Funding for business and organizational historians: what’s open, and when it comes round againA working list of grants, fellowships and prizes,
I run a monthly AI sweep of funding calls relevant to business history, economic history, technology history and organisation studies. So, the below is AI-generated, with prompts and pointers by me. While I fact-checked this, you should not rely on it; always go to the funder’s website for your information. In terms of the History in Organizations readership, three in ten of you are in the UK. Another two in ten are in the EU. The rest of you are spread across seventy-odd countries, with sizeable groups in the US, India, Brazil, Canada, Australia, Italy and South Africa. The funding landscape in our field is lopsidedly British and European, but for more generalist funders, you may have other national or institutional funders not listed here. Many of the funders below accept (collaborative) bids from international candidates. But eligibility varies:
Many competitions are annual or biennial (every two years) and fall in the same month each year, which means a deadline you miss is a date to put in next year’s calendar rather than a lost opportunity. Full subscribers can download a funding calendar at the end. The one thing to read if you read nothing elseESRC is permanently closing its three core applicant-led schemes on 4 November 2026. Responsive mode research grants, new investigator grants and secondary data analysis all shut that day and do not come back. This is not a round closing. It is the schemes ending. Two replacements open the following morning, 5 November 2026, both with no closing date:
Together with the React and Connect pilots already running, that makes five. ESRC is running a virtual town hall on 30 September covering all three new calls. Town hall sign-up: ukri.org/events/economic-and-social-research-council-virtual-town-hall
Open now, with a deadlineOrdered by closing date. Marketing Impact Research Grant 2026 · British Academy of Management and the Marketing Trust Maximum £6,600 per project across up to three projects, one of which is ringfenced for an early career academic as lead applicant (early career defined as within five years of the doctorate). Open to researchers at any career stage. The remit is marketing broadly defined, including its interface with any other field of business and management: brand heritage, advertising, consumption and corporate communication. Members of the BAM Executive, the Marketing Trust Board and the awards committee are excluded. Deadline: Wednesday 23 September 2026, 14:00 UK. Institutional approvers have until 30 September, 17:00. Nine days from publication, so this is the one to look at first. Applications go through BAM institutional approval, which in practice means a UK institution; BAM does not state this as a formal nationality rule, so ask if you are elsewhere. Cycle: annual, launching in June and closing in September. bam.ac.uk/grants/marketing-impact-research-grant-2026.html Postdoctoral Fellowships, Outline Stage 2026-27 · British Academy Three years, starting autumn 2027, non-renewable. The Academy funds 80% of salary and directly allocated and indirect costs under FEC. Eligibility is narrow: your viva must fall between 1 April 2024 and 1 April 2027, and anyone who has ever held a permanent academic post is out. Success rate has rarely exceeded 10%. Nationality rules are a bit complex; make sure to check the website. Deadline: Wednesday 30 September 2026, 17:00 BST. UK-hosted, with nationality conditions. Cycle: annual, opening 1 July and closing 30 September, with an invited second stage the following January. Unsuccessful outline applicants cannot reapply unless invited. thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/schemes/postdoctoral-fellowships Pasold Research Project Grants · Pasold Research Fund Between £751 and £2,500 for textile, dress and fashion history, including preliminary work towards a larger bid. Research expenses only, no salaries, no retrospective applications. Deadline: 1 October 2026. Open worldwide for research grants; workshop applications restricted to UK universities and museums. Cycle: twice a year, 1 March and 1 October. The Fund also runs MA, PhD, publication and Raine grants, plus Pasold Research Fellowships and the Neaverson Pasold Postdoctoral Fellowship. pasold.co.uk/research-project-grants Talent Development Awards 2026-27 · British Academy Maximum £10,000 for skills acquisition rather than a research project: advanced quantitative methods, data science, digital humanities, languages. Around twenty-six awards expected. It will not fund a research project, time buy-out for the lead applicant, computer hardware, books, institutional overheads or payment in lieu of salary, and it will not fund activity that only applies skills you already have. Co-applicants may be based