Royal Historical Society
University College London, Gower Street, LONDON, WC1E 6BT
Postgraduate Information
The Royal Historical Society is committed to supporting postgraduate students. All postgraduate students registered at doctoral research level at a UK university are eligible to apply for Membership of the Society, which provides access to the full range of the Society's activities.
We also offer a number of research grants for those undertaking postgraduate research, whether they are Members of the Society or not. Funds are available to subsidise attendance at conferences and training courses, and to help defray the costs of archival visits. In addition, bursaries are available to help those organising conferences to provide subsidised rates for postgraduate attendees.
We also offer the Martin Lynn Scholarship to assist an historian pursuing postgraduate research on a topic in African history and the Marshall and Centenary Fellowships to assist those writing up dissertations. The Rees Davies graduate essay prize is open to any graduate student who has benefited from the Society's research support scheme.
Postgraduate Research Support Grants 2010
Royal Historical Society awards are intended principally for postgraduate students registered for a research degree at United Kingdom institutions of higher education (full-time and part-time); the Society will also consider applications from individuals who have completed doctoral dissertations within the last two years and are not yet in full-time employment.
Grants of between £75 - £500 are offered under four schemes
i) for individual travel to conferences
ii) for research expenses within the United Kingdom
iii) for research expenses outside the United Kingdom
iv) for organisers of workshops and conferences to encourage the participation of junior researchers
The average grant is for a sum of £250, and priority will be given to new applicants. All applicants, however, are expected to seek funding from their own institutions in the first instance. Please note that grants cannot be sought retrospectively.
Applying for Research Support Grants
The Application
Students must produce a proper proposal as part of their application. This needs to indicate the scholarly value of the training course, research trip, conference or workshop. The application should also include a well-costed budget. Please note that funding will only be given for photocopying expenses if it is considered essential. Applicants and their referees must show clearly the relevance and significance of the application to their overall programme of research. Applicants should apply between one and three months before the date of their conference or research travel.
The Reference
The academic reference should properly support the applications. The reference should preferably be by the applicant's supervisor or by a specialist in the field of research.
Additional Notes
Applicants for Training Bursaries will be given funding to cover Registration Fees only if absolutely necessary. If an applicant fails to submit a report following the receipt of a grant, then he/she will not be awarded any further grants. If applicable, preference will be given to Members of the Royal Historical Society.
(1) Support for short-course and conference attendance
These grants are intended primarily to contribute towards travel costs to assist postgraduate students in attending short-term training courses designed to widen and/or enhance skills in historical research, or in attending conferences relevant to a student's research, where the applicant has been asked to give a paper or presentation. Application may also be made for a contribution towards registration fees where these do not include subsistence or accommodation costs.
Download an Application Form
(2) Research expenses within the United Kingdom
(3) Research expenses outside the United Kingdom
These grants are intended primarily to contribute towards travel costs to assist postgraduate students in making visits to archives and other site-visits away from their home institution which are necessary for their research. Application may also be made for a contribution towards other research expenses (e.g. photocopying, microfiliming, scanning), where these are indispensable. The Society does not normally fund students to do research in their own country of permanent residence if this is outside the United Kingdom. Applications are usually made for research visits in the second or third year (or part-time equivalent) of full-time postgraduate degrees.
Download an Application Form
(4) Organisers of workshops or conferences
These grants are made to conference organisers (of any status) to assist in the financing of small, specialized historical conference where there is substantial involvement of junior (i.e. postgraduate and immediate postdoctoral) researchers. They are intended to subsidize registration fees (which in this scheme may include accommodation and/or subsistence cost) and travel costs for these junior researchers.
Download an Application Form
Completed forms should be submitted by post to:
The Administrative Secretary, Royal Historical Society, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
Please contact 020 7387 7532 if you experience any problems downloading any of the Society's application forms.
