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 recent recipients of selected RHS Fellowships and Grants in 2022. Each year, the Society awards £95,000 in research funding to historians through open competitions. In 2022, the Society is allocating a further £30,000 in one-off programmes, generously assisted by partner organisations and donors. In addition to the awards listed below, many other historians receive small grants to undertake research trips and archive work.
1. Centenary and Marshall Fellows, 2022-23
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:
Sofya Anisimova is an RHS Centenary Fellow, 2022-23, held jointly with the Institute of Research, University of London. Sofya’s six-month fellowship will run from October 2022 to March 2023.
Sofya is a fourth-year PhD student at the University of St Andrews. Her thesis titled ‘Russia’s Military Strategy and the Entente, 1914-1917’ looks at how the participation in a coalition with Britain and France affected the strategic planning of the Russian high command during the First World War.
Studying the inter-Allied relations in detail and finally bringing Russia into the analysis of the Entente strategy helps us better grasp the challenges faced by coalitions in general. It also broadens our understanding of the geography of the Entente engagement during the war, and brings us closer to a more balanced view of the 1914-1918 conflict that includes not only the Western front but also Eastern, Balkan and Ottoman theatres of war.
Daniel Banks is an RHS Marshall Fellow, 2022-23, held jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Daniel’s six-month fellowship will run from January 2023 to June 2023 and will enable completion of his PhD thesis: ‘The Floating Revolution: revolutionary mobilities, organisation and practices in the western Mediterranean, c. 1856-1875’, based at the European University Institute, Florence.
Daniel’s work focuses on how a heterogeneous group of republican revolutionaries influenced the politics of nation-building and colonialism in the western Mediterranean from 1850 to 1875. By taking a sea-based approach, he brings together different national historiographies and argues for the relevance of previously overlooked actors.
Urvi Khaitan is an RHS Marshall Fellow, 2022-23, held jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Urvi’s six-month Fellowship runs from October 2022 to March 2023.
Urvi’s Oxford University thesis — ‘Women and Work in the Indian Economy: Empire, Famine, and Labour during the Second World War’ — explores how women at the margins of colonial Indian society engaged with and experienced paid work. She investigates the ways in which lower-caste and Adivasi (indigenous) women in late colonial India negotiated a turbulent wartime economy in the eastern provinces of Bengal, Bihar, and Assam during the Second World War.
Beckie Rutherford is an RHS Centenary Fellow, 2022-23, held jointly with the Institute of Historical Research, University of London. Beckie’s six-month fellowship will run from October 2022 to March 2023.
As a Centenary Fellow, Beckie will complete her Warwick University PhD entitled ‘Disabled Women Organising: Rethinking Agency within British Liberation Movements, 1976-2000’. Her research illuminates the neglected histories of three grassroots disabled women’s groups, plus the pioneering work of disabled women artists and writers. Beckie’s thesis demonstrates the centrality of disabled women’s narratives to the broader landscape of liberation politics in modern Britain. It advocates a creative understanding of activist histories, accounting for the agency, and diversity uncovered within stories of disabled women organising.
2. Early Career Fellowship Grant holders, 2022-23
Held for upto 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:
- Philip Jagessarp – awarded in May 2022
- Anna Muggeridge – awarded in May 2022
- Hannah Telling – awarded in May 2022
- Heather Hind – awarded in May 2022
- Rowan Thompson – awarded in May 2022
- Scott Eaton – awarded in May 2022
- Sarah Birt – awarded in September 2022
- Anna Reeve – awarded in September 2022
- John Beales – awarded in September 2022
- Katherine Arnold – awarded in September 2022
- 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. Ukraine Scholars at Risk Fellowships, 2022
Awarded in 2022, the Ukraine Scholars at Risk programme is a collaboration between the Royal Historical Society, the British Association of Slavonic and East European Studies, the German History Society, the Ecclesiastical History Society and the Past & Present Society. Additional support has come from the institutions below who are providing affiliations and support for our Fellows. Our considerable thanks to all those who have made this scheme possible.
- Alla Dubrovyk-Rokhova (University of Bremen)
- Dr Tetyana Zabolotna (University of Sheffield)
- Dr Nadiia Akulova (University of St Andrews)
- Dr Kateryna Budz (University of Edinburgh)
- Dr Natalia Gromakova (University of Aberdeen)
- Dr Tetiana Ostapchuk (University of the West of England)
- Dr Juliana Matsova (University of Roehampton)
6. Workshop Grants, 2022-23
Awarded annually from 2022, Workshop Grants provide support for groups of historians to meet and discuss shared projects in detail. Outcomes Workshops include publication in the Society’s journal, Transactions, as well as project and course development, future funding applications and networking.Workshop Grants are open to historian at all career stages:
- ’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)
- ‘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)