overseas. Deadline: 7 October 2026, 17:00 UK. UK only for the lead applicant, who must hold a long-term appointment at a UK HEI or IRO and be ordinarily resident in the UK. Cycle: annual, opening in July and closing in October. thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/schemes/talent-development-awards React Awards (pilot) · ESRC Short, time-critical work of up to six months, assessed on a rolling basis with a target decision inside ten working days. Awards run £50,000 to £100,000 from a £1.5 million pot, at 80% FEC. Read the eligibility: you need a confirmed partnership with at least one public sector organisation that can use the outputs within six months, and the project must start within a month of funding confirmation. Deadline: 8 October 2026, 16:00 UK. UK only. Cycle: pilot, so no guarantee it repeats. The companion Connect pilot, £50,000 to £150,000 for testing novel ideas and building collaborations, closed on 10 June 2026. ukri.org/opportunity/esrc-react-awards-pilot ERC Starting Grant 2027 · European Research Council €1.5 million over five years, with up to €1 million more available for relocation and equipment, rising to €2 million for researchers moving from a non-associated third country. Your PhD must have been defended no more than ten years before 1 January 2027, with no minimum; the ERC now counts from the certified date of the successful defence rather than the award date. The call opened 22 July 2026, earlier than its predecessors. Deadline: 14 October 2026, 17:00 Brussels. Europe-hosted, any nationality. Cycle: annual, though the calendar moves. erc.europa.eu/apply-grant/starting-grant Bursary for Business History Research · Business Archives Council The annual fund is around £1,000 in total, awarded as one or more grants, for researchers who need to get to business or organisational archives in England and Wales and have no other way of paying for it. The BAC is explicit that it is aimed at people without permanent contracts and at widening who gets into the archives, and that the sums suit scoping and pilot work rather than a full project. Application is a Google Form, and the panel draws on academics at Essex, Newcastle and Henley. Deadline: midday, 16 October 2026. Open by archive location rather than by nationality: the archives must be in England or Wales. Cycle: annual, autumn. businessarchivescouncil.org.uk/activitiesobjectives/bursary Chandler Travel Grants for BHC 2027 annual meeting, call for papers · Business History Conference Sheraton Mexico City Maria Isabel, 18 to 20 March 2027, on business history and political economy. The programme committee has flagged particular interest in corporations from emerging economies and in Latin American material, given the venue. Not funding as such, but the Chandler travel grants for graduate students and the postdoctoral travel awards both follow from acceptance, so this deadline is the gate. Deadline: 16 October 2026. Open worldwide. Cycle: annual, with the call closing in mid-October for a spring meeting. thebhc.org/2027-bhc-call-papers Exploratory and Henry Belin du Pont Research Grants · Hagley Museum and Library Hagley holds one of the best business and technology history collections anywhere. Exploratory grants fund a one-week scoping visit at $400; du Pont grants run up to eight weeks. Anyone may apply, and Hagley encourages you to talk to library staff before you do. The stipends are modest, so most people pair them with other travel money. Deadline: 31 October 2026. Open worldwide, but you have to get to Delaware. Cycle: three times a year, 31 March, 30 June and 31 October. Decisions within 45 days of the deadline. hagley.org/research/grants-fellowships Carnevali Small Research Grants · Economic History Society Up to £5,000, explicitly for pilot studies that seed larger applications, or small-scale work with a defined publication goal. It will not cover conference attendance, equipment, publication costs, subsistence, administration, salary buy-out or teaching cover, indirect costs, or room hire at your own institution. Successful applicants cannot reapply for three years. Decisions in six to eight weeks. Deadline: 1 November 2026. UK institution, and you must be an EHS member. Cycle: twice a year, 1 May and 1 November. ehs.org.uk/award/carnevali-small-research-grants Responsive mode, new investigator and secondary data analysis: final call · ESRC · UK only See the section above for why this is the last one. All three close 4 November 2026, 16:00 UK, permanently. Research grants £350,000 to £1 million FEC over up to sixty months; new investigator grants £100,000 to £350,000, ruling you out if you hold a professorship or have previously led an ESRC or UKRI research grant, postdoctoral fellowships excepted; secondary data analysis up to £300,000. All at 80% FEC, all requiring social science to be more than half the research