Scholar-Activist Project Awards

***Note that Antipode Foundation “Right to the Discipline” grants have replaced Scholar-Activist Project Awards and International Workshop Awards***

The Antipode Foundation exists for the promotion and advancement of social scientific research, education and scholarship in the field of radical geography. Antipode Foundation Scholar-Activist Project Awards are intended to support collaborations between academics, non-academics and activists (from NGOs, think tanks, social movements, or community grassroots organisations, among other places) that further radical analyses of geographical issues and engender the development of a new and better society. They are aimed at promoting programmes of action-research, participation and engagement, cooperation and co-enquiry, and more publicly-focused forms of geographical investigation. We strive to fund work that leads to the exchange of ideas across and beyond the borders of the academy, and builds meaningful relationships and productive partnerships.

Projects could take many forms including, but not limited to: collaborative research with artistic, community, cultural, grassroots, or social movement groups; the production of educational materials and other innovative pedagogical initiatives; and the promotion of links between universities and institutions/organisations outside the academy. We envisage projects being eclectic in nature and focus–they might involve small or large groups of people, and they might have a focus on a range of scales from the local right up to the global, for example–but they will be designed to foster new thinking or doing, and different mixtures of the two. We encourage initiatives that are adventurous, that explore and go beyond the boundaries of established academic practice. We seek work that is innovative and original, but more than that, we want to fund work that is significant: we’d like to support activities that have implications for praxis, to better understand contemporary political concerns and develop alternatives.

The Antipode Foundation expects to allocate each project up to £10,000 (ten thousand pounds sterling, or its equivalent in the awardee’s currency of choice) but the amounts of its grants will vary according to the proposed project. The distribution of funds will be as equitable as possible, with other prospective resources and the nature of the proposed project being taken into consideration. The Antipode Foundation will explicitly privilege applicants and initiatives from historically under-represented groups, regions, countries and institutions in its decision making processes.

Eligibility

Anyone can apply for an Antipode Foundation Scholar-Activist Project Award (including academics and students, and activists of all kinds), but the grant must be held and administered by a host institution (these could be research, higher education or community-based institutions, though it is expected that university facilities will be used to support the project wherever possible). Projects must take place within the year of award; in this case between 1st July 2020 and 30th June 2021. Those who have already received funding for a previous project are not eligible to apply for another.[1] Events such as conferences, workshops, seminar series, summer schools and action research meetings are not covered by this award; they are funded by the separate Antipode Foundation International Workshop Awards.

It is a policy of the Antipode Foundation not to pay university overheads and indirect costs, or university staff salaries and oncosts. There is an established convention in the UK and elsewhere that grants paid by charities generally cover only a proportion of the work to be done, with institutions finding the remainder from other funding sources. Our grants are exclusively for the promotion and advancement of social scientific research, education and scholarship in the field of radical and critical geography.

Application forms

Application forms are available here or from the Foundation’s Executive Director, Andy Kent ([email protected]), and should be returned to him by/on 30th April 2020.

All applicants must read and acknowledge the Foundation’s transparency notice. This notice sets out how we use and protect your personal information. In order to consider your application we must send it to our Trustees, some of whom are based outside the European Economic Area (EEA) including in jurisdictions where personal data may not have the same protection as within the EEA. This is a necessary part of the application process. By submitting your application you agree to it being sent to our Trustees outside the EEA in accordance with the transparency notice.

Assessment process

Applications will be considered by a panel of Trustees of the Antipode Foundation, and all applicants will be notified of the results in late June 2020. Unfortunately, we cannot give detailed feedback to unsuccessful applicants.

Post-award procedures

Initiatives supported by an Antipode Foundation Scholar-Activist Project Award should acknowledge this in any outputs arising from it. The phrase to use is: “This work is/was supported by a Scholar-Activist Project Award from the Antipode Foundation.” The Foundation publishes both Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography and the Antipode Book Series (see http://wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/anti) and if articles and books emerge we’d like to be given the right of first refusal.

Successful awardees should provide a short (one page) report one calendar year after receipt of the award. This should be sent to Andy Kent and will be posted on AntipodeOnline.org in the interests of transparency and to encourage further applications. We also welcome more detailed reports, including photos, recordings, etc. for the website, and are happy to advertise projects throughout the year.

The results of the 2012/132013/142014/152015/162016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 Awards, together with progress reports from the grant recipients, are available online.

Note

[1] We invite all Antipode Foundation Scholar-Activist Project and International Workshop Award recipients to apply for “follow-on” funding after 24 months. There is a single £10,000 grant made each year; all Awards should have implications for praxis, and this grant–a “proof of concept” fund, so to speak–will support the most innovative and creative dissemination, enable outcomes to be further developed so their potential can be fully realised, and build durable legacies.