University English Small Grants 2026/27
Introduction and Context
University English is pleased to announce a funding opportunity open to all current members. In recognition of reduced funding at many institutions, the Executive Committee has agreed to fund up to 20 projects worth up to £300 each to support research and/or pedagogy and/or continuing professional development activities in Literature, Language, Creative Writing. We are generally open to how the funds are to be used, as long as they fall within the three areas of research, pedagogy, and/or continuing professional development. We have also tried to make the application form as light touch as possible. As a requirement of receiving funds from University English, all successful applicants will be expected to write a short blog post for our website.
Timeline
Application opens 2nd October to 30th November 2026.
All applicants will be notified of the outcome by the 8th December 2026.
All activities must take place before 31st August 2027.
Who Can Apply
Applicants must be a member of academic staff at a department/school that has up-to-date University English membership for the academic year 2026-2027. University English is committed to equality, diversity, and inclusion, and seeks applications from a wide range of members.
What Will We Fund
The funds can be used to support research, pedagogy, and/or continuing professional development. This may include, but is not limited to:
- Research activities to libraries, archives, fieldwork.
- To organise and/or attend to conferences, workshops, events.
- Costs to help with caring responsibilities that make trips, event attendance etc. possible.
How To Apply and Deadline:
Please complete the accompanying application form and submit it to the Samantha Matthews (s.matthews@bristol.ac.uk) by 5pm on November 30th 2026.
Assessment Process
- All applications will be assessed by a sub-committee, made up of the Chair (Kate Walchester), Vice Chair (Tasha Alden), Treasurer (Andrew Kehoe) and Ordinary Member (Tom Lockwood). Other members of the Executive Committee may be called upon as well.
- Applications need to be in line with the scheme’s purpose, i.e., to support research, pedagogy, and/or continuing professional development for University English members working within the broad areas of Literature, Language, Creative Writing.
- Priority will be given to members from institutions that have no internal funding, or very little internal funding, and/or members who haven’t received such support from their home institution in the past two years.
Where we have more than 20 applications that all meet the criteria and all equally qualify in terms of need, we will carry out a randomised selection process (as used by the British Academy, for example).
Feedback:
Unfortunately, we will not be able to offer feedback on any applications.
Contact Details:
If you have questions, please email Kate Walchester (K.A.Walchester@ljmu.ac.uk) and Tom Lockwood (t.e.lockwood@bham.ac.uk) who are overseeing this scheme.
Application Form: