The British Academy / Wolfson Fellowships 2022-23 guidance notes

NB When your application form is complete, the status for each page on the application summary page will say: ‘Complete’. However, only AFTER all invited contributors to your application have clicked the ‘Submit my Contribution’ button will the ‘Submit for Organisation Approval’ button appear.

Please select the subject area from the drop-down menu that is most relevant to this proposal.

In this field, please avoid using any unnecessary quotation or other punctuation marks (e.g. do not use quotation marks round the full title simply to indicate it is a title). Consider the presentation by checking the ‘print application’ option to ensure that the title appears as you wish it to.

Please provide a short abstract summarising your proposed research in terms suitable for an informed general audience, not one specialised in your field. This is a mandatory field and the limit is 150 words.

Please give a detailed description of the proposed research and engagement programme, including methodology. Applicants should be aware of the importance that assessors place on the viability, specificity and originality of the research and engagement programme and of its achievability within the timescale, which should be specified in the Plan of Action. The limit on this field is 2000 words.

Please indicate here a clear timetable for your research programme – please keep in mind that it is expected that there will be a balance between the conduct of new research and the public engagement with the findings. Part of the time may be devoted to planning and preparation and individual events may necessarily be more limited in timescale. Try to be as specific but realistic as possible. Your chances of award will be affected by the assessors’ perception of how viable and realistic this plan is. The limit on this field is 800 words.

The aim of this award is to support research and engagement and both aspects should be clearly addressed. Please state in more detail in this field what plans you have for publication or other dissemination of your research, including potential publishers, journals, conferences etc that are appropriate for your research subject. Please also note that public engagement activities need not be solely restricted to the dissemination of findings from the research conducted as part of the award, but can, with appropriate justification, include broader dissemination related to the research interests of the applicant. The limit on this field is 500 words.

Please click the calendar button to select the start and end date of the proposed research. Please note that the earliest start date for awards in this round is 1 September 2023 and the latest start date is 1 January 2024.

Please provide the name of your proposed mentor and their role at the institution.

Please list any other participants in the proposed research and engagement activity. Please note that this is a Fellowship award to an individual, and there is no role therefore for a "Co-Applicant".

Please explain the roles that the other participants are going to play in the proposed research and engagement.

Please state briefly what you see as the added value of collaboration over the proposed research and engagement.

Please explain briefly the project’s intended audience and explain what impact it has already made or its potential impact on the subject.

Please provide any examples of how material from the project, or scholarship derived from it, has permeated into outlets such as student or school textbooks, books aimed at a more general readership, or pieces in the media, or has otherwise contributed to popular culture. Do you have any plans for publishing more popular accounts of your work, if none already exist? Is there material arising from the project that might be appropriate for such treatment?

This is a mandatory field and the limit is 500 words.

It is not expected that any special ethical issues will arise that are not already covered by relevant professional Codes of Practice. The normal expectation, therefore, will be that applicants should answer the pair of questions ‘Ethical approval obtained’, no and no.

If there are any special issues arising, but they have already been cleared by approval from a relevant authority, please answer yes and yes.

If any special issues arise and approval has not yet been obtained, please answer yes and no, and provide more explanation under ‘Ethical approval (more information). This latter field is optional and does not need to be completed unless the answer to the earlier question is ‘yes and no’.

Do you anticipate that the proposed engagement will form the basis for future collaborative activity? If so, please give brief details here. This is an optional field, and the limit is 550 words.

Is the proposed research and engagement activity likely to meet national challenges facing the UK? If so, briefly explain in what ways the UK more generally might benefit. This is a mandatory field, the limit is 550 words.

Is the proposed engagement likely to meet international challenges facing society? If so, briefly explain in what ways the benefits more generally might be spread to other countries. There is a 550 word limit.

If the proposed engagement is especially multidisciplinary in its approach, please explain in more detail here. This is an optional field.

Please confirm that you meet the eligibility criteria as stated on page two of these guidance notes. On this page you will start to answer questions about your eligibility.

Your application must be relevant to the Humanities and/or Social Sciences and you will need to select the relevant subject areas and fields from the drop-down list.

These fields provide the opportunity to give further indications of the relevance of your subject area. They are optional fields.

Please be aware that it is your responsibility to ensure that you complete your application in time for your employing institution to process it and provide their approval by their closing date.

Please enter the organisation at which you are employed.

The majority of appropriate establishments are registered in the system. If your proposed organisation is not there, please contact the institution’s research support services, or equivalent, and ask them to provide the British Academy’s Research Funding Office with the contact details of an appropriate person in the organisation to act as an approver.

All applications must be approved by the employing organisation authorities e.g. research grants office, finance department, etc. The approving department will receive email notification once you have completed your application and submitted it. They will be asked to provide approval and then submit the application to the British Academy. It is strongly recommended that the applicant maintains an open dialogue with the approving department at the host institution as the British Academy cannot be held responsible for emails being caught in spam filters or not being received.

It is recommended that you allow at least five working days for this process. Once they have checked your application they will contact you if any changes are required, please note if changes need to be made these will have to be done before the deadline as they cannot be done afterwards.

Please take care to review and complete your personal details accurately. Errors in this section can cause difficulties in the processing of your application.

Please state your nationality. Up to three choices may be selected, of which the first is mandatory.

Please give details of up to four relevant appointments and qualifications, in particular the award of the PhD, in reverse chronological order. A brief CV should be uploaded as a PDF document in the later field ‘curriculum vitae’.

Eligible applicants are expected to be within seven years of the award of their doctorate (counted from the date of the viva voce examination). Relevant consideration may be given to career breaks and interruptions, but all applicants should bear in mind the intention that these awards are for early career researchers.

