The Social History Society is proud to announce that the Joint BME Events and Activities scheme has re-opened for applications.
The joint scheme was launched in 2019 in recognition of the under-representation, structural inequalities and racism afflicting UK Higher Education Institutions, highlighted by the Royal Historical Society’s report on ‘Race, Ethnicity and Equality’. Funded projects ranged from film screenings to an undergraduate conference.
Since its launch, the scheme has grown in strength. We are delighted to today announce that both the Royal Historical Society and History Workshop Journal have joined, bringing the total number of learned societies and journals involved to eight.
Together, we will fund support event and activities organised by Black and Minority Ethnic (BME) historians working in the UK OR to support events and activities exploring histories of BME people.
Following common usage, by ‘BME’ we are referring to non-White people who are descended, through one or both parents, from Africa, the Caribbean, Asia (the Middle-East to the Pacific Islands), Australasia or Latin America.
The growth of the scheme means that we are now able to support grants of up to £1,000. The deadline for this round is 1 December 2020.
Professor Margot Finn, President of the Royal Historical Society, said:
The Royal Historical Society is very pleased to join our fellow historical associations in this vital work to enhance equality, diversity and inclusion in our discipline with respect to race and ethnicity. Collaborations of this kind will amplify and strengthen our individual initiatives and promise to enhance research and teaching in History in and beyond the UK.”
The History Workshop Journal editorial collective told us:
We are very pleased to be able to support this excellent initiative, alongside a growing number of other scholarly societies. Dedicated grants such as this are one way that much-needed resources can be allocated to begin to address the inequalities and under-representation in the discipline. In the current uncertain context, it is all the more important that this support is available for historians of colour in the UK.”
The Social History Society continues to call on other scholarly societies to join the scheme. Please contact our Honorary Secretary, Dr Georgina Brewis (g.brewis@ucl.ac.uk), if you would like to find out more. Together, we can begin to change history.