The Society’s Research Funding supports a large number of historians across a range of activities: from studying for a Masters’ degree and finishing a PhD, to undertaking research and working on a project, such as writing an article.
The following individuals are current holders of RHS Fellowships and Grants in 2023. Each year, the Society awards c.£95,000 in research funding to historians through open competitions. In 2022, the Society is allocating a further £30,000 in one-off programmes (including its Ukraine Scholars at Risk Fellowships), generously assisted by partner organisations and donors.
Full details, and call timetables, for all Royal Historical Society research funding are available here.
1. Centenary and Marshall Fellows, 2023-24
Held for 6 months, jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London, the Centenary and Marshall Fellowships enable historians to complete their PhDs and receive research training:
Clare V. Church, is an RHS Centenary Fellow held jointly with the Institute of Research, University of London. Clare is a fourth-year PhD researcher at Aberystwyth University, studying within the Department of History and Welsh History under the supervision of Dr Siân Nicholas and Dr Miguel Hernandez. Originally from Canada, Clare completed her Master of Arts at New York University and attained her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Waterloo.
The subject of her doctoral research focuses on the cultural representations of women celebrities, and their subsequent influence on gender roles and national morale throughout the Second World War. Specifically, the project applies the concept of ‘patriotic femininity’ – originally developed by Phil Goodman within the context of British Second World War studies – transnationally, exploring celebrity case studies in the UK, US, and France. Studying the mediated depictions of celebrities like Vera Lynn, the Andrews Sisters, and Joséphine Baker, the project endeavours to understand how the ‘ideal woman’ was framed within these distinct national wartime contexts.
John Marshall is an RHS Centenary Fellow, held jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. John is a fourth year PhD candidate at Trinity College Dublin, having previously obtained a BA and MA from Dublin City University.
John’s research analyses transnational lordship and politics in thirteenth-century Britain and Ireland. John’s thesis focuses on the Marshal earls of Pembroke and lords of Leinster, in particular how their influence on the ‘peripheries’ of the Plantagenet empire in Ireland and Wales brought them influence and patronage at the core. His thesis will also provide the first edition of the partition of the Marshal estates in 1247 after the male line of the family died out.
In addition to his membership with the RHS, John is also an associate member of the AHRC-funded Noblesse Oblige research network and has published on aspects of his research in History: The Journal of the Historical Association (108:382) and Irish Historical Studies (2023).
Helena Neimann Erikstrup is an RHS Marshall Fellow, held jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Helena is a fourth-year DPhil student in History of Art at the University of Oxford. Her thesis ‘The Colours of Martinique: The (re)making of the modern Subject in French-Caribbean Art, 1847-1930’ focuses on visual representations of race and ecology made in Martinique as vital sites in which French national identity was negotiated in the mid-nineteenth to the early twentieth century, a period in which the definition of being, and not being, French was redefined. It looks at understudied visual material of lesser-known or completely unknown, sometimes ‘amateur’, artists alongside work of a canonical artist like Paul Gauguin.
By looking at such artists in a relational, non-hierarchical way, Helena’s research navigates the multitude of chromatic explorations done to grapple and reassert racial and environmental control of Martinique in the decades following the 1848 abolition of slavery. The thesis uses colour (as a pigment, a racial marker and visual effect) as the main prism through which engage with the work and the questions they ask.
Stefano Nicastro is an RHS Marshall Fellow, held jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Stefano studied History at the University of Milan and spent a semester abroad in Istanbul at the Yıldız Teknik Üniversitesi via the Erasmus programme. Subsequently, he completed an MSc in Middle Eastern Studies with Arabic at the University of Edinburgh and I further studied Arabic in Egypt at the International House Cairo – ILI.
Stefano is currently a History PhD Student at the University of Edinburgh, working on a thesis entitled, ‘Genoa in the Islamicate Mediterranean: Diplomatic and Economic Relationships between the Genoese and the Qalawunid Sultanate of Egypt and Syria, 1279-1382′. Stefano’s research looks at cross-cultural and trans-regional interactions in the Mediterranean during the later Middle Ages. Specifically, it studies the diplomatic and commercial relationships between the commune of Genoa and the Mamluk sultanate with a focus on the practices and the modality of these trans-Mediterranean exchanges.
2. Early Career Fellowship Grant holders, 2023
Held for up to 6 months, Early Career Fellowship Grants provide support for post-doctoral researchers to work on a defined project, such as writing an article or book proposal:
- Emily Brady – awarded February 2023
- Gabrielle Storey – awarded February 2023
- Sasha Rasmussen – awarded February 2023
- Somak Biswas – awarded February 2023
- Jon Winder – awarded February 2023
3. Martin Lynn Scholarship in African History, 2022-23
Awarded annually, the Martin Lynn Scholarship supports research in the history of Africa:
- Chloe Mayoux (London School of Economics)
- Emma Orchardson (Warwick University)
4. Masters’ Scholarships in History, 2022-23
Awarded annually, Masters’ Scholarships support students studying for a Masters’ degree in History at a UK university. Scholarships are reserved for early career historians from groups underrepresented in academic history:
- Amber Cross (University of Lancaster)
- Gemma Jackson (University of Nottingham)
- Henna Khanom (University College London)
- Louis Kill-Brown (University of Cambridge)
- Ahmed Lalljee (School of Oriental and African Studies)
- Daniel MacDonald (University of Strathclyde)
5. Postgraduate Research Support Grants, 2023
Introduced in Spring 2023, Postgraduate Research Support Grants are available to History students (who are Postgraduate Members of the Royal Historical Society), currently studying for a Masters degree or PhD to undertake historical research.
