Cambridge University Reporter


Arts and Humanities Research Council

POSTGRADUATE AWARDS IN THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES

There are several avenues of postgraduate funding available through the AHRC:

Block Grant Partnership Studentships - Awards held and advertised by certain institutions (a list of these institutions is available at http://www.ahrc.ac.uk from end of March 2009). Offered under three schemes (Research Preparation Master's Scheme, Professional Preparation Master's Scheme, Doctoral Awards Scheme). Open to high calibre students, resident in the UK (full maintenance grant and fees) and EU (fees only). For further information, contact the relevant institution directly.

Studentship Competition - Annual competition open to institutions who do not hold a Block Grant Partnership award. Announced at http://www.ahrc.ac.uk in December 2008, with a closing date of 7 May 2009. Offered under three schemes (Research Preparation Master's Scheme, Professional Preparation Master's Scheme, Doctoral Awards Scheme). Open to high calibre students, resident in the UK (full maintenance grant and fees) and EU (fees only). Applications made through the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system (https://je-s.rcuk.ac.uk). Contact the relevant institution to obtain information on their processes.

Doctoral Awards Scheme - Available under Block Grant Partnership Studentships and Studentship Competition. Open to high calibre students, resident in the UK (full maintenance grant and fees) and EU (fees only). Aims to provide support for study leading to a Ph.D.

Research Preparation Master's Scheme - Available under Block Grant Partnership Studentships and Studentship Competition. Open to high calibre students, resident in the UK (full maintenance grant and fees) and EU (fees only). Aims to allow students to gain a Master's level qualification explicitly intended to underpin further Ph.D. study.

Professional Preparation Master's Scheme - Available under Block Grant Partnership Studentships and Studentship Competition. Open to high calibre students, resident in the UK (full maintenance grant and fees) and EU (fees only). Aims to allow students to gain a Master's level qualification where the course focuses on skills development for professional practice. Awards only available in certain subjects.

Collaborative Doctoral Awards Scheme - Awards held and advertised by certain institutions. Open to high calibre doctoral students, resident in the UK (full maintenance grant and fees) and EU (fees only). For further information, contact the relevant institution directly. Intended to encourage and develop collaboration between Higher Education Institutions and non-academic organisations and businesses.

Further information is available at http://www.ahrc.ac.uk

RESEARCH AWARDS IN THE ARTS AND HUMANITIES

Research Grants

The Research Grants scheme has four routes of application: standard route; route for speculative research; route for early career researchers; and route for practice-led and applied research. The first three of these routes are intended to support well-defined research projects enabling individual researchers to collaborate with, and bring benefits to, other individuals and organisations through the conduct of research. These routes of the scheme are not intended to support individual scholarship.

The Research Grants: Practice-led and Applied Route has replaced the former Small Grants in Creative and Performing Arts scheme. This route is intended to provide funding for research projects where practice is an integral component; or where it is specifically undertaken with a view to generating outputs and outcomes with a defined application beyond the higher education sector; and/or where it theorises contemporary practice. It accepts proposals with full economic costs of up to £20,000 for up to one year.

Research Leave

Provides salary and associated costs for periods of three or four months, to enable an individual researcher to complete a significant research project by the end of the award period. The employing institution is expected to offer relief from teaching and other duties both in this period and an equivalent period in the term or semester immediately preceding.

Fellowships in the Creative and Performing Arts

Provides support to artists as research fellows within a higher education environment. It provides for the salary of the fellow, who can be appointed on a salary of between £26,000 and £43,500 pro-rata according to their experience, and associated costs. The scheme aims to develop research cultures, collaborations and capacity in the Creative and Performing Arts, and is open only to artists carrying out research in the creative and performing arts where their practice is integral to the research process.

Interdisciplinary Research Networks and Workshops

This scheme is designed to encourage and enable the discussion and development of ideas by researchers across and between disciplines, either through establishing new research networks or by running a series of workshops, seminars or similar events. It accepts proposals with full economic costs of up to £15,000 over one year for workshops and up to £30,000 over two years for networks. For proposals involving participants from countries/regions targeted in the AHRC's International Strategy the upper limit is £30,000 for workshops applications and £60,000 for networks applications.

Strategic Initiatives

Strategic Initiatives address issues of intellectual and wider cultural, social or economic urgency that the Council considers are best supported by concentrated investments.

For more detailed information on schemes, strategic initiatives, and financial arrangements please see the AHRC website: (http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/) or contact the Arts and Humanities Research Council at Whitefriars, Lewins Mead, Bristol, BS1 2AE (tel. 0117 987 6500, fax 0117 987 6600).