focus and effort, which an organisation studies framing carries comfortably even when the material is historical. Talk to your research office about their internal cut-off before you do anything else. Research Fellowships · Leverhulme Trust Tenable for three to twenty-four months, for experienced researchers who have been kept from a programme of original research by routine duties. Value up to £70,000. Deadline: 5 November 2026, 16:00. UK post and UK residency. Cycle: annual, autumn deadline. leverhulme.ac.uk/research-fellowships BAM and SIMA Collaborative Research Grant 2026 · UK lead, Italian partner Maximum £4,000 for one project. At least one lead or co-applicant at a UK higher education institution and at least one at an Italian one, with the Italian applicant holding active SIMA membership in scientific sector ECON07/A. Register your application in the BAM Grants Portal now, deadline for applicants to submit applications in the BAM Grants Portal: Thursday 12th November 2026 at 16:00 (UK time). If you have an Italian collaborator, email BAM’s grants manager directly rather than working from any of those. Cycle: annual, intended. BAM has said equivalent schemes with ANZAM in Australasia and IAM in Ireland will launch in 2027. bam.ac.uk/grants.html Herman E. Krooss Prize for Best Dissertation in Business History · Business History Conference $500 and a plaque, for dissertations completed in the three calendar years before the annual meeting and written in English. You may submit only once, so choose your year. Nominations and self-nominations both accepted, consisting of a cover letter, the abstract and a CV. Finalists present at the annual meeting. Deadline: 14 November 2026. Open worldwide. Cycle: annual, 14 November. thebhc.org/krooss General research grants · Gerda Henkel Foundation German foundation funding the historical humanities, naming history, history of science and history of law among its fields. Deadline: 20 November 2026. Committees meet in April 2027 and funding can start from May 2027 at the earliest, so build the lead time into your plans. Open worldwide. Cycle: twice a year. Worth knowing: the deadline does not apply to applications of €30,000 or less, which go through a simplified procedure, can be submitted at any time and are decided in roughly three to four months. Note also that the Foundation amended some funding regulations on 1 July 2026, so double-check the details. gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/en/grants Alfred D. Chandler Jr. International Visiting Scholar · Harvard Business School Established business historians based outside the United States spend two to six months in residence at HBS. $7,000 stipend paid at the end of the visit, plus office space, computer, ID card and full library access. You must be in residence during the fall semester and participate in the Business History Seminar, which runs from late September through November. Application is a cover letter, CV, a two- to three-page proposal and two references via Interfolio. Of everything on this list, this is the one most precisely aimed at a mid-career or senior business historian outside the US, and it is not widely advertised in the UK. Deadline: 1 December, recurring. The page has shown 1 December 2025 since last winter and the current cycle is not posted, so treat December as the pattern and confirm before you write anything. Open worldwide except the United States. Cycle: annual, 1 December. hbs.edu/businesshistory/fellowships Thomas K. McCraw Fellowship in U.S. Business History · Harvard Business School The sibling scheme. Established scholars from anywhere in the world whose primary interest is the business and economic history of the United States, in residence for a minimum of two months during the fall semester, researching in Baker Library or other Boston-area archives. $7,000 stipend and the same facilities. Deadline: 1 December, recurring, same caveat about the year shown. Open worldwide. Cycle: annual, 1 December. hbs.edu/businesshistory/fellowships ERC Consolidator Grant 2027 · European Research Council €2 million over five years, with up to €1 million more in justified cases. PhD defended between five and fifteen years before 1 January 2027, counted from the certified defence date. Opens 24 September 2026. Deadline: 12 January 2027. Europe-hosted, any nationality. Cycle: annual. erc.europa.eu/apply-grant/consolidator-grant Coleman Prize · Association of Business Historians £500, sponsored by Taylor & Francis, for a PhD dissertation in business history either on a British subject or completed at a British university. Dissertations completed in 2025 and 2026 are eligible for this round. The ABH reads business history broadly. Shortlisted finalists must present in person at the annual conference, and are entitled to apply for a Francesca Carnevali grant of up to £200 towards costs. The