The Society is pleased to announce ten recipients of its new funding programme for historians resident outside the UK.
The International Research Support Grants scheme, launched this Spring, is for International Fellows and Associate Fellows of the Society to undertake research in archives, or similar, in the United Kingdom or in the Republic of Ireland.
This new scheme recognises that many of the Society’s International Fellows and Associate Fellows require financial assistance to access research materials in the UK and the Republic of Ireland for a wide range of historical projects.
This year’s 10 recipients teach and research in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia. Grants, of £1000 per person, support research on projects at archives in the UK and the Republic of Ireland in the academic year 2026-27. Recipients and their research projects include:
- Azriel Bermant on ‘Britain, the United States, and the Cold War in the Middle East, 1979–1991’
- Matthew Cleary on ‘Social and Legal Networks in the Fourteenth-Century York Marriage Cause Papers’
- Douglas Kanter on ‘Irish Smuggling in the Age of Revolutions, 1776-1848’
- Jennifer Luff on ‘The Super Machine: The Politics of Labour and Loyalty in Britain’s Interwar Security Regime’
- Neval Milanlioglu on ‘Sudan under Ottoman-Egyptian Rule: Power, Resources, and European Rivalry, 1821–1899’
- Luke Reynolds on ‘Almack’s: A Cultural History of a Regency Icon’
- Pamela Sharpe on ‘The Journal of Private Robert McNally, 1816-36’
- Timothy Slonosky on ‘Motives behind Public Health Measures in Sixteenth-Century Scottish Towns’
- Shalva Weil on ‘Indian Jewish Soldiers and Jewish Soldiers in the British East India Army, 1780-1947’
- Fiona Williamson on ‘Co-Production of Agricultural Knowledge in the Indian Ocean, Southeast Asia and the Pacific, c. 1890-1940’
The Society is very pleased to be able to offer 10 awards in this first round, having initially planned to make available five grants per year.
The additional awards are possible thanks to a recent generous bequest to the Society from the estate of the late Dr Stephen Roberts.
A former Fellow of the Society, Dr Roberts was a historian of nineteenth-century Britain, specialising in the histories of Chartism and of the West Midlands. For 30 years, Dr Roberts taught history at a school in the region, and also held visiting posts at several universities.
The bequest — known as the ‘Stephen Roberts Fund’ and administered by the Society — will support historians to undertake research in nineteenth-century British history. We are very grateful to the Roberts family for this generous bequest to facilitate historical research. Further information on additional RHS programmes, drawing on the Stephen Roberts Fund, will be made available in the coming months.
After the successful pilot of its International Research Support Grants programme in 2026, the Society expects to run a similar call in Spring 2027, open to current Fellows* and Associate Fellows* resident outside the UK.
If you wish to join the Society, as a Fellow or Associate Fellow, please see here for details and the benefits of RHS membership. Applications are welcome at any time.
The next closing dates for receipt of applications are Mondays 27 July and 5 October 2026.
Details of all current holders of Royal Historical Society Fellowships and Grants are available here.
All enquiries about Research Funding should be sent to: [email protected].
HEADER IMAGE: Edward Collier, ‘Vanitas Still Life’ (1662), detail, Rijksmuseum, public domain.