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General travel, research travel, and research abroad

Some of the Funds mentioned above may allow applications for research travel to libraries and/or archives in the UK or abroad, or for 'fieldwork'. Some other options to explore are listed below.

You must in any case discuss the scope, usefulness and feasibility of any research trip abroad with your supervisor(s). If you do decide to pursue a research sojourn abroad, time it well: do consider carefully whether any teaching or administrative commitments may be affected.

Broad or general schemes

  • Warwick's Lord Rootes Memorial FundLink opens in a new window provides funding to University of Warwick students to support individual or group activities, especially: those involving observation and the intelligent use of experience in the scientific, cultural, or business context; those proposing to examine in depth problems of economic, environmental, social or technological significance ; those demonstrating creativity of thought and the development of an original and personal idea. The grants vary from £100 to £3,000. There is one deadline per year (in January). Please consider carefully whether your proposed activity would meet the criteria.
  • James H. Marrow Research Travel Fundis intended to provide financial assistance for students and independent scholars who need to travel to the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge in order to undertake short term research on its collection of illuminated manuscripts. Summer deadlines usually apply.
  • Lisa Jardine Grant Scheme (Royal Society), up to £2,000 per month to a maximum of 3 months, for travel and living expenses while attending the Royal Society Library and nearby scholarly collections; and/or up to £2,000 for international travel to any relevant research destination.

Area or subject specific schemes

    • Postgraduate students working on medieval, Renaissance, or early modern topics may apply, through Warwick's Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, for funding to undertake research or attend graduate training seminars at the Newberry Library in Chicago (“Newberry Renaissance Consortium Grants”). Thanks to a reciprocal arrangement funds may also be available for programs and research at the Folger Institute in Washington, DC (“Newberry Renaissance Consortium Grant for seminar participation/research at the Folger Institute”). Applications go through the faculty representative in the Consortium institution; in Warwick, you should write the Director of the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance
    • The British School at Rome offers Awards and Scholarships in the Humanities for research on the history of Italy from pre-historical times to the present. Plan well in advance.
    • The Robson-Scott scholarship is awarded annually in the spring by the Institute of Germanic & Romance Studies (London). It is designed to assist postgraduate students registered for a higher degree at a university in the United Kingdom to travel abroad in connection with research bearing on the languages and literatures of the German-speaking countries, the Netherlands, or Scandinavia. Awards are not made for attendance at conferences or other events.
    • The Association for Low Countries Studies in Great Britain and IrelandLink opens in a new window offer funding for research projects in Dutch Studies. A proportion of funds is set aside for applications from postgraduate students, for instance to assist with travel expenses to visit an archive.
    • The Economic History Society will consider applications for grants (normally of up to £500) to assist postgraduate students (Master's Degree and PhD) in United Kingdom colleges and universities with travel and subsistence expenses incurred in the undertaking of research into any aspect of economic and social history.
    • The THEODORA BOSANQUET BURSARY (TBB) is offered annually by the British Federation for Women Graduates to women graduates whose research in History or English Literature requires a short residence in London in the summer. It provides accommodation in a hall of residence for up to 4 weeks between mid June and mid September. Closing date for applications: 31 October each year.
    • The Thomas Wiedemann Memorial Fund supports postgraduate study of the Ancient world in UK universities. Grants from the Fund are available to assist with the costs of visits to universities, libraries, or museums in the UK, related to actual or planned research activities.
    • The Catholic Record Society makes awards from The David Rogers Research Fund to encourage new writing on Reformation or Post-Reformation British Catholic history by helping to defray the cost of necessary travel to libraries and archives at home and/or abroad and the extra subsistence costs involved. The research must lead to written publication in a reputable historical forum (so research directly related to your PhD thesis may not qualify). Other awards also available.
    • The (North-American) Society for Reformation research offers the Miriam U. Chrisman Travel Fellowship of $1500 every other year in odd numbered years (2013, 2015, etc.) to graduate students who need to travel abroad to do research on their doctoral dissertations. The award competition is open to all students of European history, 1450-1650, whose topics deal with religious history in some way. The Recording Officer must receive all materials by March 1 of the year of the competition, and the next award will be made in 2019.
    • Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature Research Travel Bursaries are to support relevant research by scholars, at any stage in their career, who are not in receipt of the requisite funding from other sources. The value of all grants is between £300 and £1000 (GBP). Bursaries are open to all scholars whose research falls within the interests of the Society, broadly defined; but preference may be given to those who are members of the Society. The Society regrets that the Travel Research Bursaries scheme cannot provide funding to attend academic conferences or other organized events.

    • The H. Henry Meeter Center for Calvin Studies at Calvin College, Michigan (USA) offers a Student Fellowship, i.e. a four-week research fellowship for a graduate-level student from a college or university other than Calvin. The fellowship comes with a $1,250 stipend and work space in the Meeter Center. The field of study must be John Calvin or the Protestant Reformation and early Calvinism.
    • The Spanish-based Juanelo Turriano Foundation (named after Charles V's clockmaker and engine deviser Giovanni Turriano [1500?-1585]) is concerned with the historical study of science and technology. The Foundation has study grants, fellowships and other sources of funding for activities in its field of interest.