Conference funding

What we offer

Applications for events taking place between September 2022 and July 2023 are now closed.

CRASSH offers a menu of funding options to reflect the many formats that events can be delivered in.

CRASSH COVID Guidelines:

• All visitors to CRASSH must have valid travel insurance in place.
• CRASSH is not able to fund costs relating to isolation, quarantine or testing relating to COVID.
• CRASSH cannot be held financially responsible for any travel delays related to COVID.
• A negative Lateral flow test may be required to be logged before coming to CRASSH’s offices.

These guidelines are subject to change in line with the UK Government’s guidelines or University of Cambridge provisions.

Financial Support*

• Administration support only [event planning, management and promotion] : £0
• Online events: up to £500

Hybrid and in-person events:

• 1 day hybrid/in-person event: Up to £1,250
• 2 day hybrid/in-person event: Up to £2,500

The funds for in-person events cover speaker travel, hospitality and accommodation.

*Convenors would need to find additional funding to cover some costs to ensure that the maximum financial contribution from CRASSH is not exceeded. A list of other potential funding sources can be found under the ‘Additional Funding’ tab.

Please refer to the sample budget

It is CRASSH’s policy not to pay for honoraria or publications.

Applications for financial support always automatically include the in-kind contribution. Convenors are however able to apply for the in-kind support only.

Please note that conference funds cannot be carried over to the next academic year and any unspent sums below the maximum agreed, revert to the CRASSH conference support fund.

Conference Facilities, Marketing and Administrative Assistance

CRASSH is based in the Alison Richard Building and we can try to secure the seminar rooms at the ARB. We are also willing to support conferences that will take place at other venues within Cambridge.

Event assistance includes:

• Conference Budget: Devising a budget, setting up conference account to manage income and expenditure, online delegate registration/payment, producing final accounts.
• Conference CRASSH Webpage: Creating a conference website that includes registration, conference summary and/or calls for papers, posters, conference programme, links, and convenor information.
• Conference stand-alone website: CRASSH can build a WordPress site for convenors to upload and manage content. The website can be used to house papers, blogs, online exhibitions, work in progress, event programme, speaker bios, recordings etc. View an example website from the 2020-21 programme.
• Publicity: Poster design, event publicity via email, social media, and the CRASSH blog. Other forms of publicity such as a video conference trailer or audio/video of the event are usually discussed on an individual basis and the cost of this will normally come out of CRASSH’s financial contribution.
• Arrangements for Speakers: Assisting convenors with booking accommodation (usually college); reimbursing agreed speakers’ travel costs that are in line with the University’s travel expense policy.
• Catering: Arranging lunches and refreshments; assisting with college dinner bookings.
• Production of an online conference booklet and support on the day, including registration of participants.
• AV assistance: Typically available in the Alison Richard Building during normal working hours. Arrangements can be made for AV support outside of normal working hours or at alternate venues. The cost of AV support will be dependent on the specific requirements of the event. Post-event, CRASSH are able to organise the edit (there is a cost for this) and promote any event recordings.

Conference Dates

For in-person events, we generally aim to hold conferences out of term as space is generally more available, but not guaranteed. It can also be more problematic to secure speaker accommodation during term-time when students are in residence.

Please also note that conferences in the Alison Richard Building can only be held on Fridays and Saturdays during term (subject to room availability), meaning that catering costs will be higher. We suggest that you avoid degree and other ceremony dates, e.g. graduation weekend in June or alumni weekend in September.

Please list a range of preferred dates in order, or tell us if dates are fixed. We cannot guarantee that preferred dates will be offered.

We are able to host online events during and out of term time.

Please note that CRASSH’s policy is to not hold conferences on Sundays.

Selection criteria

Conferences will be selected by a panel comprising the Director and Administrator of CRASSH, two other invited members of Cambridge’s Faculty, and the Conference & Events Manager. The Conference & Events Manager will co-ordinate the selection process and inform the applicants of the result by the end of March 2022.

We are looking to support genuinely interdisciplinary conferences and events convened or co-convened by Cambridge researchers. As our funds are limited, the emphasis is on using CRASSH resources to enhance their academic dimension. We will strongly favour applications for conferences that could not happen easily under the auspices of other faculties or academic institutions in Cambridge.

We encourage conference organisers to make ample provision for discussion and for the participation of graduate students. We also strongly encourage convenors to think about the sustainability of their conference, perhaps looking at hosting a hybrid or online event.

Workshops related to externally funded projects may also be eligible for administrative support only; please state clearly the funds already available.

Selection will be made on the basis of the following:

• The contribution of the event to interdisciplinary, strategic, innovative areas of research;
• How well the conference reflects CRASSH’s Equality and Diversity values
• Evidence of how CRASSH support will add value;
• A coherent programme (aspirational or confirmed);
• A viable budget with information about other possible sources of funding;
• Consideration around the sustainability of the event;
• Availability of preferred conference dates.

Additional funding

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 Institute of Modern Language Research offers up to £2,500 to support conferences taking place outside of London which promote inter-institutional collaborations and bring together scholars from the wider region as participants or attendees.

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.