The Willison Foundation Charitable Trust was established in 2016 through the gift of Mr Ian Willison (CBE). The Trust promotes the advancement of the History of the Book in the Humanities.
The Award
Applications can be made for up to £4,000. The Trust does not fund institutional overheads and expects that an award will be spent wholly on actual research, and that any unspent remnant be returned to the Trust at the conclusion of the research.
Applicants are normally informed via email of their success or otherwise by mid-to-late December. If the award is accepted, payment will be made by bank transfer in early January 2023. The Trust is not responsible for any fees charged by an applicant’s own bank for administration of the bank transfer. Awards will be announced publicly on the Trust’s web site within the first two months of 2023.
The Trust expects that projects funded will be completed within the calendar year. In exceptional circumstances the Trustees may agree to an extension. Any such extension will be based on a brief interim report submitted by the grant holder by 10 November of award year. This would provide the justification for an extension, and would offer a revised timetable for the completion of the project.
Who can apply?
Applications are invited from anyone pursuing advanced research in the History of the Book, irrespective of nationality, discipline, or profession. ‘Advanced research’ is taken to mean work towards a doctorate, post-doctoral research, and work of an equivalent level regardless of the applicant’s formal qualifications. Applications will be judged on scholarly criteria and upon financial criteria, including the efficient use of grant money and the prospects of the project’s being finished in the time estimated in the application. Recipients will be expected to be working towards publication and/or other forms of dissemination.
An application must be made by a single person either as an individual or on behalf of a group or organisation that carries out research in the History of the Book. The Panel welcomes applications from researchers at any stage in their careers from PhD students to senior scholars. The Selection Panel looks with favour upon bids aimed at developing new methodologies and approaches, proofs of concept testing, exploring new types of resource, and experiment-based projects.
How to apply?
An application should be typed using a font no smaller than 11 point. It should consist of two parts. One, a project description of no more than 1,500 words. Two, a C.V. and list of your relevant publications (if any), which should be no longer than two A4 pages.
A project description should begin with your full name, address, and any existing academic qualifications. If appropriate, you should add an institutional affiliation and the degree for which you are working. You should then offer a brief description of the aims of the project, the materials to be investigated, and the costs for which you are applying. This should be followed by a more detailed account of how you and, if appropriate, your working group intends to use the research materials listed earlier. As the Trustees aim as far as possible to support time spent on original documents, please give as much detail as you can, e.g. in the form of a list of library or archive items to be viewed, and/or costs anticipated in the preparation of a database or similar output. You should indicate the planned dates for starting and finishing the project, and, if possible, include list of project milestones. Please do supply cost estimates or quotations if appropriate. You should also indicate how you are going to fund the cost of any necessary expenses which would not be covered by a Willison Foundation award, and make it clear to the Trust whether such funding is being applied for, or has been awarded, from other organisations and, if the latter, how much has already been secured.
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