Welcome to the Welsh Branch of the Society for Renaissance Studies. The aim of this branch to support all kinds of academic and teaching events across Wales which relate to the enhanced knowledge of the Renaissance in all its many and various disciplines. Do contact the branch if you are organising an event in Wales linked to Renaissance studies as we can offer e-platforms for publicising the event. If you wish to seek funding from the Welsh Branch for such events, please see the regulations in the link below.
Opportunities for Funding from Welsh Branch
The Society makes available to the Welsh Representative a fund with which to offer financial support for conferences dedicated to all aspects of Renaissance studies. These funds are primarily designed to support the participation of undergraduate or postgraduate students at academic conferences and meetings and this emphasis will be given priority when applications are considered. However, other kinds of applications relating to the promotion of Renaissance studies are also eligible for consideration. It should be stressed that the Welsh Representative's fund is not extensive and it is envisaged that only contributions (rather than comprehensive grants) can be made towards the financing of relevant academic events.
Applicants will be expected to have planned their event carefully and to have sought funding from their institution (university, museum or gallery, or other). Applicants are required to disclose all other sources of funding, but funding from other sources will not in itself be seen as a weakness in an application. Both major international meetings and smaller-scale specialist colloquia, including one-day events, will be considered on their academic merits for funding.
Anyone seeking funding from the Welsh fund of the Society should send an application (in the form of an email) to Welsh Representative. This application should take the following into account:
A. Awards will not be made to individuals to attend conferences, but to the organizers of conferences to provide assistance with conference support (notably, the participation of undergraduate and postgraduate students).
B. Honoraria or other fees or payments to speakers are not eligible for support. Grants are not available for lecture series, or seminar series, nor for events that form part of an institution's teaching or training programme.
C. Grants are regretfully not available to support events that are wholly or primarily intended to give postgraduate students an opportunity to present their research, either as an event convened for mutual support and interest, or in a training environment. All applications must demonstrate a financial case for support. Grants are not available for meetings that are projected to make a profit. It will be expected that those in receipt of SRS Conference Grants will acknowledge the support of the Society on all conference publicity materials and at the event.
D. All applications should aim to give the assessors as complete an overview as possible of the academic scope and intention of the planned meeting, bearing in mind that each application will be considered in competition with others from different fields within Renaissance Studies.
E. Successful applicants are required to submit a report (c. 1000 words) to the Welsh Representative within six weeks of the event describing the nature and progress of the event for a general reader. This will be published in the Bulletin of the Society for Renaissance Studies at the earliest opportunity.
All applications must include the following:
§1 Applications should have one lead applicant, who should generally be the principal conference organizer.
§2 All correspondence will be sent to the named individual at the address specified on the form.
§3 Please give the title, location, dates and (where applicable) organizing body of the conference or colloquium. Please indicate whether the meeting is one of a series, or a one-off event and whether it is already in receipt/seeking other sources of funding. The SRS has no objection to its grants being held in conjunction with awards from other bodies, provided that there is no duplication of expenditure.
§4 Give the expected numbers and international scope of participants, and indicate whether the event is open to all or restricted to invited specialists.
§5 Please state the amount requested from the SRS (Welsh fund) and the number and status of the individuals for whom support is sought.
§6 Please provide a breakdown of the conference budget in pounds sterling. Please clearly itemize here the costs for which funding is sought.
§7 Please sign and date your application form. In some cases, institutional authorization may be required to validate the application. Please check with your Research Office whether this is the case. Please note that signing the application form constitutes confirmation that the information provided is complete and accurate. Subsequent discovery of any deliberate falsehood will automatically render the application null and void. If an award has been made, the SRS may require a full refund.
§8 Contributions related to a given event would normally be between £50-200 where the application is successful. Payments may only be made to institutions after the academic event has taken place and on production of an appropriate invoice from the host institution to the Welsh Representative. There are no deadlines for an application for funding from the Society.
Assessment criteria: Assessors will evaluate the proposal on the basis of its academic merit, taking into account the scholarly importance of the proposed conference or colloquium, its likely impact upon the subject area, the focus of the programme and theme(s), the contribution to be made by the speakers, and intended outcomes. Assessors may also pay attention to issues such as the presentation of the application form and value for money. It should be understood that a competition between conferences planned for many different areas within the field of Renaissance Studies will necessarily result in disappointment for some excellent applications.
Applications should be sent by email to the Welsh Representative, SRS,
at the address shown below. Emailed applications will be acknowledged via return email. Applicants are advised to retain a copy of their application for their own records and to ensure that the relevant officer in their employing institution has a copy (where applicable).
Please note applicants will be notified of the outcome of their application within six weeks of the date received by the Welsh Representative. Results are issued by email, and cannot be given over the telephone.
The Welsh Branch would also like to take this opportunity to draw your attention to the diversity of SRS funding opportunities which are available nationally and advertised on the main funding page of the website.
With every good wish
Andrew Hiscock
Welsh Representative - Society for Renaissance Studies