Prizes and Bursaries for History

The Institute awards the following prizes and bursaries. For junior fellowships please see this separate page.

• Parliamentary History Prize
• The Pollard Prize (sponsored by Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)
• Scouloudi Historical Awards
• The Huguenot Scholarship
• Richard III Society Bursary
• The Julian Corbett Prize in Modern Naval History
• The Sir John Neale Prize
• The David Bates, Alwyn Ruddock, and IHR Friends' Bursaries
• The Conrad and Elizabeth Russell Hardship Fund

The Parliamentary History Prize

The Parliamentary History Prize, which is worth £400 (together with a prize of £100 for a proxime accessit essay), is offered for the best essay submitted on any aspect of the parliamentary history of Britain, England and Wales, Ireland, Scotland or British colonial assemblies. Candidates must normally not at the date of submission be over the age of 35 (exception may be made for candidates with unusual academic CVs), and must submit a brief CV with their entry. The essay must be a genuine work of original research, not hitherto published or accepted for publication . The text and notes should not exceed 10,000 words. Candidates must consult the style sheet of Parliamentary History, available from the Editor. Essays must reach the Editor of Parliamentary History by 1st June. The winning essays, and others judged meritorious will be published in Parliamentary History.

The Annual Pollard Prize (sponsored by Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

The Pollard Prize is awarded annually for the best paper presented at an Institute of Historical Research seminar by a postgraduate student or by a researcher within one year of completing the PhD.

Applicants are required to have delivered a paper at an IHR seminar during the academic year in which the award is made. Submissions should be supported by a reference from a convenor of the appropriate seminar.

Papers should be fully footnoted, although it is not necessary at this stage to follow Historical Research house style. All papers submitted must be eligible for publication.

The closing date for entries will be 27 May 2011

First Prize

Fast track publication in the prestigious IHR journal, Historical Research, and £200 of Blackwell books.

Runner Up Prizes

Publication in Historical Research, and a selection of Blackwell books. A variable number of runner up prizes will be awarded, depending on the quality of applications in any given year.

Enquiries and submissions should be directed to the Executive Editor, Historical Research (Jane.Winters@sas.ac.uk). If you are unable to submit by email, please include a PC disk or CD-Rom with any postal submission to:

The Editor
Historical Research (Pollard Prize)
Institute of Historical Research
University of London
Senate House
London WC1E 7HU

Scouloudi Historical Awards

The purpose for these awards are

1. as a subsidy towards the cost of publishing a scholarly book or article, or an issue of a learned journal in the field of history.
2. To pay for research, and other expenses, to be incurred in the completion of advanced historical work, which the applicant intends subsequently to publish. This does not included expenses incurred in the preparation of a thesis for a higher degree.

Awards are not available to those registered for undergraduate or postgraduate courses or degrees. A list of members of the Scouloudi Historical Awards committee can be found here.

A list of awardees and projects subsidised in 2010 can be found here.

Forms and regulations for the 2010/11 competition will be availble here from January 2011.

Applications should arrive no later than 1 March 2011.

The Huguenot Scholarship

The availability of the Huguenot Scholarship has yet to be confirmed for 2010/11. Further details will appear here in January 2011.

Richard III Society Bursary

The Richard III Society Bursary (valued at c. £250) is open to any person registered for a higher degree. Applicants should be intending to write a dissertation or thesis on (i) some aspect of late fifteenth century English history, literature, architecture or art history, (ii) any late medieval English or European subject relevant to the Yorkist period in English history, although applications for the first category will be considered first.

Forms and regulations for the 2010/11 competition will be availble here from January 2011.

The closing date for the Bursary is 1 June 2011.

The Julian Corbett Prize in Modern Naval History

A prize to the value of £1,000 is available annually for work not previously published and based on original (Ms. or printed) materials for Modern Naval History. The work shall be written in English and may take the form of either (i) a dissertation, (ii) an edition of an original document or series of documents, or (iii) a critical report on material at home or abroad. It is recommended that the length should not exceed 15,000 words.