ABH site gives 19 February 2027 for nominations, 19 March 2027 for full dissertations from the longlist, and 7 May 2027 for finalist notification. Those dates went up before the formal 2027 call, so re-check when it appears. Open worldwide by subject or institution, not by nationality. Cycle: annual, February. theabh.org/prizes-and-workshops History at HBS Postdoctoral Fellowship · Harvard Business School A twelve-month appointment running July to June, for a PhD completed within the past five years in business and economic history or cognate fields including political economy, economics, management and history. Residence required, with duties supporting the Business History Seminar series and possibly the Business History Review. Deadline: rolling, with early March the recurring point for full consideration. The 2026-27 round asked for applications by 8 March 2026; the 2027-28 date is not yet posted. Open worldwide. Cycle: annual, early March. hbs.edu/businesshistory/fellowships Alfred D. Chandler Jr. Travel Fellowships · Harvard Business School $1,000 to $5,000 for library and archival research in business or economic history. Three categories of applicant, including graduate students or non-tenured faculty at any university, in the US or abroad, whose research requires travel to Baker Library and other Boston archives. Deadline: 15 March, recurring. The last stated date was 15 March 2026 and the 2027 date is not yet posted. Open worldwide, graduate students and non-tenured faculty. Cycle: annual, 15 March. hbs.edu/businesshistory/fellowships Open continuously, with no deadline at allESRC Explore and Grow · UKRI · UK only · Cycle: continuous, from 5 November 2026, 09:00 Explore £300,000 to £2 million FEC over up to sixty months, for curiosity-driven work pushing disciplinary, methodological or conceptual boundaries, from a project lead plus up to three co-leads. Grow £100,000 to £500,000 FEC over eighteen to sixty months, for establishing independence, pivoting into a new social science discipline, or building advanced methodological expertise. Both at 80% FEC, both requiring social science to be more than half the focus and effort, both assessed on a rolling basis with regular decision points. Challenge, £2 million to £10 million, follows in early 2027. AHRC applicant-led mode · UKRI · UK only · Cycle: consecutive rounds, effectively continuous Standard research grants £300,000 to £1.5 million at 80% FEC, requiring a project lead plus at least one co-lead, up to five years, with projects starting at least nine months after submission. AHRC runs these in consecutive rounds and the round numbering shifts, so check which round is live before you start writing, and check the Catalyst and Curiosity pages for their own terms. The standard grant opportunity carries a technical closing date of 22 September 2026 while AHRC updates its systems, after which a new application link goes up. ukri.org/opportunity/ahrc-responsive-mode-standard-research-grant Gerda Henkel small grants · Open worldwide · Cycle: continuous Applications up to €30,000 sit outside the November and spring deadlines, go through a simplified procedure and can be submitted at any time, with a decision in roughly three to four months. gerda-henkel-stiftung.de/en/grants Between rounds, and when they returnERC Advanced Grant · up to €2.5 million over five years · Europe-hosted, any nationality The 2026 call closed on 27 August 2026. Up to €1 million more is available for relocation and equipment, rising to €2 million for researchers moving from non-associated third countries. There is no eligibility window, so career stage is judged on the record rather than years since PhD. You need to commit at least 30% of your working time to the project and spend at least half your working time in an EU member state or associated country. The 2027 round opens 27 May 2027 and closes 26 August 2027. Cycle: annual, one Advanced call per Work Programme. erc.europa.eu/apply-grant/advanced-grant Mid-Career Fellowship · British Academy · UK only The 2026-27 round closed 26 August 2026, with awards starting between 1 September 2026 and 1 January 2027. Buys out up to 100% of your time for six to twelve months, to a maximum around £152,000 at 80% FEC. The guidance suggests applicants are usually within fifteen years of the doctorate, with allowance for career breaks, then makes clear this is not strictly enforced and that anyone who can justify mid-career status is welcome. Public engagement is weighted heavily alongside research quality. Previous holders cannot reapply. Cycle: annual, opening in June and closing in late August. Re-check the detailed terms against the 2027-28 guidance when it appears in June. thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/schemes/mid-career-fellowships Postdoctoral Fellowships · Marie SkÅ‚odowska-Curie Actions The 2026 call closed 9 