NUHRI Banner Projects

Banner (ˈbanə/) (1) n., a cloth bearing a slogan or design, carried in a demonstration or procession or hung in a public place, often awarded as a distinction; (2) adj. (US) excellent; outstanding.

NUHRI intends to support 2 or 3 Banner Projects this year. The scheme aims to foster new inter- or multidisciplinary research projects within the humanities, or bridging humanities and other disciplines.[*] It is intended that these projects should become showcases (‘banners’) for excellent research at Newcastle.

  • Open to small teams of staff at Newcastle University.
  • Should address specific research questions or challenges.
  • Up to £3k per project.
  • Funding may be spent on research costs, networking, events, equipment, publication, publicity, research support, buy-out from existing duties (with agreement of HoS), etc.
  • May lead to a variety of outcomes, such as publications, prototypes, new partnerships, knowledge transfer collaborations, public events.
  • Should yield initial results within a period of twelve months from award.

Banner Projects should address a defined research challenge, or set of research questions, and may fall within any area of the humanities. NUHRI has certain particular areas of focus:

  • Medical Humanities
  • Humanities and the Global Challenges
  • Archives
  • Maritime Humanities
  • Digital Humanities

It is not necessary for Banner Projects to fall within any of these domains, but some element of inter- or multi-disciplinarity is required.

Individuals or groups wishing to apply should complete and submit a short Expression of Interest by 12 May 2017. Based on the Expressions of Interest, a small number of applicants will then be invited to submit a full application. 2-3 awards will then be made for projects to begin in early summer.

EoIs and full applications will be judged on the innovation, originality and academic merit of the proposed research; its inter/multi-disciplinarity; the feasibility of the work being proposed; the significance of its envisioned results; and the extent to which the project is likely to enhance the profile of humanities research at Newcastle. Preference will be given to projects that would not normally be fundable by other University schemes (such as the HaSS Faculty Research Fund and Bid Preparation Fund, the ESRC Impact Accelerator Fund, and NISR and NICAP schemes).

Questions regarding eligibility of subjects or suitability of research questions can be addressed to Professor Matthew Grenby, Director of NUHRI ().

NUHRI Banner Projects Expression of Interest Form

Project title
Applicant name(s)
(underline lead applicant) / Academic Unit and research group/centre / Current post / Email address
e.g. Jane Smith / e.g. School of History, Classics and Archaeology, and Asian Studies Research Group / e.g. Postdoctoral research fellow / e.g.
Expand no. of rows as required
Names and affiliations of any non-University project partners
Proposed start and end dates
Research questions or challenges
(max. 100 words)
Short description of project
(max. 300 words)
How will the project foster inter-/multi-disciplinarity?
(5 bullet points max.)
Funding requested (approx.)
Expected outcomes & outputs(5 bullet points max.)
Funding already received for this project

The completed form should be submitted electronically to by midnight on Friday12 May 2017.

[*]We define the ‘humanities’ very broadly as those academic disciplines that study human culture and the human experience from any period and place, which deal with complex and generally incomplete data, and for which the modes of enquiry are generally critical or theoretical rather than purely empirical.