The deadline date is 1 October 2010.

Corbett Prize application form and regulations

The Sir John Neale Prize in Tudor History

The Neale Prize is awarded annually to a historian in the early stages of his or her career. Entries should take the form of essays of no more than 8,000 words including footnotes, on a theme related to Tudor history. It is intended that the terms of the prize include almost any subject appropriate to the study of the 16th Century in England . (Eligibility will ultimately be decided by the judges). The prize will consist of £1000 with an additional payment of £500 in support of the development of the prize- winner's scholarly career, normally in the form of research and/or travel expenses and conference attendance.

Candidates must either be registered for a higher degree at a British institution or have been registered for such a degree at a British institution within the last three years. Three double-spaced copies should be submitted. Electronic submissions will also be accepted. Entries must not have been published elsewhere, or accepted for publication elsewhere. The prize-winning essay will be published in the IHR's journal, Historical Research.

A suitable academic mentor will be appointed to provide advice on career development and research for the prize-winner. The prize-winner is expected to take part in the academic life of the IHR, for example, by attending seminars and presenting papers.The prize-winner must submit a report on his/her activity undertaken with the support of the award to the Director of the IHR at the end of the academic year in which the award is held.

The winner will be announced at the reception following the Royal Historical Society's Annual Prothero Lecture in July each year.

Entries should be sent to James Lees at the Institute of Historical Research. Further information can be obtained by emailing james.lees@sas.ac.uk.

Forms and regulations for the 2010/11 competition will be availble here from January 2011.

The closing date is 30 April 2011.

The David Bates, Alwyn Ruddock, and IHR Friends' Bursaries

Applications are invited from doctoral students registered at universities in the United Kingdom for ten bursaries (normally not to exceed £500) to undertake research trips to London archives during the academic year 2011/12. The bursaries are intended for students who are not registered at London-based institutions and who do not live within Greater London.

The aim of the bursaries is to enable students to undertake research at the IHR and at other London-based archives. All successful applicants will be expected to use the IHR as a base when in London and to participate in its activities. This means, for example, regular use of the IHR library and attendance at IHR seminars and conferences. It could also mean interaction with one or more of the IHR's research centres, and if appropriate, taking a research training course.

Forms and regulations for the 2010/11 competition will be availble here from January 2011.

The deadline date is 1 June 2011.

Conrad and Elizabeth Russell Postgraduate Emergency Hardship Fund

The Conrad and Elizabeth Russell Postgraduate Emergency Hardship Fund exists to support PhD candidates (in History) who meet with sudden and unexpected hardship.

Eligibility

Applicants should meet all the following criteria:

•  Have met with sudden and unexpected hardship.  

•  Be members of the IHR community (usually defined as being either a regular attender at IHR seminars or a regular user of the IHR as a reader).

•  Be registered for a PhD in History at a British or North American university.

•  Be resident in London , whether temporarily for the purposes of their research or as their normal place of residence. London is broadly defined as within the Greater London area.

•  Have applied (wherever possible) to their own university or college for assistance before turning to the Fund.

NB Please note that the Fund cannot pay tuition fees.

Amount available  

£1000 will normally be available for distribution during any one year and an individual student will not normally receive an award of more than £500.

Application procedure

•  The Fund is administered by the Director of the Institute of Historical Research and a small committee.

•  Applications will normally be considered by the Director and two members of the committee (to be rotated each year). Given the need to reach a decision quickly, in the absence of a response from one or both of these within five working days, the Director may act independently.

•  Applicants will be informed of the success or otherwise of their application within seven working days from receipt of their initial application.

Applications should be submitted on the form which can downloaded below, or from James Lees, Institute of Historical Research, University of London, Senate House, Malet Street, London WC1E 7HU james.lees@sas.ac.uk For further information, please contact James Lees at the address above.

Russell Hardship Fund Form

Contact Information

Further details and application forms may also be obtained from James Lees, the Fellowships Officer, at:

Completed applications and, where appropriate, letters of reference should also be sent to this address.