Research Grants

The Society administers the Medieval Archaeology Research Grant, the Postgraduate & Early Career Travel Grant, and a Training Bursary. Society members are invited to apply by the end of January each year for grants awarded in March or April.

The Medieval Archaeology Research Grant was established in 1990 and offers awards of up to £3000 in exceptional cases, although we expect most applications to be in the region of £1000-£1500 maximum. Applicants must be individual members of the Society wishing to carry out personal research. We do not fund the hosting of conferences.

In addition to the guidelines specific to each of our funding schemes, please also note that we cannot fund the purchase of capital equipment or software, academic fees, or the salary of applicants (although fees for specialists/consultants are eligible).

We welcome applications from graduate students but do not normally fund core elements of doctoral research where the costs could have been foreseen at the start of the research programme (although additional analytical research and travel are eligible); funding for doctoral students does not normally exceed £750.

The Postgraduate & Early Career Travel Grant was established in 2022 and offers awards of up to £500 for those undertaking research post-graduate degrees or early career researchers within two years of award of degree and without an institutional position. Applicants must be individual members of the Society.

The Training Bursary was established in 2022 and seeks to support student training or work placements. We do not normally fund core elements of doctoral research where the costs could have been foreseen at the start of the research programme. Applicants are responsible for organising placements or training programmes and ensuring that the host organisation has approved the project before the application is submitted. A letter of support from the host organisation is required. Applicants must be individual members of the Society.

Applicants for the Society’s grants should download this application form: SMA-grant-application-form and return it by email to the Grants & Awards Officer, Prof Gordon Noble g.noble@abdn.ac.uk by January 31st.