News: research and funding
On this page, we report on the latest news about research and funding in the world of socio-legal studies. This can include information from the major UK funders, launches of research projects or research centres, calls for collaboration, in fact, any aspect of academic research that is of interest to socio-legal scholars.
Items will usually be retained for a period of about three months, or until any significant dates have passed.
If you would like a news item included on this page. Please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Latest . . .
British Academy Wolfson fellowships: call for applications
Funding bodies and other related organisations
International Research Collaboratives
Legal Education Research Network
National Centre for Research Methods
Science and Technology Select Committee
Sociolegal Model-Making Project
UK Administrative Justice Institute
Women and Leadership International
Academy of Social Sciences
The Academy of Social Sciences (AcSS) is the voice of social sciences in the UK.
The Academy is composed of over 800 individual academicians and 44 learned societies. Academicians are distinguished scholars and practitioners from academia and the public and private sectors. Most of the learned societies (including the SLSA) in the social sciences in the United Kingdom are represented within the Academy.
Please visit the AcSS website for full details.
AHRC
Research funding guide
The AHRC research funding guide version 1.2.
UKRII Research and innovation ideas to address Covid-19: open call with no deadline
The AHRC welcomes applications to the UKRI open call for research and innovation ideas to address the COVID-19 pandemic and its impacts. See website for details.
AHRC Global Challenges Research Fund Urgency Grants pilot
Recognising the fast-moving nature of many of the challenges facing low or middle income countries (LMICs), the AHRC has launched this scheme to provide an accelerated funding outlet for urgent arts and humanities research priorities. See website for details. Closing date: 31 October 2020.
Researchers in residence
Researchers in Residence (RinR), funded by RCUK with support from the Wellcome Trust, brings together researchers, young people and teachers via exciting and innovative placements in secondary schools and colleges across the UK. The scheme is open to all PhD and post-doctoral researchers funded directly or indirectly by one of the seven UK Research Councils or the Wellcome Trust.
British Academy
The British Academy's funding page is constantly updated.
British Academy Wolfson fellowships: call for applications
These awards provide early-career academics with the most valuable commodity – time – by releasing them from some of their administration and teaching duties to pursue their research, along with funding for public engagement and travel. The award duration is three years. Closing date: 25 November 2020. See website for details.
British Academy APEX Awards to promote interdisciplinary collaboration
The APEX awards are a new funding opportunity designed to promote collaboration across academic disciplines through the support of world-leading interdisciplinary research projects.
In partnership with the British Academy, the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society and with generous support from the Leverhulme Trust, the APEX award (Academies Partnership in Supporting Excellence in Cross-disciplinary research award) scheme offers established independent researchers, with a strong track record in their respective area, an exciting opportunity to pursue genuine interdisciplinary and curiosity-driven research to benefit wider society.
The objectives of this scheme are to:
- promote collaboration across disciplines, with a particular emphasis on the boundary between science, engineering and the social sciences and humanities
- support outstanding interdisciplinary research which is unlikely to be supported through conventional funding programmes
- support researchers with an outstanding track record, in developing their research in a new direction through collaboration with partners from other disciplines
- enable outstanding researchers to focus on advancing their innovative research through seed funding
See website for full details. Closing date: 29 October 2020.
Funding call: British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grants
The BA/Leverhulme Small Research Grants are available to support primary research in the humanities and social sciences. These awards, up to £10,000 in value and tenable for up to 24 months, are provided to cover the cost of the expenses arising from a defined research project. Please see webpage for details. Closing date: 11 November 2020.
British Academy Knowledge Frontiers Symposia: Swedish event
The aim of this series of activities is to enhance the skills and capabilities of early career researchers in the UK and overseas, and to encourage them to develop new international links and research partnerships. The symposia seek to bring cross-regional and multi-disciplinary insights to bear on issues of research and global significance, and provide opportunities for the creation of new networks and long-term collaborations.
- Revised closing date for UK–Sweden: 14 October 2020
See website for details.
British Academy: reciprocal schemes
Under the Newton Fund, the British Academy's international partners in Brazil, China, Mexico, South Africa, Turkey and Vietnam have opened further opportunities for research funding for collaborations with the UK. Many of these schemes are directly aimed at researchers based in the UK. Applications for these schemes are submitted directly to the country partner. Please see website for details.
British Library
Social welfare portal
Please visit the social welfare portal, test the service, and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. your feedback. You can also read a blog post about the portal.
British newspaper archive
A British Library partnership with Brightsolid has launched a new online newspaper archive with a list of around 170 titles mainly dating from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries drawn from British Library newspaper collections. Searching with preview snippets will be free. Content will be free to access in BL reading rooms, while pay-per-view and annual subscription models will be available for remote access on an individual basis.
