape and Environment
Designing for the 21st Century
Diasporas, Migration and Identities
AHRC’s ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in Arts and Humanities Research
Cultures of Consumption
Research Centres
Strategic Workshops Series
Awards are also provided for students to undertake Master’s-level study or doctoral study at a Higher Education Institution (HEI) in the United Kingdom (UK). There are three schemes:
- The Research Preparation Master’s Scheme provides support for students intending to proceed to doctoral study, who are undertaking a Master’s course which will prepare them for doctoral study. The scheme will provide support for students in the creative and performing arts who are intending to proceed to doctoral study or to a career in research in the higher education sector, who are undertaking a Master’s course that will prepare them for doctoral study or a research career.
- The Professional Preparation Master’s Scheme provides support for students intending to proceed to a career in professional practice, who are undertaking a Master’s or Postgraduate Diploma course that will prepare them specifically for that profession.
- The Doctoral Awards Scheme provides support for students undertaking doctoral study. Students should apply through this scheme even if their initial registration is as a probationary student or as an MPhil student.
“History of Architecture and the Built Environment” is one of five subject areas for which a separate allocation of ring-fenced funding is available.
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) funds research and training in social and economic issues. We have an international reputation both for providing high-quality research on issues of importance to business, the public sector and government and for our commitment to training excellence, which produces world-class social scientists.
Research Funding:
Research Grants Scheme
Research Fellowships Scheme
Postgraduate Funding
International Funding Opportunities
The UK Research Office is the UK’s leading information and advice service on European Union funding for research and higher education. Established in Brussels in 1984, UKRO is jointly funded by the seven UK grant-awarding Research Councils and receives subscriptions from over 150 research organisations, principally in the UK. UKRO’s mission is to promote effective UK participation in EU-funded research programmes, higher education programmes, and other related activities.
Funding Opportunities in Education:
Socrates – Erasmus – Transnational co-operation between universities.
Socrates – Tempus III HE Co-operation with Partner Countries in Western Balkans, Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Mediterranean Countries.
EU – Japan/Australia/New Zealand/Canada/USA HE Co-operation.
ALFA II – Co-operation with Latin America.
EU-China HE Co-operation – Co-operation in the field of European studies.
Asia Link II.
Funding Opportunities in Culture:
Culture Programme.
URB – AL – urban environment and regeneration in Latin America.
Asia – Urbs – urban environment and regeneration in Asia.
European Social Fund
Leonardo da Vinci
ARCHIMEDIA network
Europa Nostra Awards
European Cultural Foundation
The British Academy
The British Academy receives grant-in-aid from the Office of Science and Technology (OST) to fund research at postdoctoral level in all branches of enquiry within the humanities and social sciences. The Academy’s research funding strategy is focused on providing small-scale support. Its aim is to foster high-quality research and to help develop research capacity through a framework of responsive-mode programmes.
Schemes:
Conferences
Research Appointments
Research Grants
Research Projects
International Activities
Visiting Fellowships
Special Funds
The Leverhulme Trust
The Trust, established at the wish of William Hesketh Lever, the first Viscount Leverhulme, makes awards for the support of research and education. The Trust emphasises individuals and encompasses all subject areas. The Trustees place special weight on: the originality of the projects put to them; the significance of the proposed work; the ability to judge and take appropriate risk in the project and the removal of barriers between traditional disciplines.
Schemes:
Academic Collaboration: International Networks
Artists in Residence
Early Career Fellowships
Major Research Fellowships in the Humanities and Social Sciences
Philip Leverhulme Prizes
Research Fellowships
Research Project Grants
Study Abroad Fellowships
Study Abroad Studentships
Training and Professional Development
Visiting Fellowships
Visiting Professorships
Royal Historical Society
The Society was founded in 1868 and is the premier society in Great Britain which promotes and defends the scholarly study of the past. The Society has a varied programme of lectures and one-day and two-day conferences covering a wide range of historical issues. They provide excellent opportunities for formal and informal discussion among historians.
Schemes:
Grants for students to attend conferences or training courses.
Grants to conference organizers to subsidize postgraduate attendance.
Grants for students to meet the costs of visits to archives.
Supplementary bursaries to selected holders of Overseas Research Student Awards.
Annual Centenary Fellowship for an outstanding young scholar.
The Society of Architectural Historians is an international not-for-profit membership organization that promotes the study and preservation of the built environment worldwide.
SAH offers more than 25 fellowships annually for a variety of purposes. Click on the links below for information and applications.
Schemes:
Annual Meeting Fellowships for Graduate Students
Annual Meeting Fellowships for Senior Scholars
Annual Meeting Fellowship–Beverly Willis Architectural Foundation Travel Fellowship
Scott Opler Emerging Scholar Fellowship for Membership
DeMontequin Research Fellowship
Sally Kress Tompkins Fellowship for HABS Research Project
Arts Council England is the national development agency for the arts in England, distributing public money from Government and the National Lottery. The National Lottery has transformed the landscape for audiences and artists, injecting around £2 billion into the arts. Lottery funding supports Grants for the arts organisations.
Schemes:
Grants for the arts: individuals and organisations
Grants for the arts: stabilisation and recovery
Grants for the arts: capital
Urban cultural programme
Arts and Science Research Fellowships
Client of the Year
The Society exists to encourage an interest in the history of architecture, to provide opportunities for the exchange and discussion of ideas related to this subject and to publish, in its journal, Architectural History, significant source material and the results of original research.
Dorothy Stroud Bursaries for Publication
Margaret Ramsden and Annabel Ricketts Bursaries for Research Expenses
Thanks to generous bequests from or in memory of late members, the Society offers small grants twice annually to support the study of architectural history in the two categories of Education and Publication.
Value of awards:
Individual grants will not normally exceed £500, but in exceptional circumstances a grant of up to £1000 may be awarded.
Eligibility:
(a) Candidates may apply for a second award, but in cases of equal merit priority will be given to the first-time applicant. No one may receive more than two awards.
(b) The topic in the application may relate to any aspect of the history of architecture.
(c) Applicants must either be resident in the British Isles, or working on the history of British architecture.
Stroud Bursaries (for publication):
Any of the following expenses may be claimed:
subsidy to defray publication costs
cost of purchase of illustrations
payment of copyright fees
contribution to the costs of mounting an exhibition
Ramsden Bursaries (for education):
Applicants must normally be students registered for higher degrees. Awards will be given for research expenses, such as: Travel, building survey, photography, conference attendance. Grants will not be awarded for: maintenance at home, purchase of books or equipment, secretarial help, tuition fees.