The Society’s Funded Book Workshops Grants support historians, currently working on a second or third major research project, and which will lead to publication of a monograph. The Book Workshops enable an author, typically at a mid-career stage, to bring together fellow scholars to discuss and develop the manuscript of a scholarly monograph.
Applications are now invited for two Book Workshop Grants to take place in the academic year 2026-27.
For further details of the scheme, eligibility and how to apply, please see here. Please note: this programme is reserved for current Fellows and Members of the Royal Historical Society.*
Funded Book Workshops enable recipients to bring together scholars of their choosing to discuss and debate a second or third major research project which will result in a monograph, currently at the draft manuscript stage.
Each award provides up to £2000 to an author to host a day-long book workshop to consider a project and monograph text in detail. Funds may be spent to invite up to six scholars (based in the UK or European Union) to attend the workshop, and is intended to cover travel, hospitality and overnight accommodation where required.
The programme seeks to address a lack of intellectual support that many historians face in mid career. This lack of support is often in contrast to that provided when studying for a PhD, and writing first articles or monograph derived from a doctorate.
Workshops provide a constructive environment in which work-in-progress is developed to become a richer book on publication. In this way, the initiative extends — to those later in their careers — the Society’s existing New Historical Perspectives scheme of author workshops for early career historians.
*If you are interested in joining the Society, please see here for details of our Fellowship and Membership categories and the benefits that come with membership.
Launched in 2023, the programme has supported day workshops for the following authors and their book projects:
- Rachel Bright (Keele University) for her project ‘Becoming British? A digital history of women’s migration and naturalisation in early twentieth century Australia’ (Manchester University Press)
- Mark Williams (Cardiff University) for his project ‘The Uneasy World: A Cultural History of the East India Company, 1600-1757’ (Princeton University Press)
- Jodi Burkett (University of Portsmouth) for her project: ‘International Students in Post-Imperial Britain: Experiences of Activism, Community, and Racialisation, c.1960-1990′ (Manchester University Press)
- Selena Daly (University College London) for her project: ‘The World is Our Homeland: A Global History of Italian Emigration’ (Hodder & Stoughton)
- Jennifer Aston (Northumbria University) for her book: Deserted Wives and Economic Divorce in 19th-Century England and Wales, published with Bloomsbury in November 2024
- Tim Grady (University of Chester) for his book: Burying the Enemy. The Story of Those who Cared for the Dead in Two World Wars, published with Yale University Press in April 2025