- Shelley Castle – awarded August 2023
- Jones Patrick O’Dare – awarded August 2023
- William Rees – awarded August 2023
- Islay Shelbourne – awarded August 2023
- Francisca Valenzuela Villaseca – awarded August 2023
- Alexandra Watson – awarded August 2023
6. Early Career Research Support Grants, 2023
Introduced in Spring 2023, Early Career Research Support Grants are available to historians within 3 years of submitting their PhD in a historical subject (who are members of the Royal Historical Society) to undertake research.
- Merve Fejzula – awarded August 2023
- Natalee Garrett – awarded August 2023
- David Nicoll – awarded August 2023
- Christopher Whittell – awarded August 2023
- Nicola Williams – awarded August 2023
- Thomas Wood – awarded August 2023
7. Open Research Support Grants, 2023
Introduced in Spring 2023, Open Research Support Grants are available to all historians (who are members of the Royal Historical Society) who are not postgraduate students or early career researchers (within 3 years of completing a PhD). Open Research Support Grants provide funds to historians to undertake historical research.
- Athanasios Antonopoulos – awarded August 2023
- Marc Collinson – awarded August 2023
- Roxana Coman – awarded August 2023
- Rowan Thompson – awarded August 2023
- Rachael Whitbread – awarded August 2023
8. Workshop Grants, 2023
Awarded annually from 2022, Workshop Grants provide support for groups of historians to meet and discuss shared projects in detail. Transactions Workshops enable work leading to publication in the Society’s journal, Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, RHS Workshop Grants support historians to meet for a wider range of projects and activities. Workshop Grants are open to historian at all career stages.
Transactions Workshop Grant holders:
- ’80 Years of the Bengal Famine (1943): Decolonial Dialogues from the Global South’ — lead organisers: Priyanka Basu and Ananya Jahanara Kabir (King’s College London)
- ‘Transnational Activism in a Divided World: the Regional within the Global’ — lead organisers: Daniel Laqua (Northumbria) and Thomas Davies (City, University of London)
- ‘The Future of Our Past: Where is Environmental History Heading?’ — lead organiser: Alexander Hibberts (Durham)
- ‘Parliamentary Culture in Colonial Contexts, c.1500 – c.1700’ — lead organisers: Paul Seaward (History of Parliament Trust), Pauline Kewes (Oxford) and Jim Van der Meulen (Ghent)
- ‘The Myth of Barter. Perspectives from the Global Middle Ages’ — lead organiser: Nick Evans (Leeds)
- ‘Labour Pains: Mothers and Motherhood on the Left in the Twentieth Century’ — lead organisers: Lyndsey Jenkins (Queen Mary, University of London) and Charlotte Riley (Southampton)
- ‘Unofficial Diplomats: East Mediterranean Archaeologists and Britain’s Imperial Project’ — lead organiser: Anna Kelley (St Andrews)
- ‘Game Studies and History’ — lead organiser: Gavin Schwartz-Leeper (Warwick)
- ‘Collective Reflections on Oral Histories of Pakistan’s Women Constitution Makers’ — lead organisers: Mahnaz Shujrah and Maryam S. Khan (Institute of Development and Economic Solutions, Lahore)
RHS Workshop Grant holders:
- ‘Early Modern Error’— lead organiser: Alice Leonard (Coventry)
- ‘Women and Plantations: New Directions in Tudor and Stuart Colonial History’ — lead organiser: Lauren Working (York)
- ‘Beyond the ‘Good’ / ’Bad’ Migrant Dichotomy: ways forward for early modern and contemporary history’— lead organiser: Kathleen Commons (Sheffield)
- ‘Unboxing the Family Archive: New Approaches to Intergenerational Collections’ — lead organiser: Imogen Peck (Birmingham)
9. Funded Book Workshop Grants, 2023
First awarded in 2023, Funded Book Workshop Grants provide support for authors currently writing a second or third monograph to hold a day workshop with six invited readers to discuss a draft manuscript
Funded Book Workshop Grant holders:
- Jennifer Aston (Northumbria University) for her project: ‘For Wives Alone’: Deserted Wives and Economic Divorce in Nineteenth Century England and Wales
- Tim Grady (University of Chester) for his project: ‘The Unwelcome Gravediggers’: War, Memory and the Unmaking of British-German Relations
10. Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships, 2023-24
First awarded in 2023, Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships provide support for historians to trial new approaches in teaching History in UK Higher Education, or to undertake surveys of current aspects of History teaching.
Fellowship holders in the academic year 2023-24:
- Natalya Cherynshova (Queen Mary, University of London) for her project to translate 20th-century Ukrainian and Belarussian primary source materials for undergraduate teaching.
- Liesbeth Corens and Jenny Bangham (Queen Mary, University of London) for ‘Histories of Disability Toolkit’.
- David Geiringer (QMUL) for ‘Placing Migrant Histories Centre Stage’
- Laura Harrison, Martin Simpson, Rose Wallis, Mark Reeves and Ian Brooks (University of the West of England) to develop a new history course to support teaching in computing and sustainability
- Amy King (University of Bristol) for ‘The F-Word: Understanding. European Fascism Then and Now’
- Karen Smyth (University of East Anglia) for ‘Paston Footprints heritage trails’
- David Stack (University of Reading) for ‘Promoting Wellbeing Through History Teaching’