Paul Mellon Centre Fellowship on Anglo-Italian Art at the British School at Rome

Every year one Rome Fellowship is offered to allow an individual the unique opportunity to undertake three months of dedicated research and work on a visually focused topic relating to cultural contact, exchange and influence between Britain (including its historical Empire and Commonwealth) and Italy, whilst being based at the British School at Rome (BSR).

The award is open to scholars, researchers, curators and other galleries, libraries, archives and museums (GLAM) professionals, from immediately post-doctoral to those internationally recognised in their field of expertise. Whatever their background and current position, all applicants are expected to demonstrate a readiness to engage with Rome's art and archive collections, the BSR's own collections and/or the city as an architectural and cultural artefact.

The Paul Mellon Centre is an educational charity that champions new ways of understanding British art history and culture. Through all areas of our work, including our grants and fellowships programme, we promote activities that enhance and expand knowledge of British art and architecture. As an institution, we pledge ourselves to ensuring that the histories of British art are enriched and made more relevant to a broader range of people in the future. The inclusion of voices, narratives and experiences that have been marginalised or excluded in the past will have a transformational impact on the future of the Centre and upon British art studies. Accordingly, the Paul Mellon Centre particularly welcomes applications from those who are under-represented within the academic field of the humanities in the UK.

Scope

The three-month Rome Fellowship based at the British School at Rome is designed to:

Facilitate original, focused and exciting research into a topic relating to British-Italian cultural contact, exchange and influence of any period from the medieval era to the contemporary. The subject area, disciplinary focus and approach may vary, but projects need to be centred on visual materials and themes, will demonstrate a rigorous understanding of the critical and historical issues, and will engage directly with local art and archive collections, the BSR's own collections and/or the city as an architectural and cultural artefact.

Recent Rome Fellow projects have focused variously on architectural and art-historical themes, on the classical heritage of Rome and its representation in film and photography, and relations between literature and aesthetics. Specific examples include:

• Robert Turnbull Macpherson and his photographic vedute of Rome in comparison to works of other photographers in his time
• Gothic revival atop the heirlooms of antiquity: Villa Mills and the Palatine Hill, ca.1818–1926
• Henry Fuseli in Rome: defining a new, heroic style for British art

The British School at Rome

Funding

The Rome Fellowship provides residential accommodation and meals at the British School at Rome for three months (as well as benefits such as Italian language lessons and assistance in gaining access to resources not normally open to the public).

For applicants employed by an organisation, institution or university there will also be an honorarium of £3,000 and up to £8,000 towards replacement staff costs, if required.

The Centre does not pay full economic costs.

For independent scholars there will be an honorarium of £7,000.

There may be additional support available for applicants with specific access needs. If this is something you would like to explore, please contact the Grants Manager.

If a fellow accepts full-time employment during the period of the Rome Fellowship, the Centre will request an appropriate reimbursement of the award.

The Fellowship is designed to be taken as full time for three months however split tenure could be considered depending on the BSR’s timetable.

Eligibility

This fellowship is designed for an individual to work on a visually focused topic relating to Anglo-Italian cultural contact, exchange and influence, of any period from the medieval era onwards.

Applications are welcome from scholars, researchers, curators, archivists and GLAM professionals, from immediately post-doctoral to those internationally recognised in their field of expertise. Applicants must have been awarded their doctorate by the closing date for applications.

All applicants are expected to demonstrate how they will engage directly with local art and archive collections, the BSR's own collections and/or the city as an architectural and cultural artefact. Applicants should demonstrate the value of being in Rome for the duration of the three months by providing specific details of the archives/collections/sites with which they wish to engage. Projects utilising the BSR’s own archives and historical records would be especially welcome. For more details about these please contact the BSR Head of Research Collections, Professor Raphaële Mouren: r.mouren@bsrome.it

Applications are open to individuals from any country, with fluency in English and who must be either competent in the Italian language or have a willingness to engage with it. Italian language lessons are provided on site at the BSR during the residency.

The Rome Fellowship would normally be taken during one of the following three periods: late September to late December; January to March; April to June. Exact dates will be agreed with the British School at Rome. The fellowship cannot be deferred to a later academic year nor can it run concurrently with a fellowship awarded by another institution.

For further questions on eligibility please contact theGrants & Fellowships Manager.

Application

Applications are currently open, closing date for applications is 31 January 2024 at 11:59pm. Closing date for referees is 11 February 2024 at 11:59pm.

To apply for a Rome Fellowship you must use our online system at . Once registered you will be able to fill out the online application form (an example of which can be downloaded below) and provide the details of two referees. The option to provide the referee details will be available once the application is submitted. We will then contact the nominated referee with details on how to submit their reference which must be completed through our online system and must be no more than five hundred words.

Applications and nominated referee details must be received by 31 January 2024, referees have until 11 February 2024 to submit their references.

The referees should have first-hand knowledge of the applicant’s academic career and the subject area for which funding is being sought. The Advisory Council would like to be informed of the originality of the subject matter and the applicant’s suitability to pursue such research.

Requirements

• Once confirmed, the Rome Fellow must confirm the dates of their Fellowship directly with the British School at Rome and inform the Paul Mellon Centre of these by the end of the year the award was made.
• On completion the Rome Fellow must submit a comprehensive written report: this would typically be around 500 words (1 page) but may be longer if required. The report should detail the research activity undertaken during the funded period and the impact of this work on the larger project. The report must be submitted within three months of the completed Fellowship, this will then be shared with the British School at Rome and Advisory Council. If there are any further future outcomes of the project outside of the Fellowship period (eg. publication, exhibition, academic papers) then the Rome Fellow should send the details of these to the Grants and Fellowships Manager.
• Fellows are also invited to submit a short research report for publication in the Papers of the British School at Rome.