Archive Research & Innovation Grants
Research and Innovation Grants will offer grants for organisations to conduct research, innovate and create transformative projects that will contribute to building a sustainable and innovative archives sector. We would like to encourage archives to formulate ideas based on their own skills and experience, with a focus on the three challenge areas of digital transformation, environmental sustainability and inclusive practice. We encourage archives to be creative and imaginative in identifying an idea that they wish to develop. The idea could be simple or radical – but it should have the potential to bring about positive change in the archive organisation and beyond.
- Opening date: (Midnight)
- Closing date: (Midnight)
Contents
Summary
Research and Innovation Grants will offer grants for organisations to conduct research, innovate and create transformative projects that will contribute to building a sustainable and innovative archives sector.
We would like to encourage archives to formulate ideas based on their own skills and experience, with a focus on the three challenge areas of digital transformation, environmental sustainability and inclusive practice. The following may be ways to address these challenges, when thinking of topics for an application:
Archives may have identified a problem or research question in their practice, that they have an idea about how to solve
Archives may want to explore new technologies, devices or products, in their archives service
Archives may wish to connect with others, to increase their own capacity for research and innovation.
We encourage archives to be creative and imaginative in identifying an idea that they wish to develop. The idea could be simple or radical – but it should have the potential to bring about positive change in the archive organisation and beyond.
We anticipate that the Research and Innovation Grants may include cohort workshops, with other grantees, The National Archives and funders. The aim of these workshops will be to connect grantees with researchers at The National Archives, broker contact with research funders, and provide training in research and innovation skills. Further detail on these sessions will be available following the programme’s launch.
Eligibility
Research and Innovation Grants are open to archivists and heritage professionals working with archival collections in England or Wales. We cannot fund organisations based in Scotland, Northern Ireland, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man or whose collections are held outside of the United Kingdom.
The programme is open to all public sector bodies, not-for-profit organisations including registered charities, and for-profit organisations including business archives. Funding is not available to private individuals.
The records can be in analogue or digital formats and can be inside or outside of the custody of the records creator or a recognised collecting archive institution.
We use the definition of an archive collection as given within the Archive Service Accreditation Scheme:
“Materials created or received by a person, family or organisation, public or private, in the conduct of their affairs and preserved because of the enduring value contained in them or as evidence of the functions and responsibilities of their creator, especially those materials maintained using the principles of provenance, original order and collective control; permanent records.”
Society of American Archivists
The organisation must employ or have access to professional support from an archivist or similarly qualified professional.
There is no restriction on past applicants applying, however repeat applications are no more likely to receive funding, and you are strongly encouraged to speak to The National Archives’ Grants and Funding team before submitting a second application for the same project. There are no restrictions on institutions submitting an application for a different project.
Where appropriate, archives are encouraged to propose partnership projects and consortium applications are particularly welcome in this programme.
Objectives
To support our leadership role for the archives sector in England and Wales, and to deliver Archives Unlocked, the Government’s vision for archives, The National Archives provides grants for skills, innovation and engagement in the archives sector. These grants create opportunities for research, innovation and transformative projects in the archive sector.
We will offer grants of up to £10,000 focused on addressing digital transformation, environmental sustainability and inclusive practice in the archives sector.
Dates
The Research and Innovation grants open once a year.
2025 Schedule
Opens: 11th August 2025Closes: 12th September 2025Panel: November 2025
How to apply
Research and Innovation Grants will have a single-stage application process, completed online:
Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:
Innovation
Impact
Delivery and management
Knowledge sharing
Need
See our Assessment Criteria for Further Guidance:
Research and Innovation Grants – Assessment Guidance
Each application will be scored numerically against the criteria above, according to the following scale:
Score
Rating
1
Poor
2
Low
3
Good
4
Excellent
5
Outstanding
Applications are assessed by a panel of archival and research experts, from The National Archives.
The panel membership includes:
Valentina Vavassori – Digital Scholorship Researcher, The National Archives
Melinda Haunton – Programme Manager (Archive Service Accreditation), The National Archives
Lily Colgan – Academic Engagement Officer, The National Archives
Neil Johnston – Head of Early Modern Records, The National Archives
Balint Csolliei – Cross Government Engagement Lead, The National Archives
Victoria Cranna – Archivist & Records Manager, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine
Philippa Hellawell – Acting Head of Collection Research
Marc Vermeulen – Head of Heritage Science
Ashleigh Hawkins – Archive Metadata Specialist
James Bright – Northern Ireland Records Researcher
Accessibility
We welcome and encourage applications from people of all backgrounds and are committed to making our application process accessible to everyone. This includes providing support, in the form of reasonable adjustments, for people who have a disability or a long-term condition and face barriers applying to us. You must contact us as early as possible in the application process.
We recommend contacting us at least 15 working days before the competition closing date, to ensure that we can provide you with the most suitable support possible.
You can contact us by emailing archivegrants@nationalarchives.gov.uk.