The emphasis of title selection is predominantly sub-national regional press, and appears to have a family history audience in mind. It appears that the following titles are likely to be included: Cobbett's Weekly Political Register (1802—1835), a few Chartist titles (1837—1852) including Northern Star and Northern Liberator, Illustrated Police News (1867—1900), Perry’s Bankrupt Gazette (1828–1867), Freeman's Journal (1820 - 1900). Neither the County Courts Chronicle nor Weekly Police News appear on the list butThis email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. will pass on suggestions from British Library readers in the SLSA to the project team and Brightsolid (please include subject line' britishnewspaperarchive SLSA').
New moving image service at the British Library
1 October 2012 sees the piloting of the British Library's moving image services. From 1 October two new, instant access services are available for anyone researching in one of the Reading Rooms (at St Pancras, Colindale or Boston Spa) plus special access to a huge television and radio database. In combination with the existing sound collections, the British Library can now provide instant access to nearly a million sound and moving image items onsite, supported by data for over 20 million sound and moving image recordings. Please visit website for full details.
ESRC
Administrative Data Research Partnership launched by the ESRC
Combined data from across government and hundreds of UK public bodies will be used to improve healthcare, education, business growth and the fight against crime by making it available to world-leading research teams. The Administrative Data Research Partnership will maximise the potential of administrative data as a resource for high-quality innovative research in the UK. See website for further details.
ESRC New Investigator Grants: call
Applications are invited for this new scheme. Awards will be from £100,000 to £300,000. Please see website for details. This is an open call with no closing date.
Higher Education Academy
The Higher Education Academy (HEA) provides services to the higher education sector for individual learning and teaching professionals, senior managers in institutions and for subject and discipline groups. Please visit website for further information.
International Research Collaboratives
‘Law, Reason and Emotion’ – call for expressions of interest
The Law and Society Association (LSA) has awarded the status of International Research Collaborative (IRC) to the network entitled Law, Reason and Emotion. Please see attachment for full details of this IRC and of the call.
Joseph Rowntree Foundation
The Joseph Rowntree Foundation is an endowed charity that funds a large, UK-wide research and development programme. It seeks to understand the root causes of social problems, to identify ways of overcoming then and to show how social needs can be met in practice.
Please visit the website for more information.
Law and Society Association
The Law and Society Association was set up in the USA in 1964 to support its members in developing theoretical and empirical understandings of law. See the website for full details.
LSA International Research Collaboratives announced
The LSA has announced the list of its International Research Collaboratives in preparation for the Annual Meetings in Chicago (2021) and Lisbon (2022). See website for details.
Legal Education Research Network
For information on the Legal Education Research Network (LERN) please see website.
Leverhulme Trust
Leverhulme Trust: Funding Bulletin
The latest Funding Bulletin is available including links to all currently open schemes.
Leverhulme Trust: Research Project Grants
Applications are invited for the above scheme. This is an open call with no closing date. See website for details.
Ministry of Justice
Ministry of Justice: Areas of research interest
The Ministry of Justice has recently published its Areas of Research Interest. This document can be found here. It highlights the Ministry of Justice’s strategic evidence gaps with a focus on long-term and cross-cutting gaps in understanding. The aim is also to engage with the external community to expand and deepen the department’s underpinning evidence base. The Chief Social Researchers at the Ministry of Justice are keen to hear from researchers working on any of the strategic evidence gaps outlined in the Areas of Research Interest. Please do get in touch and describe in a few sentences what you are doing. The email address is: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Court statistics
View the latest court statistics: published quarterly.
National Centre for Research Methods
The National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM) is a network of research groups, each conducting research and training in social science research methods. It is co-ordinated from a hub in the University of Southampton and nodes across UK universities. NCRM provides a focal point for research, training and capacity-building activities. These activities are aimed at promoting a step change in the quality and range of methodological skills and techniques used by the UK social science community, and providing support for, and dissemination of, methodological innovation and excellence within the UK.
The NCRM provides regular email bulletins. To register, please visit the subscriptions page. The centre also runs regular training events.
Nuffield Foundation
The Nuffield Foundation is a charitable trust established in 1943 by William Morris, Lord Nuffield, the founder of Morris Motors. Lord Nuffield wanted to contribute to improvements in society, including the expansion of education and the alleviation of disadvantage. He called this the ‘advancement of social well-being’, and emphasised the importance of education, training and research in achieving that goal. Today, the foundation works to improve social well-being by funding research and innovation in education and social policy. the foundation is also increasing the proliferation and quality of research and professional skills – both in science and social sciences – through its capacity-building programmes.
