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Eligibility


Research and Innovation Grants are open to archivists and heritage professionals working with archival collections in England or Wales. We cannot fund organisations based in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or whose collections are held outside of the United Kingdom.

The programme is open to all public sector bodies, not-for-profit organisations including registered charities, and for-profit organisations including business archives. Funding is not available to private individuals.

The records can be in analogue or digital formats and can be inside or outside of the custody of the records creator or a recognised collecting archive institution.

We use the definition of an archive collection as given within the Archive Service Accreditation Scheme:

“Materials created or received by a person, family or organisation, public or private, in the conduct of their affairs and preserved because of the enduring value contained in them or as evidence of the functions and responsibilities of their creator, especially those materials maintained using the principles of provenance, original order and collective control; permanent records.”

Society of American Archivists

The organisation must employ or have access to professional support from an archivist or similarly qualified professional.

There is no restriction on past applicants applying, however repeat applications are no more likely to receive funding, and you are strongly encouraged to speak to The National Archives’ Grants and Funding Office before submitting a second application for the same project. There are no restrictions on institutions submitting an application for a different project than was previously assessed.

Where appropriate, archives are encouraged to propose partnership projects and consortium applications are particularly welcome in this programme.

Timetable


The Research and Innovation grants open once a year.

2024 Schedule
Opens: 10th June 2024
Closes: 5th July 2024
Panel Meeting: w/b 5th August 2024

Application Form Assessment Criteria

 

Finance and budgeting


The maximum award of funding will be confirmed once the programme is launched. Funded activity may include, but is not limited to:

  • Seed funding for early-stage, exploratory research
  • Pilot projects
  • Commissioning research from an external provider
  • ‘Spin-off’ research that emerges from and builds on other projects
  • Travel and subsistence for research trips, e.g. to other collections
  • Dissemination and publishing, including events and publication fees

The programme cannot fund:

  • Overheads, full cost recovery or management fees
  • Collections acquisition
  • Costs incurred prior to the date of any award offer from us
  • The core work of an archive service

The grant may not be used for the following purposes: payments that support activity intended to influence Parliament, Government or political parties, or attempting to influence the awarding or renewal of contracts and grants, or attempting to influence legislative or regulatory action.

Assessment process


Research and Innovation Grants will have a single-stage application process, completed online:

Application Form

Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:

  • Innovation
  • Impact
  • Delivery and management
  • Knowledge sharing
  • Need

See our Assessment Criteria for Further Guidance:

Research and Innovation Grants – Assessment Guidance

Each application will be scored numerically against the criteria above, according to the following scale:

Score  Rating 
1  Poor 
2  Low 
3  Good 
4  Excellent 
5  Outstanding 

 

Applications are assessed by a panel of archival and research experts, from The National Archives.

The panel membership includes:

Valentina Vavassori – Digital Scholorship Researcher, The National Archives
Melinda Haunton – Programme Manager (Archive Service Accreditation), The National Archives
Lily Colgan – Academic Engagement Officer, The National Archives
Neil Johnston – Head of Early Modern Records, The National Archives
Balint Csolliei – Cross Government Engagement Lead, The National Archives
Victoria Cranna, Archivist & Records Manager, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine

 

We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes providing support, in the form of reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us. You must contact us as early as possible in the application process.

We recommend contacting us at least 15 working days before the competition closing date, to ensure that we can provide you with the most suitable support possible.

You can contact us by emailing archivegrants@nationalarchives.gov.uk.