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GRANT GUIDELINES

The Society for French Studies offers grants in support of conferences held in the UK or Ireland and concerned with research in any area of French Studies. This includes one-day conferences and seminars, and postgraduate conferences. The Society is particularly keen to encourage regional cooperation. Applicants are encouraged to apply for other sources of funding where practicable. The Society will not support conferences which coincide with its own Annual Conference.

There are three deadlines per year:

1 Sept for events taking place the following 1 Jan to 31 August

1 Dec for events taking place the following 1 May to 1 Jan

1 April for events taking place the following 1 Sept to 30 April

Applicants will normally be notified of the outcome of their application within two months of the date of the application.

Purpose of grant

The main purpose of conferences, colloquia or seminars supported must be the dissemination of research in the broadly defined field of French Studies. The principal criterion for an award will be the perceived academic value of the meeting in competition with others. Applicants will be expected to have planned their event in advance by the time of the closing date, and to have obtained primary funding from their university institution or other appropriate sources. Applicants are required to state all other sources of funding, but funding from other sources will not in itself be seen as a weakness in an application. Both major international meetings and smaller-scale specialist colloquia, including one-day events, will be considered on their academic merits.

Eligible subject areas

The Society for French Studies exists to promote teaching and research in French studies in higher education. Events supported by this scheme should be aligned with this objective.

Eligibility of applicants

Applications will only be accepted from the conference organizer(s), who will normally be academics and postgraduates, belonging to Higher Education departments of French (or departments which teach French) in the UK and Ireland, who are undertaking to organise conferences in the UK or Ireland. Applicants must be members of the Society for French Studies.

Level of Grant

Grants will normally range from £100 to £350. In very exceptional circumstances, a grant of up to £500 may be considered. The Society is happy to co-sponsor events, but such co-sponsorship cannot exceed the contribution made by any other individual co-sponsor.

Eligible costs

Grants may be used as a contribution towards the travel, accommodation and maintenance expenses of bringing speakers from within the UK and Ireland or from overseas. Grants may also be applied to assist with administrative expenses: full details must be given, as known at the time of the application.

Honoraria or other fees or payments to speakers are not eligible for support. Grants are not available for lecture series, or seminar series, nor for events that form part of an institution’s teaching or training programme. Support is not available under this scheme for the subsidy of publications produced as a result of conference activity. The regular annual conferences of major subject associations or learned societies will not normally be eligible for support, and the Society prefers not to support conferences and meetings organised by other French Studies Societies which might reasonably be expected to subsidise the event themselves. Grants are not available for meetings that are projected to make a profit.

All applications must demonstrate a financial case for support. Please asterisk or clearly identify any item for which grant support is sought in the application, and explain and justify why SFS support is requested. Please clearly itemize against each relevant named speaker the costs of travel, accommodation and maintenance for which funding is sought. Priority may be given to early career scholars and postgraduate students.

Application Procedure

In order to apply, please send a letter or email giving the following details:

a) title, dates, and nature of the conference (including expected attendance);
b) the status of any other funding or sponsorship applications;
c) a draft budget, clearly detailing the amount requested, and the purpose to which it will be put;
d) an undertaking to abide by the conditions of the award, if successful
.
Applications should be addressed to:

Dr Mark Orme
School of Languages and International Studies
University of Central Lancashire
Preston
PR1 2HE
MPOrme@uclan.ac.uk

Conditions of the Grant

If a grant is awarded, the organisers will be required to acknowledge the financial support of the Society in all subsequent publicity, conference programmes, and in any resulting publications. Copies of this material should be included in the report dossier to be sent in, together with the conference report and accounts, after the event to the co-ordinator of the grant scheme (Dr Mark Orme MPOrme@uclan.ac.uk). In addition, the organisers are to send a copy of the conference report to the editor of French Studies Bulletin (Professor Mary Orr: M.M.Orr@soton.ac.uk), and to submit a copy of the detailed final conference accounts to the Treasurer of the Society (Dr Hugh Roberts: H.G.A.Roberts@exeter.ac.uk). Should the conference make an unanticipated profit, the Society would expect to be reimbursed proportionally, and up to an amount not exceeding the original grant. The Society reserves the right to ask for a refund, should costs not reach the expected level.

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