Research Continuity Fellowships

Due to the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 crisis on individuals and institutions in the field of British art studies, this special programme of grants and fellowships, first launched by the PMC in May 2020, will be offered again in 2021. The awards will provide quickly-released funding and are intended to sustain research, writing and thinking on British art and architecture during a period of unprecedented disruption for our scholarly and curatorial communities. 

Research Continuity Fellowships are awards of £5,000, designed to support individuals in conducting their writing and research on British art and architecture during the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of these fellowships is to enable individuals to sustain themselves and their work in the face of the financial and scholarly challenges generated by the crisis.

Eligibility

The Research Continuity Fellowships are intended for individuals who are based within the cultural sector and who have been affected financially by the COVID-19 crisis. These could include academics, independent scholars, early career researchers, curators, archivists and others.

Our funding programme supports scholarship, academic research and the dissemination of knowledge in the fields of British art and architectural history, and of British visual culture understood more broadly, from the medieval period to the present day. All supported topics must have a clear art-historical perspective, including those that focus on recent or contemporary artistic practice. All applicants must demonstrate that British art, architecture or visual culture provides a substantial focus for their project. Applicants must also describe the ways in which the award of a fellowship would enable them to sustain their research across the rest of the calendar year 2021.

Applications will be assessed according to their academic rigour, originality, and contribution to scholarship. 

Funding

Research Continuity Fellowships are awards of £5,000 and will be paid to the individual as a lump sum.

Timetable

These fellowships will be awarded and released in early June, and are designed to sustain research over the period 1 July 2021 to 31 December 2021.

All successful applicants must complete a final report in January 2022.

Application

Applications for Research Continuity Fellowships will open on Monday 26 April 2021 and close at midday on Monday 17 May 2021. All applications must be made online through the grants.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk website. Once registered you will be able to fill out the online application form – no references are required for this fellowship.