Small Conference Grants
Design is a funny word
The Society for Renaissance Studies welcomes applications of between £200 and £600 from conference organisers for financial support for research-led conferences, and will be awarded on the basis of the intellectual merit and the significance of the project / the originality of the event. Our parameters for understanding the ‘Renaissance’ are broad, within the period, c. 1300-1670 on any subject, or any geographical area.
Grants from this fund are particularly intended to allow postgraduate and postdoctoral students to attend conferences at which research is disseminated. They are generally in the form of conference fee waivers, and/or bursaries for travel and accommodation. Bursaries may also be awarded in contribution to the costs of participants with caring responsibilities who need to make alternative arrangements. The Society prefers to spread the benefits of the funding across a number of conference delegates, and generally funds in the region of £70 per person, though more may be granted should overseas delegates stand in need of funding. Only in exceptional circumstances will grants be awarded to cover administrative costs (including refreshments or entertainments), or to cover standing or repeat events, or to fund conferences whose primary purpose is training. Applications stand a better chance of being funded if they are in a relatively advanced state (including key speakers, rough ideas of numbers who are speaking, and numbers of bursaries it is hoped to offer). Preference may be given to institutions under-represented in SRS conference grant funding.
Application protocol:
- Please use the application form on the website:
- a short (one paragraph) description of the conference, dealing with the theme and research questions of the conference
- a provisional list of principal speakers and their topics
- the sum requested
- a brief outline of how the grant will be used (a condensed provisional estimate of conference expenditure may be submitted)
- details of other sources of funding which have been secured or are under consideration, including applications for funds from other schemes run by the Society for Renaissance Studies
- where the applicant is a postgraduate, an academic from their institution must approve the submission.
- Every applicant should be a member of the Society for Renaissance Studies. Postgraduates benefiting from the funds need not be members of the Society, but are warmly invited to join.
- The application should be submitted before the following deadlines – 1 April and 1 December. We will inform applicants as soon as possible of the outcome. The application should be received at least three months before the date of the conference.
- Unsuccessful applicants may resubmit an application at the next deadline, but we will not advise, or give feedback, on bids.
- Successful applicants must:
- display the SRS logo on all conference publicity material, and acknowledge SRS support in any publication arising from the event.
- Advertise the conference on our events calendar.
- circulate SRS membership leaflets to all delegates
- send a short report on the event to the Editors of the SRS Bulletin, for inclusion in a future issue.
- when claiming funding, provide a clear and detailed spreadsheet to the Treasurer of how the money has been spent, together with an original receipt from your institution, confirming it has received the money. Cheques will be made out to institutional (not personal) accounts, after the Treasurer has verified this statement.
Queries should be sent to:
Dr Eleanor Chan
To access the application form for this grant, you need to be a member of the Society for Renaissance Studies.