Research funding

The Centre for Scottsh and Celtic Studies offers two different grants, and we have also listed several grants offered by other departments in the University.

Grants offered by the Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies:

The Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies offers two funding schemes (major grants/seedcorn funding) for colleagues in the Schools of Humanities and Critical Studies. These schemes are intended to stimulate research in Scottish studies, broadly conceived, and to help colleagues realise their research ambitions by providing support for projects in development. 

Should you have any questions about ongoing developments in the Centre’s funding portfolio, please contact us.

Seedcorn Funding

  1. Awards made under this scheme will not normally exceed £1000.
  2. Applicants must belong to the School of Humanities or the School of Critical Studies.
  3. In Session 2022-23 there is an open deadline for these awards; applications will be considered from 14 October 2022 to 2 June 2023.

Download the application form here: 2022-23 Seedcorn Application.

Major grants

  1. Awards made under this scheme are normally capped at £2,000.
  2. Applicants must be a located in either the School of Humanities or the School of Critical Studies. Co-applicants (if appropriate) may be from other Schools within the College of Arts.
  3. Projects must relate to Scottish and Celtic Studies and preference will be given to applications that are interdisciplinary.
  4. All projects must relate to an anticipated larger research grant application or fit within a scheme of research activity for which external funding will be sought.
  5. In Session 2022-23 there is an open deadline for these awards; applications will be considered from 14 October 2022 to 2 June 2023.

Applications can be made to cover all or part of the costs for any of the following purposes:

  • Research travel and accommodation costs - please note that subsistence is not normally covered and that accommodation can only cover up to £70/night.
  • Teaching buy-out (this ought to be discussed in advance of application with the relevant Head(s) of Subject) - for info, teaching replacement costs:
    • Honours teaching: mid-point grade 7 spine point 34 
    • Pre-Honours: GTA grade 6 spine point 25 - for precise costings please contact the College Research Office.
  • Digitisation and microfilm costs.
  • Conference attendance and participation. 
  • Costs relating to the reproduction of images, maps and diagrams in a published work eligible for inclusion in the REF.
  • Any other research costs deemed reasonable. Please contact Andrew Mackillop (andrew.mackillop@glasgow.ac.uk) with your proposal prior to applying to see if it is eligible.

Download the application form here: 2022-23 Major Grant Application.

Grants associated with the Centre for Scottish and Celtic Studies:

Alexander Ogilvie Scholarship in Scottish History

This scholarship is awarded annually to a student who has already accepted a place to study Scottish History within the School of Humanties at the University of Glasgow at postgraduate level, and who is not otherwise in receipt of funding. The vaue of this scholarship is circa £1,800 and in the first instance must be used towards the payment of fees. 

For further details

Annie Dunlop Endowment

Funds are awarded from this bequest 'for the benefit of students and staff in the Scottish Area, as decided by the head of the Scottish Area within History, on the recommendation of staff in the Area'. Funds can be awarded to any research that has the purpose 'of promoting historical research into documents relevant to Scotland that are located outside Scotland, or to Scots living outside Scotland, or to relations between Scots and those living outside Scotland.'

Grants are made twice a year, with deadlines in March and November. For further details contact Dr. Catriona M.M. Macdonald (catriona.macdonald@glasgow.ac.uk) or Christelle Le Riguer (christelle.leriguer@glasgow.ac.uk).

Hunter Marshall Bequest

The Hunter Marshall Bequest provides funds to be applied in encouraging the study of the history of mediæval Scotland, especially with regard to the history of Scots Law and institutions of that period, or to the history of the Celtic period in Scotland, and its relation to the history of the Celtic period in England, Ireland and Brittany. Specific areas in which funds may be used are to maintain and enhance the Hunter Marshall collection of books through occasional purchase, to support research through the provision of funds for a modest research assistantship in the fields indicated by the bequest, to subsidise publications by persons connected with the University of Glasgow, and to subsidise excavations on mediæval Scottish sites conducted by a staff member in Archaeology in the School of Humanities or by persons associated with that Subject Area in the School.

Read more information on applying for the Hunter Marshall Bequest.

Charles Tyre Bequest

Funds are awarded from this bequest 'for the benefit of students and staff in the Scottish Area, as decided by the Head of the Scottish Area within History, on the recommendation of staff in the Area'. Grants to support research are made twice a year, with deadlines in March and November.

For further details contact Dr. Catriona M.M. Macdonald (catriona.macdonald@glasgow.ac.uk) or Christelle Le Riguer (christelle.leriguer@glasgow.ac.uk).

McGill-Glasgow Travel awards

Carleigh Nicholls visited the Centre for Scottish & Celtic Studies from 1 May-31 August 2017 as part of the Principal’s Early Career Mobility Scheme, which is a reciprocal scheme which allows our PhDs and early career researchers to visit McGill and other key strategic partners. She is a PhD student in the Department of History and Classical Studies at McGill University.  For her doctoral project, she examined the legal aspects of the Argyll Rebellion, which took place in the North West of Scotland. Apart from examining relevant and important materials in the University of Glasgow’s archives, she was conversing with experts in her field, and her host at the University of Glasgow will be Dr Karin Bowie.

We welcomed Christopher Walsh in May-June 2018 - his host was Dr Karin Bowie.

Scottish History Research Fund

For the support of research and researchers into Scottish History, broadly defined. Grants are made twice a year, with deadlines in March and November. For further details contact Dr. Catriona M.M. Macdonald (catriona.macdonald@glasgow.ac.uk) or Christelle Le Riguer (christelle.leriguer@glasgow.ac.uk).

Ross Fund

The Ross Fund provides funds to collect in Glasgow University material from abroad relating to the history of Scotland and to the history of Scottish people and influences abroad.  The intention is to deal with all periods, and with all aspects of history - political, ecclesiastical, social, economic, and artistic.  The Ross Fund provides a grant or scholarship for two distinct types of enquiry: one short-term and exploratory; the other long-term and comprehensive. 

More detailed information on the conditions of the Ross Fund can be found here.

Sue Green Bursary

An annual bursary to the value of £500 in memory of Sue Green is available to help support a postgraduate student in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Glasgow. Preference will be given to potential (new) research students not in receipt of grant support. Applications in the form of a short research proposal (c. 500 words) and accompanying brief CV should be sent to Professor S Driscoll by 31 January preceding the academic session in which the award is to be held.

Sue Green was an undergraduate student in the Department between 1998-2002 and died in a tragic accident just prior to graduating with a first class degree. Having completed an undergraduate dissertation on 'Neolithic settlement in the British Isles: a rejection of grand narratives', she was preparing to commence a PhD which was to review the cropmark evidence for Scotland's Neolithic, critique accepted classification schemes, and look at new approaches to studying these sites.

The bursary has been generously provided by her parents in her memory.

More information can be found here.

Tannahill Fund for the Furtherance of Scottish Literature

The Andrew Tannahill Fund for the Furtherance of Scottish Literature was established in 2006 by Dr Mabel Tannahill, herself a Glasgow graduate, in memory of her father Andrew Tannahill (a descendant of Robert Tannahill, the Paisley poet).

The generous endowment of £50,000 has allowed us sufficient credit to work in a number of different ways, to push the subject of Scottish Literature further in scholarly, research-based, educational and teaching-based activities, and in support of contemporary creative writing. In an era when the arts are so often seriously neglected or trivialised, this is a remarkable opportunity to highlight and develop the work the arts can do, crucially in education and creativity.

Find Application information and a more complete history of the fund.