Deadline: January 7, 2025
This is a collections-based fellowship, aimed at early career researchers in the arts and humanities or
social sciences. It is designed to encourage the promotion and use of British Library collections in
sustainability and environmental research, an expanding and urgent area of current social and
cultural enquiry. This is a pilot scheme, designed to assist the Library to work in new ways to meet
its environmental and sustainability goals, to showcase the rich potential of our collections in this
area, and to help us to better understand the needs of users including broader research communities
such as activists and creative practitioners.
Researchers are invited to propose any projects which explore collection areas relevant to
sustainability and environment, which seek to connect shared histories and futures. They are
particularly interested in projects which explore our historical collections, including but not limited to:
science, law, politics, literature, stamps, newspapers, maps, poetry, weather reports, oral histories,
and so on. They welcome a variety of proposed outputs resulting from this research, including but not
limited to, journal articles, blog posts, podcasts, public talks or performances, community
engagement activities, submission of research bids or other funding applications.
Research Themes
They are open to any form or focus of proposal, but are particularly excited for researchers to approach
our collections through the following research themes:
- Development of environmentalism – eco-criticism, representations and experiences of climate
crisis, climate activism, changing attitudes to the natural world, accessibility of environmental
knowledge, sustainability and wellbeing, public engagement in science. - How archive and library collections can be used to examine changing landscapes, waterways,
climates and ecologies – including anthropogenic impacts, human-animal relations, human
geography. - Colonial and imperial environments – networks, institutions and communities, natural
economies and commodity frontiers, scarcity and extraction, conflict, agency and social
justice. - Green Libraries – developing environmentally sustainable practices in archives and libraries,
improving environmental conditions for historical collections, risk management including new
and emerging risks from a changing climate, community engagement and learning
practice/pedagogies.
Benefits
- £8000 bursary to support 4 months full-time research (or part-time equivalent) at the
Library paid as lump sum. - Up to £2000 additional funding available to support travel expenses across the Fellowship.
- Provision of staff pass, laptop, and desk space in Research Development office.
Eligibility
- Open to all researchers within 10 years of their PhD, who are resident in the UK.
- Fellows are expected to be resident in London for the majority of the period of the award, and to
make a contribution to the intellectual life of the Library.
All applications will be expected to demonstrate the following:
- Ability to communicate effectively verbally and in writing, internally and externally.
- How the proposed work will contribute to the personal and professional development of the
applicant. - Why the British Library collections are necessary for this research (applicants are strongly
encouraged to explore available catalogues and collection guides). - How the proposed research will help the Library in its aim to open up the collection in new
and interesting ways, to support work on solutions to the environmental challenges we face. - The significance of the proposed research within the wider intellectual and cultural landscape.
- How the proposed research might engage different academic and public communities in
sustainability and environmental issues.
Application
In order to apply for this fellowship, please submit the following to pgr@bl.uk
- Cover email with title of proposal and desired dates of Fellowship activity.
- Research proposal including objectives, methodology, expected outputs and Library
collections to be explored (1000 words max). - CV (2-page max).
For more information, visit