Research Support Grants are offered in the autumn and spring rounds to individuals already engaged in research involving the study of British art or architectural history or British visual culture.
A Research Support Grant is an award of up to £2,000 towards the expenses incurred in visiting collections, libraries, archives or historic sites within the United Kingdom or abroad for research purposes.
The PMC is an educational charity that champions new ways of understanding British art history and culture. Through all areas of our work, including our Grants & Fellowships programme, we promote activities that enhance and expand knowledge of British art and architecture. As an organisation, we pledge ourselves to ensuring that the histories of British art are enriched and made more relevant to a broader range of people in the future. The inclusion of voices, narratives and experiences that have been marginalised or excluded in the past will have a transformational impact on the future of the Centre and upon British art studies. Accordingly, the PMC particularly welcomes applications from those who are under-represented within the academic field of the humanities in the UK.
The next round of Research Support Grants will open for applications on Monday 4 August and close Tuesday 30 September.
Research Support Grants are specifically designed for individuals to support the expenses incurred in visiting collections, libraries, archives or historic sites for academic research purposes. Individuals can apply to support trips both within the UK and internationally.
As these grants are offered for specific research visits, individuals may claim for costs to support travel, accommodation and daily subsistence only.
Research Support Grants are offered for up to a maximum of £2,000; applications for less than £2,000 are also eligible.
This grant can only go towards supporting the following costs:
- standard class fares (in full)
- accommodation (up to a maximum of £200 per night)
- daily subsistence (up to £40 per day)
Additional costs relating to specific support or access requirements may be supported by the PMC on a case-by-case basis. This will be arranged once the grant is made and applicants do not need to include such requirements in their application form. Please contact the Grants & Fellowships Manager for more information.
The award will be paid directly to the individual in one payment.
Our funding programme supports research, educational activities and the dissemination of knowledge in the fields of British art and architectural history, from the medieval period to the present day and across the spectrum of relevant geographical and cultural contexts. Our remit is broadly defined and adapts as the interests of those working in our field change. It encompasses art made in Britain or by British artists, but is not solely limited to art made, or artists from, within the geographical boundaries of the British isles. Rather we understand the field of British art studies to encompass a broad range of subjects and topics related to the artistic and cultural histories of Britain, past and present.
We do not offer grants and fellowships in field archaeology, the current practice of architecture or the performing arts. Applications in the fields of photography, performance, film and digital media will need to demonstrate their relevance to British art studies.
Academics, scholars, postgraduate students and independent researchers are eligible to apply in the Research Support Grant category, with the stipulation that their research is in the field of British art or architectural history and is of a scholarly nature.
Conference attendance, costs of photography, photocopying, computers, cameras or other equipment DO NOT come within the scope of this award and such costs must not be included in any application.
Please note that funding can only be claimed for any forthcoming activity (and cannot be backdated). Therefore for applications in our Autumn rounds, proposed activity can be undertaken from December onwards and for applications in our Spring rounds, proposed activity can be undertaken from April onwards.
For further questions on eligibility please contact the Grants & Fellowships Manager at [email protected].
The next round of Research Support Grants will open for applications on Monday 4 August and close Tuesday 30 September.
To apply for this grant applicants must use our online system at grants.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk. Once registered you will be able to fill out the online application form (an example of which can be downloaded below), you will also need to provide the details of one referee. Once the application has been submitted, and the reference has been received, we will check it to ensure eligibility. All accepted applications will then be read and assessed by our Advisory Council made up of twelve external academics and professionals with relevant expertise (you can find a list of the current members here). Three senior members of Paul Mellon Centre staff also sit on our Advisory Council.
The number of good applications is likely to exceed the funding available, so the Advisory Council are advised to use some or all of the following criteria to help them in making decisions on how best to allocate funding:
- academic rigour
- originality and distinctness in the context of current scholarship
- contribution to scholarship in the longer term
- timeliness, where a project is connected with a particular moment or opportunity
- where a grant would support work in a geographical or cultural context which has not hitherto been supported by PMC
- need, where the research would be unlikely to go ahead without this support
- impact and inclusion, where the research would include voices or reach a broader range of people than have hitherto been represented in the field of British art studies
We also advise applicants to read our FAQ & Guidance webpage before starting their application, our Grant Making Policy and Due Diligence Policy can also be found there.
Decisions made by the Advisory Council will be communicated to all applicants within two months of the application submission date. Given the volume of applications, we cannot guarantee individual feedback if you are unsuccessful. However, we do try to accommodate specific requests. Please email our Grants and Fellowships Manager to request this.
If you have any access requirements or experience any issues using our online grants system (or accessing and filling out the application forms) then please do contact the Grants and Fellowships Manager who will be able to assist you.
As part of the application form, you will need to provide the name and email address of one referee who is willing to submit a short reference (500 words) for you. The referee should have first-hand knowledge of the applicant’s academic career and/or the subject area for which funding is being sought. The Advisory Council would like to be informed of the originality of the subject matter and the applicant’s suitability to pursue such research. The reference is an essential part of our due diligence process, and your application cannot proceed to assessment without one.
Once your application is submitted, an automatic email notification will be sent to your referee with a link that allows them to view your application and submit their reference. They will also have the option to decline the request.
The deadline for submitting references will depend on the funding round, but it is generally between 7-10 days after the application closing date. The deadline date will be clearly communicated to you and your referee during the application process. You will receive an email notification when your referee has submitted their reference and once it has been received your application will proceed to the assessment round.
For more guidance on the content of the references, please refer to our FAQ & Guidance page.
Please ensure you speak to your referee before including their details in the application form so they are aware of the reference requirement and the deadline. We also recommend submitting your application in advance of the closing date to allow your referee as much time as possible to complete their reference.
Each round, we encounter reference requests that are not received by the intended recipients due to misspelled email addresses. To avoid delays, please double-check that all contact details are entered correctly when submitting your application.
- Payment of the grant must be claimed within twelve months of the award being made and the research trip(s) must be taken within eighteen months.
- On completion the recipient must submit a comprehensive written report: this would typically be around 500 words (1 page) but may be longer if required. The report should detail the research activity undertaken during the funded period and the impact of this work on the larger project. The report must be submitted within three months of the completed project, this will then be shared with the Advisory Council. If there are any further future outcomes of the project outside of the funding period (eg. publication, exhibition, academic papers) then the recipient should send the details of these to the Grants and Fellowships Manager.
- The full terms and conditions of grant awards can be read here.