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UK Scholars Research Support Award

SLAS makes available up to 3 grants worth up to £3000 each to members to support research costs for which the scholar has no other source of funding.

 

At present SLAS’s strategic priorities, in line with our Climate Action Plan and our commitment to decolonising research practices, include supporting applications for project focusing on issues of climate action and environmental sustainability, for those involving collaboration with Latin America-based researchers, and for Digital Humanities-related expenditure. Nonetheless, consideration will be given to all topics that fall within the broad remit of Latin American Studies. Other eligible costs may include travel expenses to visit archives located in the UK, the purchase of image rights, indexing, translation and publishing costs, co-production of outputs, etc.

  

Eligibility:

  • Applicants must be members of SLAS.

  • Applicants must be currently based in the UK but they may be of any nationality.

  • Applicants may be employed on a full or part-time basis, on temporary or permanent contracts.

  • Applicants must have been awarded their PhD at least 4 years ago (i.e. from graduation date) at the point of application.

  • Applicants who have previously been successful under this scheme are not eligible to apply again for 4 years from the date of award of their successful application.

  • Current members of the SLAS committee are not eligible to apply.

 

How to apply:

  • Applicants should complete the application form below and submit it by email to the SLAS Secretary by the deadline.

  • Applications arriving after the deadline will not be considered under any circumstances.

  • Applicants will normally receive a confirmation of receipt of an application within 3 working days.

  • Applications will be retained for up to one year and will be shared with members of the SLAS committee for assessment.

 

Eligible Costs:

Please note that funds are limited, and that the maximum grant available to each applicant is £3000. Priority will be given to applicants with no access to institutional support or external grant funding.

 

Digital Humanities-related expenses:

SLAS will support the purchase of equipment, website domain names and the ongoing cost of hosting, or costs associated with having digital resources professionally designed to enable applicants to undertake, complete or disseminate their research. Where such costs are included within the budget, please ensure you clearly explain how any equipment will be used and why the costs are necessary in the justification for resources.

 

Payment of Latin America-based researchers:

These grants may be used to pay Latin America-based researchers to conduct research on behalf of the UK-based scholar who is the recipient of the award. The local tax implications for researchers based in Latin America and conducting research under the aegis of this scheme remain the responsibility of the individual. All work conducted in relation to a SLAS award is considered to be conducted on a free-lance basis and does not constitute a contract of employment between the individual and SLAS or the UK-based grant recipient’s host institution. All payments to Latin America-based researchers should be handled by the researchers’ host institution on receipt of an invoice and confirmation from the UK-based grant recipient that the work has been completed to the required standard. When budgeting, please add 20% reverse VAT to the costs associated with Latin America-based researchers as your host institution will need to pay this to HMRC.

 

Other eligible costs:

SLAS has acknowledged the climate emergency and wants to ensure that all grants include a focus on sustainability in the research design. International travel is therefore not an eligible expense for this award and we encourage applicants to explore opportunities to collaborate with local researchers instead. Furthermore, we encourage all applicants to include more sustainable options within any budgets, even if these are more costly than the most basic option.

 

SLAS is happy to support costs related to caring responsibilities (for example costs towards the provision of additional care required in your absence, travel costs for accompanying children) as part of our grant applications. In the outline budget, please do feel free to include any such costs as part of the application.

 

Ineligible costs:

SLAS will not consider applications for the following:

  • Replacement teaching costs

  • International travel costs

  • Any UK travel plans that commence within one month of the deadline for submission of applications

  • Applications in which the main or sole purpose of a trip is to attend a conference; however, if you are presenting at a conference as part of a wider research trip, this will be eligible for support.

 

Responsibilities of grant recipients:

The grant will be made available to the successful applicant in full on award. It will be paid to the recipient’s host institution rather than to the individual.

 

Successful applicants commit to spending the funds awarded in relation to the project for which they have been awarded in their entirety. Where plans shift significantly, recipients should consult the SLAS Secretary for approval.

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Grant recipients will be expected to write a short blog post (approx. 300-500 words) by way of report, for publication on the SLAS website. This is to be submitted to the SLAS secretary within 1 month of completion of the period of time for which funding is granted. We are particularly keen to include images in blog posts for which grant recipients hold appropriate permissions to publish.

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Grant recipients are strongly encouraged to present the results of their research at the SLAS conference following their period of research and/or to submit some of their resultant work to be published as an article in the Bulletin of Latin American Research.

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Assessment Criteria:

  • Quality and significance of proposal - out of 20

  • Relevance to SLAS strategic priorities for funding - out of 10

  • Justification of budget (including consideration of whether other funding sources have been exhausted and issues of sustainability) - out of 10

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Application Timeline

  • March: Deadline for UK Scholar Research Support Grants.

  • By end of May: We aim to inform all applicants of the outcome of their application within six weeks of the deadline.

  • May-December: Undertake project.

  • One month after completion of period for which funding is granted: Write a short blog post (approx. 300-500 words), by way of report, for publication on the SLAS website.

  • After completion of funded research period: Participation in SLAS conference and/or submission of article to BLAR.

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APPLICATION FORM

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