Wellcome Trust research bursaries
The
Wellcome Trust has recently announced details of a new research funding scheme.
Research bursaries are available for small and medium-scale research projects
based on library or archive collections supported by the Trust. Projects must
focus either on Wellcome Library holdings or on any collection
supported by a previous Wellcome Trust Research Resources grant. The application deadline is the 1st April 2015, details of the application process can be found here.
This is good news for archives and library services in the UK and Ireland that have availed of a Wellcome Trust Research Resources Grant in the past. Here in the Heritage Centre of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, a Research
Resources in Medical History grant awarded in
2009 enabled the creation of a comprehensive
online catalogue of the entire archival holdings of
RCPI from its foundation in the 17th century. The
eight known archive collections were increased to
26 collections as a result of information discovered
during the project. Researchers are now able to
access the catalogue remotely and identify material
of interest in advance of visits. The indexing of
catalogue records allows researchers to find
relevant items running across several collections,
further enhancing the potential for opening up
new areas of research.
In 2014 funding provided by the Wellcome Trust enabled the cataloguing and preservation of the archives of Cork Street Fever Hospital and Cherry Orchard Hospital, Dublin. This collection is now fully searchable and available to research in the RCPI Heritage Centre.
As all of the archival collections in the Royal College of Physicians have been catalogued through Wellcome Trust funding, this means that all are eligible for inclusion in Research Bursary applications.