The History Innovation Fund
The History Innovation Fund supports initiatives that achieve strong research outcomes and outputs that have a positive impact on building research capacity in the history disciplines.
The Barnes Whitehead History Innovation Fund was established in 2020 by Dr Felicity Barnes and Michael Whitehead. Based in the School of Humanities, the History Innovation Fund aims to support research outputs at the university, especially in New Zealand history.
As well as being a senior lecturer in New Zealand history, Dr Felicity Barnes is a University alumna. Her husband, Michael Whitehead, did a BCom in management studies and computer science, and went on to co-found global software company WhereScape and New Zealand services firm Now Consulting.
Research Themes
The purpose of the History Innovation Fund is to support initiatives that achieve strong research outcomes and outputs that have a positive impact on building research capacity in the history disciplines.
The History Innovation Fund grants will support, in order of preference:
- Aotearoa/New Zealand history and Māori history
- History of other places/themes/peoples
- Allied disciplines in history, such as, Art History and Ancient History
Research Funding Opportunities
The History Innovation Fund provides three types of grants:
- Funding to assist researchers to finish outputs related to their current research projects. Its aim is to increase publication rates. An example might be grants to support time for writing.
- Funding to assist those with innovative research ideas. Its aim is to support new productive research by an individual.
- To enable research activity which generates new ideas with wide impact that benefit a range of scholars. It should stimulate new research directions, including research clusters or networks. (These may extend beyond the university, although the benefit to UOA History must be clear).
Grants will range from $2,000 to $15,000 p.a.
The committee welcomes applications for activities that may not have been supported by other university funds. It is not intended to replace existing funding sources.
A funding call will be made twice-yearly in June and November. This will provide guidelines on current grant pool size and availability.
For urgent initiatives to be considered outside of these timeframes please contact the committee.
Post Doctoral Fellowship
The Post Doctoral Fellowships offer early career support for outstanding recent PhD graduates in history, enabling them to undertake research and writing for publication, while also providing some teaching experience. The successful applicant will be accommodated within the History discipline and have access to the University’s library resources.
Applications are encouraged from within New Zealand and from those who are living overseas and would use the fellowship to return to New Zealand to continue their research careers. Applicants are required to specify the nature of their chosen research project and their expected outputs. This will form a critical part of application process. Preference will be given to projects connected with Aotearoa New Zealand and/or Māori history.
If you have any questions about the types of grants available, requirements for your application, or for more information about research interests, please contact the History Innovation Fund committee.