Each year the Society awards Scholarships to support students who will study for a Master’s degree in history at a UK university. Master’s Scholarships, each of £5000, support students from groups currently underrepresented in academic history who seek to study for a career in higher education or a related historical profession.
The Society is pleased to announce, today, the call for applications for Master’s Scholarships for the academic year 2026-27.
Further details of the scheme, eligibility, and how to submit an application, are available here.
The programme, established in 2022, aims to actively address underrepresentation within the discipline, and enable Black and Asian students, along with those of other minorities, to consider academic research in history.
By supporting Masters students the programme focuses on a key early stage in the academic training of future researchers. With these Scholarships, the Society seeks to support students who are without the financial means to study for a Master’s in history. By doing so, we hope to improve the educational experience of early career historians engaged in a further degree.
Scholarships support students during their Master’s degree, allowing them to focus as far as possible on their studies. There are no conditions on what the award may be spent (for example, to part cover support fees, or living expenses etc.) during the degree course.
Recipients also become Postgraduate Members of the Royal Historical Society and receive mentoring during their degree course from members of the Society’s Council.
Supporting the Scholarships programme, now and for the future
Since 2022, the Society has awarded Scholarships to 22 Master’s students from underrepresented backgrounds, many of whom who would not otherwise have been able to undertake an MA degree. Previous recipients have since gone on to undertake PhD research or to take up roles in the heritage, conservation and teaching professions.
In the first four years of the programme, the Society has received additional financial support from the Past & Present Society, the Scouloudi Foundation, the Thriplow Charitable Trust, and a generous donor. The RHS seeks to offer as many Scholarships as we can to talented eligible early career historians.
If you or your organisation would like to help support this or future rounds of this programme, please email [email protected] to discuss options with the Society’s President, Professor Lucy Noakes.
All other enquiries about the programme should be addressed to: [email protected].