Please answer 'yes' if you have been awarded a PhD, and 'No' if you do not hold a PhD but have suitable equivalent experience (and explain this in the personal statement field). If you do not have a PhD, but are employed as a permanent Lecturer etc. with not more than seven years’ previous academic experience, you are still eligible to apply.

Please state the date of the viva voce examination in this field.

Please give details of your current appointment.

This field is optional, but may be used, for example, in providing information regarding interruptions to an academic career. The limit on this field is 150 words.

Assessors will use any information provided in this statement when considering the track record of an applicant in terms of publication, academic age and stage of career, one of the stated assessment criteria.

This award provides funding for both research and public engagement, and applicants are expected to be able to demonstrate a track record in both areas. Please use this field to highlight relevant experience about your professional career to date, including any teaching experience, experience in organising conferences, workshops and wiki-based discussions.

Please also highlight specifically within this field any of your past and present academic experience that helps to demonstrate your potential for leadership in research and engagement.

This is a mandatory field and the limit is 500 words.

Please list principal publications to date in reverse chronological order under publications. In the case of planned, unpublished research, please give details of planned publication dates, or explain why the research has not yet been published. Assessors may take backlogs of publication into account.

The curriculum vitae should be uploaded as a PDF file. It should be kept brief and it will not be necessary to include details of conferences attended or external examining.

An application will not be eligible for consideration if there is a report outstanding on any previous research grant awarded by the Academy to the applicant or any co-applicant. Failure to follow this guidance will result in your application being withdrawn from this round of competition.

Please give details of any research applications submitted to the British Academy within the last five years. In the case of a further application for continuing research which has received previous Academy support, please note that a full report and statement of expenditure for the previous grant must be submitted before further funding can be considered.

Please indicate where you heard about this scheme.

Please provide details of funding for the proposed engagement in the relevant fields.

Applicants should prepare accurate costings and explain the funding requested.

The grant maximum is £130,000 across three years. Awards can be used flexibly: at least £90,000 for time buy out, and up to £40,000 for research and travel expenses and dissemination of findings. The funding is expected to be divided: first, to buy out time of the academic duties of the award-holder in order to focus on their research goals. Secondly, for travel and public engagement across the three years of the award to help with research costs and to undertake dissemination of the findings from the Fellowship research locally, nationally and globally. The funding is not offered on the FEC model, and no institutional costs can be covered.

This is a mandatory section of the form.

Please do not use ‘£’ signs in the amount boxes.

Please state if any application has been made to any other funding body or is planned to be made to any other funding body, in connection with the proposed engagement. Please include details of whether such a bid has been successful or not, and an indication of timetables to decision if bids have been planned or submitted but not yet decided. This is an optional field and the limit is 750 words.

Please state briefly, in no more than 550 words, what the value of the British Academy's support through this award would mean to you.

This page is not mandatory, however the Academy is committed to supporting diversity in our funding and would appreciate applicants completing the following details to enable us to monitor and analyse how inclusive our processes are. The information provided will be treated as strictly confidential and will be used for statistical purposed only. It will not be seen by those involved in the selection process and no information will be published or used in any way which allows any individual to be identified.

This information will be kept separately from the rest of your application and will not be seen by those involved in making decisions in the selection process, including referees etc.

Applicants are required to nominate one referee and ensure that the supporting statement from their chosen referee is submitted on the British Academy GMS before the deadline. Please note that the reference must be received before you can formally submit the application for approval, and you are strongly advised to ensure that your referee submits the reference well in advance of the formal applicant deadline for this round of competition, which will be 5pm on 30 November 2022.

Please note this deadline is final.

Your referee *must not be the proposed mentor* but should be someone who is familiar with your project and able to comment on its significance and feasibility, and on your abilities. The reference may be supplied by a scholar based outside the UK if you wish. Your referee MUST be drawn from outside your own employing institution.

Before listing your referee on your application form, you should seek permission from them that they are happy to provide this by the applicant deadline. It is essential that you enter the correct email address for your referee otherwise your referee will not receive the automated messages delivered from the British Academy GMS.

The statement that the Referee is being asked to complete is broken down into the following sections; Importance of the research proposal; Ability; Feasibility; and Engagement of Public Interest which each has a maximum word limit of 500. The Referee is also asked to score each of these sections on a range of 1 to 7 where the latter is the highest and then provide an Overall Score. There is also an ‘Overall Comments’ section which is optional and does not have a word limit.

An application cannot be considered for an award unless the proposal and reference have been submitted on time.

The referee must submit their reference BEFORE the applicant can submit their application. The ‘Submit’ button for the applicant will not appear until the referee has clicked the ‘Submit my contribution’ button.

Please note that references must be provided through the British Academy GMS, they cannot be provided as an email attachment nor sent by post in hard copy.

The Head of Department should be the person who heads the Department, Faculty, Institute or other unit in which you are currently working and will be expected to comment on the career development benefit to be gained if the award is made.

Heads of Department and Referees must be invited to contribute to your application via the Flexi-Grant system. You can invite them under the ‘Contributors’ tab on your application summary page. Once they have been invited, they will receive an email notification with instructions on how to contribute. There is a limit of 1500 words.

Please note that the Head of Department statement must be received before you can formally submit the application for approval, and you are strongly advised to ensure that your HoD submits the statement well in advance of the formal applicant deadline for this round of competition, which will be 5pm on 30 November 2022.

Please note this deadline is final.

Please also note that an application cannot be submitted until all required contributors have submitted their contribution first.