Nuffield Foundation Research, Development and Analysis Fund: call for applications
Applications are invited for Round 2 of this fund. See website for details. Closing date: September 2020.
Latest findings from Nuffield Foundation Covid-19 projects
The Nuffield Foundations has awarded £2 million for research that will help identify how to mitigate the social impacts of the pandemic, particularly for those who are worst affected. Its partner organisations, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, the Ada Lovelace Institute, and the Nuffield Family Justice Observatory are also responding to the pandemic. See the webpage for the latest updates.
Research Cluster in Law, Justice and Society, Oxford
A new Research Cluster in Law, Justice and Society has been launched at Wolfson College, in collaboration with the Foundation for Law, Justice and Society (FLJS). The research cluster will join several other research clusters created under the guidance of college President, Professor Hermione Lee, which draw on the outstanding scholarly strengths and interests within the college to foster innovative approaches to interdisciplinary research.
Please see flyer for further details or visit the cluster website.
Research Councils UK
Each year the Research Councils invest around £3 billion in research covering the full spectrum of academic disciplines from the medical and biological sciences to astronomy, physics, chemistry and engineering, social sciences, economics, environmental sciences and the arts and humanities.
RCUK statement on international collaboration post-EU referendum
The outcome of the EU referendum raises questions for UK researchers and international partners about the Research Councils’ international activities and collaborations. RCUK's statment can be found on the website.
Research Excellence Framework
Latest publications from the REF: all submissions made by UK universities plus Equality and Diversity Advisory Panel report and HEI codes of practice
The 1911 submissions made by 154 UK universities to the 2014 REF have now been published on the REF website. The submissions included 52,061 academic staff, 191,150 research outputs and 6975 case studies on impact of resesarch. Please see website for details.
The panel overview reports and the final report by the Equality and Diversity Advisory Panel are also available here and the final lists of panel membership and special advisers have also been published. The codes of practice on staff selection from all submitting Higher Education Institutions are also available.
Full REF results now available
The REF2014 results were published at the end of 2014. For full details of the overall and sub-profiles for each submission see the website. In addition to the results, the updated website also contains summary data about each unit of assessment and an analysis of the 2014 REF results as a whole.
HEFCE to publish database of REF impact case studies
As part of the 2014 Research Excellence Framework exercise, UK higher education institutions submitted 6975 impact case studies demonstrating the impact of their research on wider society. HEFCE and its partners have commissioned Digital Science to produce a freely available database of these impact case studies. These case studies will provide a unique and invaluable source of information on the impact of UK research. Please see website for further details.
Research methods
Call for Case Studies in Social Science Research Ethics: SAGE Research Methods Cases
Have you completed a research project with interesting ethical dimensions? Are you interested in sharing your experience of the research process? We are looking for short (2500–5000 words) case studies which report the actual experience of researchers. If you have a tale to tell, please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or see the SAGE webpage for further information.
Restorative Justice Council
Access to and experiences of restorative justice for BAME young people
The Restorative Justice Council is embarking on a research project to gain a better understanding of the access to and experiences of restorative justice for BAME (Black, Asian and minority ethnic) young people who have offended. In addition to a lack of research in relation to BAME young people and criminal justice, there is also a perception among some practitioners that there are problems in effectively engaging and delivering restorative interventions with this group. The aim of the research is to develop practical solutions for the restorative field and recommendations for change to future policy development.
For more information please contact the RJC’s senior research officer This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Sociolegal Model-Making Project
The Sociolegal Model Making Project explores the risks and rewards of using design-based strategies, and model-making in particular, to enhance socio-legal research – that is, research that interprets law as a social phenomenon.
Please see website for details.
UK Research and Innovation
Operating across the whole of the UK with a combined budget of more than £6 billion, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) brings together the seven Research Councils, Innovate UK and Research England. Research England will work closely with its partner organisations in the devolved administrations.
University of Leeds
N8 Policing Research Partnerships, University of Leeds
A new programme of research and knowledge-sharing – N8 Policing Research Partnerships (N8 PRP) – is to play a key role in informing future policing policy, following funding for a major new collaboration in the north of England. Led by the University of Leeds and funded with £3m from the Higher Education Funding Council, the five-year programme of activities brings together researchers from a variety of disciplines to generate new insights with practical relevance. The programme's director is Professor Adam Crawford, University of Leeds. Please visit website for further details.
Women and Leadership International
Funding for women's professional development in the legal sector – call for expressions of interest
Women and Leadership International is administering a national initiative to support the development of female leaders across the UK’s legal sector. See website for details. Closing date: 31 January 2020.