Learn about the money and grants awarded by the trust in the past few years by viewing our annual reports.
Our site makes available for download all reports from 2000/1 to the most recent one.
Research Funding
(Page last updated August 2011)
These descriptions of the Schemes are intended as convenient summaries. The actual Regulations are provided in a link below each description and should be consulted for more details.
Carnegie Research Grants
Open to established members of academic staff or retired members of staff of Scottish Universities
The Trust can help established members of academic staff (full-time or part-time) and retired members of staff of a Scottish University to undertake personal research by the provision of small research grants (maximum £2,200). The grants are awarded for travel and accommodation expenses incurred while undertaking the project for up to three months.
In special circumstances, graduates of a Scottish university may also apply for Carnegie Research Grants for personal research. Please read regulation nos 10, 11 and 12 in the Research Grant Regulations.
Current Carnegie, Caledonian or Henry Dryerre Scholars are eligible to apply for a Research Grant but other postgraduate students are not eligible except in very exceptional circumstances. See Regulation nos.11 and 12 in the Research Grant Regulations.
The Trust does NOT assist with attendance at, or with the organisation of, conferences. Purchase of equipment and consumables and services such as carbon dating, payments to research assistants or for transcription charges or for secretarial and technical assistance are all excluded.
Applications for grants are considered by the Executive Committee of the Trust in February, June, and November. Closing dates for applications are 15th January, May, or October respectively. Applications for Research Grants of £1000 and under will be considered at any time in the year and a decision notified to the applicant as soon as possible. Applications should be returned electronically and a hard signed copy in the post.
Assistance can be given with the publication of scholarly books, in the form of a guarantee against loss.
The publication of illustrations in colour can also be assisted where colour is essential to comprehension. The Trust cannot help with the cost of black and white illustrations. The closing dates for applications are 15th January, 15th May and 15th October. Applications should be returned electronically and be followed by a hard signed copy in the post.
Carnegie Larger Grants
Applications for Larger Grants, up to £40,000, may be made for projects which are of potential benefit to the Scottish universities as a whole and which involve active collaboration between two or more Scottish universities with one university acting as the lead applicant. These grants are not intended for research projects of a kind that would be submitted to a research council, and projects that have failed to secure funding from a council are not appropriate. The Trust does not necessarily expect to be the sole funder of a project. Prospective applicants are invited to discuss their proposals with the Trust's Secretary. In 2011-12 there will be only one meeting for Larger Grants which will be held in May 2012 with a closing date for applications of 1st February 2012. Applicants may be asked to interview.
Carnegie Professorships
To mark the centenary of the founding of the Trust in 1901, the Executive Committee has established a scheme of visiting professorships, each valued at up to £40,000, intended to benefit not only the host Universities but also the Scottish university community as a whole.
The aim of the scheme is to attract nominees of the highest academic standing who will contribute to academic/scientific developments in the Scottish Universities in their particular fields, whether in teaching or research or in both, in emerging as well as established disciplines or in interdisciplinary fields. The roles they fulfil will depend in part on the discipline. There will also be the possibility of attracting senior scholars of high distinction who, by their very presence, will confer benefits on the Scottish universities.
Nominations are made by invitation and normally from the Principals of the Scottish Universities. The Committee agreed that a period of ‘quarantine’ for universities who are awarded a Professorship would run until the end of the academic year in which a given University’s previous Professorship was held (until July of that year).
Nominations for the tenure of a Chair in 2015 should be submitted by 31 July 2012.