All BSHP members are eligible to apply for funding, for events both within and outside the UK. To apply for funding, at least one of the applicants must be a member of the BSHP.
In addition to the amounts stated below, we can offer a fixed sum of £500 for childcare, over and above the conference funding otherwise awarded. The funding will be provided upon request by the conference / event organizer, who will be responsible for organizing childcare. Receipts must be provided after the event. Guidance on organizing childcare can be found through the BPA/SWIP Good Practice Scheme website.
Standard awards: for regular conference and events
Standard awards of up to £1000 are offered for conferences, workshops, regular research seminars, public lectures, and special panels in conferences. The BSHP also encourages applications to fund scholarly prizes. Applications are considered twice a year by the BSHP Management Committee. Application deadlines are 31 March and 31 October.
Major awards: for events linked to a BJHP special issue
Major awards of up to £2,000 are made for international conferences held with a view to publishing a special issue of the British Journal for the History of Philosophy, to be guest-edited, as appropriate, by one or more of the conference organizers.
Applicants must contact the Editor of the BJHP () to discuss possibilities in advance of applying for a major award. No guarantee of eventual publication can be made, but it will be a requirement of the award that a collection of papers based on the conference be offered to the BJHP for publication as one of its special issues. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis and should be submitted only in consultation with the BJHP special issues editor.
Please note that the BJHP does not publish special issues that focus on a single figure.
Application Procedure
To apply for a Standard award please fill in the Application Form and send it by email to the BSHP secretary , copying in .
Deadlines for applications are 31 March and 31 October every year.
Successful applicants must agree to abide by the following rules:
At least one award applicant must be a member of the BSHP.
The Management Committee of the BSHP must approve the association. The event funded must relate substantially to history of philosophy.
The association with the BSHP must be acknowledged in all publicity material. See our page on Acknowledging support for details.
Reports on planning and progress must be delivered to the Management Committee of the BSHP on request.
As in the case of all BSHP conferences, BSHP members must be offered a reduction of at least 10% on conference registration fees (to be indicated on the registration form).
The BSHP expects to be able to publicise the society and its journal during the proceedings of the conference.
The BSHP must be satisfied that the awards made are used for their intended purpose. Payment of the award will normally be made after the event has occurred and only upon receipt of a satisfactory report and detailed final accounts.
As signatories to the BPA/SWIP Good Practice Scheme, the BSHP requires conference organizers to take steps to ensure gender balance among speakers and participants. We do not normally fund multi-speaker events where all the speakers are male. Guidance on organizing gender-balanced conferences is available from the Good Practice Scheme website.
As signatories to the BPA Environment/Travel Guidelines, the BSHP prefers travel by train rather than airplane for short and intermediate travel. Additional funding is available in order to accommodate this preference.
Brief details of supported events will be posted on the BSHP website. Organizers are requested to use the BSHP email list to circulate calls for papers, programmes, and publicity.
funded events should be open to the public.
funding of repeat events—e.g. annual conference series—is possible but, in some cases, may receive lower priority than new events.
