Convenors are strongly advised to seek additional funding to top up what CRASSH is able to offer. Colleges and departments in Cambridge are sometimes able to make additional funds available to conference convenors. A number of funds, foundations and organisations that make conference grants are listed below by subject area. It is also worth searching Research Professional (from a Cambridge-networked computer) or Euraxess Funding Search. Please note that the list below is by no means exhaustive!
General
Cambridge postgraduate students are able to apply for support towards student-led conferences from the School of Arts and Humanities or the School of the Humanities and Social Sciences. A maximum of £1,000 is available. Find out more on the A&H funding page.
Cambridge staff on research contracts can apply for between £1,000 – £20,000 as part of the Cambridge Humanities Research Grant Scheme. Further information will be made available during Michaelmas.
BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants are available to support primary research in the humanities and social sciences. These grants range from £500 – £10,000 and are tenable for between 1 and 24 months. Support towards conferences is possible, however, this cannot be the sole purpose of the grant.
The Fritz Thyssen Foundation supports conferences in a range of subject areas.
The Wellcome Trust provides grants of up to £30,000 as part of its Small Grants in Humanities and Social Science scheme. This does allow for conference funding, however only as part of a wider programme of events.
Anthropology
The Wenner-Gren Foundation makes grants of up to $20,000 available to bring international scholars together to develop anthropological knowledge and debate.
Deadlines: June 1 (for conferences/ workshops to be held no earlier than January of the following year) and December 1 (for conferences/ workshops to be held no earlier than July of the following year).
Divinity
The Spalding Trust offers up to £2,000 to support the costs of conferences with evidence of interfaith boundary-crossing and the study of religion from a comparative perspective.
History
The Economic History Society aims to encourage otherwise unfunded workshops, special meetings and other interesting initiatives in economic and social history. A maximum of £2,000 can be awarded.
The Faculty of History’s George Macaulay Trevelyan Fund offers grants of up to £1,500 to support travel, accommodation, and subsistence costs for external speakers.
The Royal Historical Society makes grants to conference organisers (of any status) to assist in the financing of small, specialised historical conferences where there is substantial involvement of junior researchers. They are intended to subsidize registration fees (which in this scheme may include accommodation costs) and travel costs for these junior researchers. The value of grants awarded in this scheme is between £100 and £500.
History and Philosophy of Science
The Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness funds symposia, small conferences or workshops which address important issues in the development of the sociology of health and illness. A maximum of £2,500 will be provided for one-day meetings and £3,000 for two-day or longer meetings.
The Institute of Medical Ethics considers grants of up to £500 to support meetings or other activities of which medical ethics is a substantial and explicit component and which promote understanding of ethical issues related to health care.
Modern and Medieval Languages
The British Association for Slavonic and East European Studies (BASEES) offers up to £800 to support conferences.
The Modern Humanities Research Association make up to four grants of up to £1,500 each to support conferences or colloquia within the field of medieval and modern European languages and literatures (including English).
The Society for French Studies offers grants in support of conferences held in the UK or Ireland and concerned with research, teaching and learning in any area of French Studies. Grants normally range from £100 to £1,000.
Music
The Royal Musical Association welcomes proposals from conference organisers for the affiliation of their events to the RMA and will consider applications for financial support of generally not more than £500.
Philosophy
The Aristotelian Society considers applications of up to £500 for conferences.
The British Society of Aesthetics gives small grants in support of UK activities in aesthetics, including conferences and lecture series, of up to £5,000.
The Mind Association awards up to £2,000 in support of conferences that are philosophically innovative.
Social Sciences
The Galton Institute offers grants of up to £1,000 (up to £2,000 in ‘exceptional circumstances’) to help meet the costs of conferences or workshops concerned with biosocial sciences in the most liberal sense.
