Major Conference Grants

The Society for Renaissance Studies intends to make a grant of up to £1,500 support a conference or colloquium within the field of Renaissance studies, planned for academic year 1 August - 31 July, following the 1 December deadline and held in the United Kingdom or the Republic of Ireland. The awards will be made to the conference organizers to provide assistance with organizational support and/or the travel and subsistence costs of certain participants, including postgraduate students,, and to help cover the cost of alternative care arrangements for participants with caring responsibilities.

Ordinarily, we will not award both a major conference grant and a small conference grant for the same event, but we will automatically consider relevant costs from a major for a small conference grant (i.e. postgraduate bursaries). You may wish to consider this in how you frame your expenses.

Purpose of grant:

The grants are deliberately intended to complement the MHRA Conference Grant Scheme for SRS field of interest. The main purpose of any conference or colloquium supported will be the dissemination of research. The overriding criterion for an award will be the perceived academic value of the meeting, in competition with others.

Applicants will be expected to have obtained primary funding from their institution (university, museum or gallery, or other). Applicants are required to disclose all other sources of funding, but funding from other sources will not in itself be seen as a weakness in an application. Both major international meetings and smaller-scale specialist colloquia, including one-day events, will be considered on their academic merits. Applications will not be considered for less than £600. The maximum award is £1,500.

Eligible subject areas:

The Society exists to provide a forum for those interested in any aspect of the study of the Renaissance and to encourage and promote advanced study and research in the field of Renaissance studies. Eligible topics include the history, art, architecture, philosophy, science, technology, religion, music, the literatures and languages of Europe, and of the countries in contact with Europe, during the Renaissance.

Eligibility of applicants:

Applications will be accepted from the conference organizer(s), who hold an academic position at a university or a museum or gallery in Britain and Ireland, from postgraduate students registered for a higher degree (normally a doctorate) at a university in Britain and Ireland. All applicants should be members of the SRS at the time of their application.

Eligible costs:

Grants may be used for administrative expenses, where justified. They may be used as a contribution towards the travel, accommodation and maintenance expenses of bringing speakers from within Britain and Ireland or from overseas to conferences held in Britain and Ireland. Grants may also be used to help cover the cost of alternative arrangements for delegates with caring responsibilities. Priority may be given to younger scholars. Honoraria or other fees or payments to speakers are not eligible for support.

Please not the following are not eligible

• Grants are not available for any kind of lecture or seminar series.
• Events that form part of an institution’s teaching or training programme.
• Grants are, regretfully, not available to support events that are primarily intended to give postgraduate students an opportunity to present their research.
• The regular annual conferences of major subject associations or learned societies will not normally be eligible for support.

It will a condition of that award that those in receipt of SRS Conference Grants will acknowledge the support of the Society on all conference publicity materials and at the event.

Application and assessment:

Applicants are required to select one referee and ensure that the supporting statement from their referee reaches the Conference Officer of the SRS by the closing date. Successful applicants will ordinarily be notified within 12 weeks of the deadline.

Assessors will evaluate the proposal on the basis of its academic merit. Assessors may also pay attention to issues such as the presentation of the application form and value for money.

Competition between conferences planned for many different areas within the field of Renaissance Studies will necessarily result in disappointment for some excellent applications.

Payment of grants:

Payment of grants awarded will be made three months before the scheduled date of the conference or colloquium. Before payment, grantees will be required to confirm that there are no substantial changes to the original application, to indicate any additional sources of funding obtained and their purpose, and to undertake to supply a detailed statement of expenditure and an original receipt from your institution, for disbursement of the grant immediately after the conclusion of the meeting.

Completion of the application form:

Applications must be made on the form provided. Answer every question in the space provided, although it is recognized that, at this stage, full details may not be available in every area of enquiry. The completed form should aim to give the assessors as complete an overview as possible of the academic scope and intention of your planned meeting, bearing in mind that the application will be considered in competition with others from different fields within Renaissance studies.

1. Applications should have one lead applicant, who should generally be the principal conference organizer. All correspondence will be sent to the named individual at the address specified on the form.
2. Give the title, location, dates and (where applicable) organizing body of the conference. Indicate whether the meeting is one of a series, or a one-off event.
3. Give the expected numbers and international scope of participants, and indicate whether the event is open to all or restricted to invited specialists.
4. State the amount requested from the SRS, to the nearest full pound (maximum £1,500).
5. List both the main speakers and any others for whom support is sought, and give the titles or broad subject-area of their papers. Asterisk or otherwise clearly identify the names of those for whom grant support is sought in this application.
6. Give a summary of the aims and objectives of the conference, together with any further details that may be relevant, such as its history (if one of a series), particular timeliness or significance of the theme etc.
7. Give a breakdown of the conference budget in pounds sterling. Sample budget heads are provided, but they may not all be applicable. Please provide details of all expenditure and income for the conference as far as possible.
8. Give details of other support given or applied for in connection with the current proposal. The SRS has no objection to its grants being held in conjunction with awards from other bodies, provided that there is no duplication of expenditure. Successful applicants will be required to keep the SRS informed of the outcomes of any other applications.
9. The SRS values the dissemination of research. It is hoped that publication in some form will normally result from the meeting, although this fund is not intended to assist publication directly.
10. Your referee should be able to give an informed view of the conference or colloquium, and assess its likely impact on the subject area. Your referee should not be directly involved with any aspect of the conference, and should be drawn from outside your own employing institution.
11. In some cases, institutional authorization may be required to validate the application. Check with your Research Office whether this is the case. Submitting the application form constitutes confirmation that the information provided is complete and accurate, and acceptance of all terms contained in the Notes for Applicants. Subsequent discovery of any deliberate falsehood will automatically render the application null and void. If an award has been made, the SRS may require a full refund.

What to do next:

Complete all sections of the application form and submit it. Your referee will then be given read-only access to your application and they will be asked to complete the reference and submit it before the deadline. It is your responsibility to inform your referee of the closing date, and to ensure that the reference is submitted by the due date.

If you have queries, please contact the SRS Conference Officer:

Dr. Syrithe Pugh
Old Brewery F06
The School of Language, Literature, Music and Visual Culture
University of Aberdeen
Aberdeen
AB24 3FX

email: s.m.pugh@abdn.ac.uk