We are delighted to announce that Wellcome have awarded us two grants totalling £50,000 over four years in order to organise three Society for the Social History of Medicine events, and to provide network funding to the history of medicine community in the UK.  

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SSHM Events

Our three Wellcome funded SSHM events will be an anti-racism workshop, which will further the work of our Statement Against Racism written in support of the Black Lives Matter movement in June 2020; an event focussing on the challenges of career precarity; and a mid-career writing retreat. More information will be posted in due course about these.

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Wellcome/SSHM Network Grants

Through funding made available by Wellcome, the Society for the Social History of Medicine is able to award financial assistance for research community networks working on the history of medicine and health. This will enable networking activities which are more innovative in approach rather than focusing on a single conference event. The maximum award per network grant is £6,000.

Applications should be submitted by the Network lead/organiser, who must be a member of SSHM at the time of application and be employed by or affiliated to the UK institution that has agreed to administer the grant on the network’s behalf (please include a supporting statement from a Head of Department/School/Faculty, sent directly to sshmexecsec@gmail.com, if the lead applicant has honorary or affiliated status).

Applicants must demonstrate: relevance to the history of medicine, broadly defined, and an economical budget. Criteria against which all applications will be ranked include: (1) extent of involvement of early career scholars; (2) using a competitive budget; (3) originality of theme; (4) significance/impact; (5) inclusivity and accessibility of events; (6) benefits of connecting more than once; (7) legacy and outcomes of project. Applicants should give details of any other available funding sourced for the same network/project. We are supportive of awards with multiple funders; however, the budget must clearly show that the funding applied for will not duplicate funding for particular items from other sources.

Applications can be from existing and new networks. This grant cannot be used for a single conference-style event as it is expected that the network will hold at least two events which can be online, physical or blended in format and should be sustained across two years. The events could be:

• to allow participants to meet, network, and share experiences
• to allow participants to disseminate the findings of research
• to encourage collaboration
• to discuss particular issues of research culture or research practice

A network (minimum of 10 participants) should include students, early career/independent researchers and may include archive, museum and heritage practitioners. Due to funding constraints, in-person events must be held within the UK. The application deadline is 22 April 2022 and successful applicants will be notified by 31 May 2022.

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We are delighted to be able to boost our funding for events and networks in this way, and to be able to organise new workshops in addition to our usual programme. SSHM has a strong record of supporting single and standalone activities organised by our wider community beyond our own biennial and postgraduate/early career researcher events. Although the terms of the funding require lead applicants and events to be based in the UK, bids can include involvement of international scholars.