Dear Colleague,
AHRC Launches New £8m Fellowship Scheme
I am writing to inform you that on 29th January 2009 the Arts and Humanities Research Council
(‘the AHRC’) is announcing the launch of a new Fellowship scheme with an initial annual budget
allocation of £8 million.
Based upon a very extensive consultation with the UK’s arts and humanities research
community, the new AHRC Fellowship scheme represents a reaffirmation of the AHRC’s
commitment to fund the time needed by researchers to undertake world-leading research with
impact and to support the career development of outstanding researchers in the arts and
humanities.
The new scheme allows for:
• highly flexible funding for researchers seeking to devote between 50% and 100% of their
time over periods of up to nine months to undertake research in any areas within the
AHRC’s remit.
• a route for early career researchers, which will provide for mentoring and career
development support.
• funding of up to £120,000 (100% FEC) to include research costs and communication,
dissemination and knowledge transfer activities to maximise the impact of the research
outcomes.
The new scheme replaces the current Research Leave scheme, the last round of which closes on
5th March 2009. The Fellowships scheme will offer more flexible provision designed to add value
to QR-funded time and institutional support for research career development, and to
complement other fellowship schemes available to UK arts and humanities researchers. The
scheme will be decoupled from institutional leave, and so will enable award holders to take up
their Fellowship when the research needs to be done, rather than when leave happens to be
due.
The new AHRC Fellowship scheme has been designed after an extensive consultation that was
led by a working group chaired by Professor John Caughie of Glasgow University. Over 1,000
colleagues have contributed in some way, including over seventy academic colleagues who
came along to our consultation day and over sixty written submissions, from both individuals
and subject associations. Views gathered by Professor Shearer West, the AHRC’s Director of
Research, during her extensive round of institutional visits since mid 2008, also fed into the
consultative process.
Whilst there is no doubt that the research time funded through the Research Leave scheme is
highly valued by the community, the consultation highlighted a wide range of ways in which the
AHRC could enhance its support for arts and humanities researchers by meeting their needs
with more flexible provision. We have been able to adopt many of the most frequently made
suggestions for improvement in designing the new scheme. The initial budgetary allocation of
£8 million per annum matches the maximum annual amount that has been allocated to the
Research Leave scheme in the past.
Our new Fellowship scheme continues the transformative role, recognised in the recent RAE
2008 Panel reports, that the AHRC is playing in providing flexible funding opportunities for arts
and humanities researchers. Dedicated time for research is of crucial importance in generating
world-leading research with impact in the arts and humanities.
The new scheme will have a rolling open deadline. The first applications will be accepted from
the 1st September 2009 with the first Fellowships expected to start in autumn 2010.
Full details of the new Fellowship scheme will be posted on the AHRC website. I will be most
grateful if you will arrange for wide circulation of this letter among the arts and humanities
researchers in your institution.
Yours sincerely,
Professor Philip F. Esler
Chief Executive
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Marxism & Psychology Research Group (MPRG) |
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