Applications for all four schemes are considered by the Society's Research Support Committee. The closing dates for applications in the year 2010 are:
for schemes
i) for individual travel to conferences
ii) for research expenses within the United Kingdom
iii) for research expenses outside the United Kingdom
22 January 2010
23 April 2010
16 June 2010
10 September 2010
12 November 2010
for scheme
iv) for organisers of workshops and conferences to encourage the participation of junior researchers
23 April 2010
12 November 2010
Applicants will be notified of the result within one month of the closing date. Applicants are not normally considered for more than one grant in any given scheme over the course of their training.
In the unlikely event of a grant having been received and debited from the Society's bank account and the applicant not proceeding with the research for which the grant was intended, immediate repayment in full to the Society is required.
Scholarships, Fellowships and Prizes
The Royal Historical Society also awards the following:
Thanks to the generosity of the family of the late Martin Lynn, the Society has pleasure in announcing the establishment of an annual award in his memory. Martin Lynn was Professor of African History in the Queen's University, Belfast, the first scholar to hold a chair in African history in Ireland. His scholarly career was devoted to the history of West Africa and he published most extensively and importantly on the 19th and 20th century history of Nigeria. His scholarly achievements were matched by the reputation he enjoyed as an exciting and concerned teacher and a delightful, generous colleague and friend.
This award reflects the interests of the man it commemorates. Annually the Society will make an award of up to £1,000 to assist an historian pursuing postgraduate research on a topic in African history. Eligible students will be registered with a UK university history department and will have successfully completed their first year of full-time or first two years of part-time study by the time the award is taken up. Applicants intending to use the award to carry out research within Africa will be especially welcomed.
The next closing date for applications will be 31 May 2010.
Download an Application Form
Completed forms should be submitted by post to:
The Administrative Secretary, Royal Historical Society, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
Marshall and Centenary Fellowships
The Royal Historical Society is committed to supporting those at an early stage in their research careers. As a result, it provides funding for Fellowship tenable at the Institute of Historical Research in London.
Marshall Fellowships
This annual competition offer either one Fellowship worth £10,000 and tenable for one year, or two Fellowships, each worth £5,000 and tenable for six months. The Marshall Fellowships are supported by the generosity of Professor Peter Marshall, formerly Rhodes Professor of Imperial History at King's College London and former President of the Royal Historical Society.
The deadline for the current competition is 2 March 2009. The Fellowship(s) will be tenable from October 2009.
Centenary Fellowship
Funded from the Royal Historical Society's own resources, this one-year Fellowship worth £10,000 is advertised annually.
Fellowships are open to candidates without regard to nationality or academic affiliation. The Fellowships will be awarded to doctoral students who are engaged in the completion of a PhD in history (broadly defined) and who will have completed at least two years' research on their chosen topic (and not more than four years full-time or six years part-time) at the beginning of the session for which the awards are made. These awards cannot be held in conjunction with any other substantial maintenance grant.
Applications for either the Marshall or Centenary Fellowships must be made on the prescribed form, which may be obtained from the Fellowship Office at the Institute of Historical Research, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU, or downloaded from this address:
http://www.history.ac.uk/awards/forms/ihr_regs.rtf
The closing date for the current competition is 2 March 2009.
Rees Davies Prize
The Royal Historical Society has established a new graduate essay prize in memory of its former President and distinguished medieval scholar, Professor Sir Rees Davies (1938-2005).
The prise is open to all graduates who have been awarded grants to attend conferences under the Society's research support scheme. The prize will be publication of the essay in the following year's edition of the Society's prestigious journal Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, three year's free membership of the Royal Historical Society (which includes subscription to the Transactions) and a cash prize of £100.
The closing date for the current year's competition is 22 January 2010.
Entries should be submitted by post to:
The Administrative Secretary, Royal Historical Society, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
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Professor Barbara Taylor
"THE DEMISE OF THE ASYLUM IN LATE TWENTIETH CENTURY BRITAIN: A PERSONAL HISTORY"
Friday 24 September 2010 at 5.30pm
UCL
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