Research Funding

Allocation of research funding is central to the Society’s work of supporting historians and historical research.

In the financial year 2023/24, the Society awarded £110,085 in funding to historians through open competitions, generously assisted by partner organisations and donors. Details of current open calls for funding applications are provided below.

Funding is available to historians at three career stages. Please follow the links for further information on:

The Society runs three additional funding programmes open to historians at all career stages. Please follow the links for more on our annual:


Current calls for research funding: November 2024 to March 2025

The following programmes currently invite applications before the deadline:

  • Postgraduate Research Support Grants providing grants of either £500 or £1,000 (based on the research activity to be undertaken) to undertake historical research. Activities supported include: visiting an archive or historic site, or conducting interviews. These grants are reserved for History students (who are Postgraduate Members of the Royal Historical Society), currently studying for a Masters degree or PhD. Next closing date: Friday 6 December 2024.
  • Early Career Research Support Grants providing grants of either £500 or £1,000 (based on the research activity to be undertaken) to undertake historical research. Activities supported include: visiting an archive or historic site, or conducting interviews. These grants are reserved for historians who are within 5 years of submitting their PhD in a historical subject (who are members of the Royal Historical Society). Next closing date: Friday 6 December 2024.
  • Early Career Fellowship Grants providing grants of £2,000, maximum, for discrete research projects lasting no more than six months. These grants support career-building research or activities to produce a discrete outcome (such as an article or book proposal) with the grant. These grants are reserved for historians in non-tenured positions who are within 5 years of submitting their PhD in a historical subject (who are members of the Royal Historical Society). Next closing date: Friday 7 March 2025.
  • Open Research Support Grants providing grants of either £500 or £1,000 (based on the research activity to be undertaken) to undertake historical research. Activities supported include: visiting an archive or historic site, or conducting interviews. These grants are reserved for historians (who are members of the Royal Historical Society) who are not postgraduate students or employed early career researchers (within 5 years of completing a PhD). Next closing date: Friday 7 March 2025.
  • David Berry Fellowship in the History of Scotland and the Scottish People providing grants of up to £2,500 to undertake research on the history of Scotland and the Scottish people worldwide. These grants are reserved for historians research Scottish history at all career stages (who are members of the Royal Historical Society). Next closing date: Friday 7 March 2025.

Applicants for Royal Historical Society funding must be members of the Society, with exceptions for several Postgraduate grants. To find out how to become a Fellow, Associate Fellow, Member or Postgraduate Member, please see our Join Us page.


Details of current holders of Research Fellowships and recipients of Research Funding are available here.


All enquiries about Research Funding should be sent to the Society’s Membership and Administration Officer at: membership@royalhistsoc.org.


HEADER IMAGE: Bowl with a scholar, anon, c.1575-99, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, public domain.