About the Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships
Launched in 2023, the Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowships support History teaching in UK Higher Education. The Fellowships are named after Dame Jinty Nelson FBA (1942-2024), President of the Society between 2001 and 2005.
Applications for 2024-25 have now closed. The call for Fellowships for the academic year 2025-26 will be made in summer 2025. The Society is very grateful to the Scouloudi Foundation for its support of this programme in 2024-25.
Fellowships support historians in Higher Education who wish to introduce new approaches and initiatives to their teaching—and for which funding, at one of three levels (£500, £1,000 and £1,250 per award), is required to make this possible. Fellowships may also support those seeking to undertake a short study of an aspect of History teaching in UK Higher Education: for example, within a department or more widely. Recipients are expected to undertake their project within the academic year of the award, with the Fellowship lasting for the duration of the project or period of study.
The Society defines approaches to teaching broadly for this Fellowship. For example, creation of a wholly new course or aspects of an existing course; provision of new activities within an established course; or assistance for students to undertake project work as part of a course. We also welcome applications that pilot or test new ideas in teaching, and which may not—at this time—become a feature of courses in future years.
By awarding Teaching Fellowships, the Society seeks to support instances of creative teaching practice that may be communicated and adopted by others across History in Higher Education. Upon completion of the Fellowship, recipients will be asked to submit a short report (e.g., for the Society’s blog and online Teaching Portal) offering guidance on their new approach to teaching.
Teaching Fellowships may be used to support a range of initiatives to develop a recipient’s teaching. These may include (but are not limited to):
- travel for UK students and teachers as part of a course;
- attendance at historical sites with students;
- funding to bring external specialists together for the purpose of discussion or training in an aspect of study / communication;
- honoraria for guest speakers, including those working outside UK Higher Education;
- online or print publications / communications to support innovations in historical teaching;
- defined training for historians to support innovation in teaching;
- funding for students to undertake a defined project as part of the course.
Please note: purchase of classroom equipment, technology or other permanent assets is not supported by this award.
Fellowships may equally support a short study relating to History teaching in UK Higher Education, within a department or more widely, and of interest to the wider profession. Approaches may include (but are not limited to):
- study relating to the development of teaching on a particular historical theme, topic, region or chronology; the scope and/or content of teaching in a subject area or UK region; or to student participation: for example, course selection;
- surveys of the profession on subjects relating to History teaching in UK Higher Education;
- promotion of the value of History teaching, and/or identification of high-quality and transferable teaching practices;
- an event to consider and promote aspects of teaching practice;
- initiatives to support History HE teachers at mid or later-career.
Eligibility and making an application for a Jinty Nelson Teaching Fellowship, 2024-25
The Society welcomes applications from teachers of History in UK Higher Education. Applicants must be current Fellows or members of the Royal Historical Society.
Fellowships are available to those:
- at any career stage;
- working in or outside history departments, where the major component of a course is historical (including, for example, the history of ideas or history of science);
- responsible for at least one course at a higher education institution that they would create, redesign or develop, and for which Fellowship funding is required;
- teaching on undergraduate or Masters’ programmes;
- able to undertake the course format, with RHS financial support, no later than 31 July 2025;
- willing to to provide a short report on the success (or otherwise) of the project, in a format that can be appropriated and re-used in the teaching of other historians.
- collaborative and cross disciplinary applications are welcome.
When awarding Fellowships, primary consideration will be given to the proposed quality and value of the new approach to teaching, in tandem with the intended use of the award to support these innovations. In addition, the Society is keen to support historians who lack access to alternative resources (institutional or other) to enhance their teaching, or where funding opportunities are very limited.
Applications must be submitted via the Society’s applications portal >
Recipients of Fellowships for the academic year 2024-25
- Katie Carpenter (University of Leeds) for ‘Brick By Brick: A History Co-Creation Project’
- David Clayton (York) for ‘Piloting the Responsible and Effective Use of AI in Undergraduate History Teaching’
- Matthew Hefferan (Nottingham) for ‘Using formative assessment activities to support undergraduate transition into history degrees’
- Linsey Hunter (Highlands & Islands) for a ‘Short pilot study to explore best teaching practice of student-led co-design of undergraduate history modules at the University of the Highlands and Islands’
- Sundeep Lidher (King’s College London) for ‘Archives against the Grain’
- Lydia Plath (Warwick) for her project ‘Enabling students to feel “Emboldened and Enthralled”: Co-creating learning resources for digital databases’
- Lowri Rees (Bangor) for ‘Innovative Approaches in Teaching Welsh History’
- Elaine Sisson (Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dublin) for ‘Archives and Public Engagement’
For questions about the Fellowships, please email: administration@royalhistsoc.org.
HEADER IMAGE: iStock, natrot