Our Small Research Grants support our members to carry out research. For the October 2026 round, we will be running a separate scheme to support Events and Activities.

Small Research Grants can be used towards directly incurred research costs. This includes travel and subsistence, the purchase of equipment or data, licensing, childcare, and research assistance.

The grant cannot be used to cover directly allocated costs, such as estates, salaried researchers’ time, facilities, or the use of existing equipment.

The grant cannot be used to pay or subsidise course fees. We are unlikely to fund individual travel to conferences.

Applicants must be a member of the Social History Society and be ordinarily resident in the UK.

We give priority to researchers who do not have access to other sources of funding. We are unlikely to fund applicants with access to research funds, including PhD students who have access to expenses.

We are especially supportive of research that will provide sessions at our annual conference or lead to publication in Cultural and Social History or our book series.

The Society will make individual grants up to the amount of £1000. The application should clearly state for what the grant sought will be used. We reserve the right to offer a partial grant and to reallocate funding if not used within six months of the award.

The Society’s support must be acknowledged in any resulting publications.

Questions concerning the objectives and criteria of the fund should be directed to our Honorary Secretary, Kathleen McIlvenna, at k.mcilvenna@derby.ac.uk

There are two dates for submission annually: 1 March and 1 October.

We aim to make funding decisions within two calendar months, so please ensure your activities are due to take place between two and six months after the submission date (i.e. activities between May and December for applications submitted on 1 March, and between December and April for those submitted on 1 October).

Any grant awarded must be spent within 6 months and the successful candidate should submit a brief report of the event no later than 3 months after the event has taken place. See the ‘terms of acceptance’ for more information.

Read the full terms of acceptance

Click here to fill in the application form