Funded by the Friends of Aberdeen University Library and the Special Collections Centre

The University of Aberdeen Visiting Scholar Awards are available to academic researchers wishing to travel to Aberdeen to make use of our historic collections for innovative research.

The University of Aberdeen’s rich and diverse holdings consist of over 230,000 rare books, some 5,000 archive collections, and over 300,000 museum artefacts and scientific specimens. The disciplinary range is wide, with particular strengths in eighteenth and nineteenth-century English and Scottish literature, history, anthropology, archaeology, fine art, the history of science and medicine, and the natural and life sciences. (For details, see www.abdn.ac.uk/museums and www.abdn.ac.uk/special-collections.)

The Awards provide financial support of up to £2,000 to cover expenses incurred over a period of two to four weeks while pursuing a research project directly relating to the University’s collections. Visiting Scholars will be given access to the collections in the collections research facilities of the Sir Duncan Rice Library and Marischal College, and will contribute to Friends of Aberdeen University Library and Museums and Special Collections activities. Applications for both traditional academic and creative, practice-based forms of research are welcome.

We warmly encourage applications from researchers from a diverse range of backgrounds, and applications will be considered using a ‘name-blind’ selection process.

The awards are funded by the Friends of Aberdeen University Library, administered by the Aberdeen Humanities Fund, and hosted by University of Aberdeen Museums and Special Collections. Applications will be assessed by a panel consisting of representatives of these three bodies, and confirmed by an external assessor. Applicants will be informed of the outcome of their applications by email.

Full details can be found on the application form, see here.

The application deadline for the current round is 12 noon, 1 March 2019.

For details on previous Visiting Scholars please see the Special Collections website.