September 2026; the 2027 call should open around April and close in September. European Fellowships run twelve to twenty-four months and are open to any nationality. Global Fellowships, which send you outside Europe with a mandatory twelve-month return, carry additional nationality and long-term residence conditions. Up to eight years of research experience since the PhD. The 2026 call carried an indicative budget of €399 million and was expected to fund close to 1,600 projects. You apply jointly with a host. Cycle: annual, opening around April and closing in September. marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu Leverhulme Research Project Grants · up to £500,000 over up to five years · UK only Open to Outline Applications from 21 September 2026 with no deadline. Detailed application deadline: 1 July 2026 (decision: Mid-October 2026), application deadline: 1 September 2026 (decision: Late-November 2026). https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/research-project-grants Later ERC calls · Europe-hosted · Cycle: annual, one call each per Work Programme
Confirm all of these against the 2027 Work Programme when it is published rather than against this listing. Cataloguing Grant · Business Archives Council · UK archives and organisations It funds cataloguing work on business collections rather than a researcher’s own project, so the applicant is the repository. The 2026 round closed 5 August 2026 after an extension. businessarchivescouncil.org.uk/news BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants · up to £10,000 · UK lead, co-applicants anywhere The 2026 round opened 8 April and closed 3 June. Cycle: annual, spring. A 2027 round has not been announced. Postdoctoral Visiting Fellowships at the IHR · Economic History Society · early career, UK-affiliated Up to three one-year fellowships in economic or social history, run with the Institute of Historical Research. Stipends were £22,780 outside London and £24,780 for London-based fellows in the 2026-27 round, which closed 31 January 2026 at 11:00. You need a recently completed doctorate, or a thesis to be submitted by 1 October of the fellowship year, plus an informal mentoring arrangement with a British university. Cycle: annual, January, with the exact 2027 date to follow. ehs.org.uk/award/economic-history-society-fellowships Arthur H. Cole grants-in-aid · Economic History Association · up to $5,000 · open worldwide, EHA members For PhD holders, with preference to recent recipients. Higher amounts in exceptional cases. The 2026 round closed 1 March 2026. Cycle: annual, 1 March. eh.net/arthur-h-cole-grants Hoare’s Bank Research Grant · Economic History Society · up to £10,000 · EHS members Funded by C. Hoare & Co. for work in the bank’s own archives on the economic and social history of finance, wealth, investment and consumption in Britain between 1860 and 1938. Narrow, and unusually well-funded for a learned society award. Tenable for up to two years. Same exclusions as the Carnevali grants, and you owe a 2,000-word report, a public presentation with a blog post, and an annotated outline of further research possibilities in the archive. Deadline: 1 May, annually, with outcomes in six to eight weeks. ehs.org.uk/award/hoares-bank-research-grant Tony Slaven Doctoral Workshop and Francesca Carnevali Grant · Association of Business Historians · doctoral The ABH site gives 26 March 2027 for the Slaven Workshop, issued alongside the main conference call, and 10 June 2027 for the Carnevali Grant, with £2,000 shared out at up to £200 a head and applicants required to be paid-up ABH members. Cycle: both annual. theabh.org/prizes-and-workshops Smaller and strangerSmall Grants Scheme · Newcomen Society · £500 to £10,000 For the history of engineering and technology. Read the eligibility carefully before you get excited: applicants must be registered charities, voluntary organisations or registered archives holding relevant collections, not individual academics or universities. Researchers can apply as a named collaborator on an application led by a partner archive, with the grant used as match funding. Applications start with an expression of interest by email, after which you are assigned a Trustee as a contact. Cycle: not annual, and no fixed deadline. It runs for one year from 25 February 2026 and is then under review, so do not assume there is a 2027 call. newcomen.com/the-newcomen-society-small-grants-scheme Henry Kaufman Financial History Fellowship · Business History Conference Dissertation fellowships for PhD candidates and postdoctoral fellowships for those within five years of receipt of the degree. Multiple tracks, check websites for deadlines (normally three per year). thebhc.org/grants Not relevant for you?Manage which type of content you receive from History in Organizations:
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