Dr Anne DeanDr Anne Dean

Assistant DirectorAssistant Director

The Trust and its schemes – opportunities for funding

…from 1922

Lord Leverhulme of the Western Isles

(1851-1925)

The man behind Port Sunlight and Unilever plc…

…and The Leverhulme Trust

William Hesketh Lever

A proportion of Lord Leverhulme’s interest in Lever Brothers (which later became Unilever plc) left in trust for specific beneficiaries:

Certain trade charities (grocers, commercial travellers and chemists) – undergraduate bursaries

Trade Charities Trust

…but the bulk of the money allocated to

Scholarships for the purposes of research and education

The Trust was established in 1925

Five Trustees

All businessmen from diverse, international backgrounds

All drawn from senior management of Unilever plc (Chairman or Director level)

Extensive appraisal experience – spotting potential and quality

Reliant on advice received by peer reviewers

The Trustees

support for the gifted individual – excellence and originality of idea; compelling ability of applicant to undertake project; realising potential; individual vision…

normally postgraduate level

all subjects*

PhD studentships not supported unless fully justified as part of a Research Project Grant

The Trust is an almost exclusively ‘responsive mode’ organisation, the choice of topic always lying with the applicant

Scholarships for the purposes of research and education:

The Trust tends to avoid funding bids in those disciplines which other Trusts or agencies (such as Wellcome, the MRC, Department for Education and Skills, ESRC etc. are disposed to support). In particular:

Medicine and general school education

….but might consider bids such as those which concentrate on the sociological, philosophical, economic, legal or psychological aspects of medicine or education…

the originality of the proposed work

courageous research (avoidance of the incremental and the applicant’s ability to take informed risk/blue skies research)

a mixture of disciplines (blurring boundaries/lateral impact)

individual exploration (hesitation with data banks/cataloguing)

the impact of the research outcome on other fields of study and within the immediate field of research

the extent to which the research design transcends traditional boundaries

the extent to which a proposal represents a departure from the established working patterns either of the individual or of the discipline

The suitability of the research for support by the Trust…

…depends very much on reasons for rejection

Too ‘blue skies’/risky, multi-disciplinary or not within research council’s current interests? Might be worth applying. Trustees welcome exciting and challenging proposals.

If proposal has been rejected on basis of lack of quality, then extremely unlikely to be considered by Trust.

With c. £50M available each year, the Trust cannot act as funder of last resort for a government system with £4 billion p.a.

Trust’s view on bids rejected by research councils

Under the terms of the Founder’s Will, the Trust is unable to engage in

FULL ECONOMIC COSTING

Therefore, overheads and similar costs cannot be supported. The Trust supports research, travel and subsistence costs, salaries and bursaries…

All awards made to institutions (such as universities, arts training organisations, galleries and museums) are made via a 2-stage process which involve an Outline and Full Application stage. Three deadlines each year for successful Outlines – 1 September, 1 December and 21 March.

For awards made to individuals (such as most Fellowships and Studentships), a one-stage process applies.

Research Project Grants (majority of awards made by the Trust)

Programme Grants (up to £1.75M for selected themes) – for 2008, the topics are: Tipping Points and Stress and Compromise.

Various Fellowships (Early Career, Research, Emeritus) and Study Abroad – and Major Research Fellowships (MRFs) in the Humanities and Social Sciences

Study Abroad Studentships

Academic Collaboration – International Networks, Visiting Professorships

Philip Leverhulme Prizes

and…

The following provides a brief summary of all awards offered by the Trust.

…Training and Professional Development in the Fine and Performing Arts…

These awards are mainly to permit (normally young) people to obtain training or professional development and are based upon based upon a combination of talent and needa combination of talent and need.

Awards are made directly to institutions for provision of bursaries or scholarships for the maintenance of selected groups of students. Applications from individual students are not eligible.

The Trust also supports (to a far lesser degree) innovative teaching activity, and research into various aspects of the Arts.

Among the organisations we support are:

Training and Professional Development Scheme

We also offer residencies under our…

Artist in Residence SchemeFor artists of any kind, including musicians usually for one academic year up to £12,500

Contrasting disciplines – i.e. a poet in a university chemistry department, a playwright in a museum, a fine artist in a hospital environment…

‘Institutional’ awardsEach year, the Trust receives c. 1,500 Outline proposals for Research Project Grant (including International Networks).

A small proportion are deemed ineligible i.e. they fall within those areas generally not supported by the Trust, or are received from ineligible institutions. The great majority go forward for peer review - the Leverhulme Advisory Panel (LAP).

Awards made to individualsFor these grants, a one-stage process is used, and responsibility is devolved to the Research Awards Advisory Committee (RAAC) who make recommendations for awards. Once a year rounds – individual deadlines.

Decisions for all Trust awards are made on advice received from peer reviewers.

The application process

Outline Application FormOutline Application Form

There are no closing dates for the submission of Outline Applications to the Trust

Outline Application undergoes initial review

Outline Application rejected on grounds of eligibility or quality

Recommendation that applicant be invited to make a Full Application

Up to 12 weeks – average 6 weeks

Independent referees and the applicant’s named referees are consulted by the Trust

The proposal and the comments of referees are submitted to the Trustees for decision

Application Rejected Application Approved

Three deadlines each year: 21 March, 1 September and

1 December

For awards made to institutions of any kind

The process

Applicant submits Full Application with two named referees. Closing dates for Full Applications: 21 March, 1 September, 1 December

Ubiquinated suppressors of plant immunity Pads vs claws in arboreal locomotion: mechanics of predator-prey relationships Haida material culture in British museums; generating new forms of knowledge Dwarf galaxies in the Hubble Space Telescope Coma Cluster treasury survey Engineering protein fibres with nucleic acids Sustainable management of water in the Pantanal (South American wetland) Interdisciplinary perspectives on African language publishing for children Ecological services by ants in rehabilitated coal mine sites of Guajira, Colombia Music and dance science: optimising performance potential Women and trade union leadership development in comparative context Defects in 2D frustrated prototype spin ice systems Networks, protests and students: the politicising effects of campus connections Dynamics of world cinema: transnational channels of global film circulation Transnational climate change governance Regionalist vs Nationalist populists in power: actions and reactions

Some recent Research Project and International Network topics

The excellence of the proposed project is of paramount importance.

Clarity of expression, a good methodology and an idea of anticipated outcomes and dissemination strategy are all essential.

Really think about WHY you’re approaching the Trust – could your project be more appropriately funded elsewhere?

The Trustees favour applications which demonstrate both the ability of the applicant to undertake the work, and their excitement at the challenge this presents.

Demonstrate WHY the work is important, and why it should be funded.

Trust encourages creativity and the development of original and risky research which blurs disciplinary boundaries.

Wholly ‘within-discipline’ research projects are less likely to find favour, but might if they are of the highest quality.

To sum up…

www.leverhulme.ac.uk

or (in hard copy) in our Guide for Applicants, available upon request to:

The Leverhulme Trust

1 Pemberton Row

London EC4A 3BG

Tel: 020 7822 5220

Full details of all schemes can be found on our website