- As noted on the ‘What We Fund’ page, potential applicants are warmly encouraged and strongly advised to contact the Director, Andrew Orton, via email using director@leechresearchfund.org for advice about applying to the Fund in advance of making any application. Any queries about the application process should also be directed to the Director in the first instance.
- Each year, there will normally be one application deadline.
- The next application deadline is noon on Thursday 22nd May 2025.
- All applications must consider:
- any ethical issues that relate to their proposed research; and
- how these will be addressed.
- When submitting any final application, applicants should provide:
- A completed application form (find this here);
- A full budget for the application within this application form (question 16); we have provided some answers to frequently asked questions about project budgets here.
- Supporting documents as detailed below.
- Before submitting an application, applicants are strongly encouraged to make contact with an academic organisation to confirm whether they are willing to provide a supporting academic context for the research.
- This may include, for example, providing library access, research facilities and office accommodation where required.
- Organizations which have acted in this role in the past include Newcastle University; St Chad’s College, Durham; St John’s College, Durham; and the Department of Theology and Religion, Durham University. Applicants are welcome to propose any prospective academic organizations relevant to their project, which may include organisations not mentioned above, and the Director may be able to assist in making an appropriate suggestion of a suitable academic organisation for your proposed topic and project if required.
- Please note that academic organisations may have their own processes and timelines for considering and approving their involvement in any application you may wish to make to the William Leech Research Fund. Therefore, prospective applicants are encouraged to approach prospective academic organisations at the earliest opportunity to seek permission and confirmation of their support for being named in any application to the William Leech Research Fund.
- Documents which are essential to include at the point of initially submitting your application form are:
- At least one letter of support which provides evidence of support for the project from church/es and/or organisations involved in Christian social action in the region, including any evidence of why this research is needed from their perspective.
- Brief CV of the proposed researcher, for any application that involves a named researcher. This should provide evidence of this researcher’s ability to complete the proposed project successfully. For example, it may include details of relevant academic qualifications, previous employment and/or voluntary experience, any previous research experience and publications, etc. It may also include any relevant experience from being part of or engaging with churches and/or organisations involved in Christian social action.
- Applications are significantly strengthened when they are accompanied by:
- A letter confirming that any organisation named in your responses to question 17 and 18 on the application form is willing to receive and manage the funds, and take on these responsibilities, if an award is made.
- A letter confirming that the academic host organisation named in question 12 on the application form is willing to play the supporting role that is specified in your answer to this question.
- Please note that:
- Where a single organisation is acting as both academic host organisation and managing any funds and/or employment responsibilities, then a single letter from that organisation confirming their willingness to take on both of these roles will suffice.
- Whilst inclusion of these documents is optional at the point of application, we strongly encourage you to provide these optional document/s wherever possible at the point of submitting your initial application form, as providing them will significantly strengthen your application when it is considered by the Management Committee. Where these document/s are not provided at the application stage, then if your application is recommended for funding, any award will be conditional on these letter/s subsequently being provided.
- Once completed, applications should be submitted in Microsoft Word format, clearly marked as a final application, to: director@leechresearchfund.org
- The William Leech Research Fund Management Committee will assess applications (and consider whether to recommend any application/s for funding) in line with their procedures.
- This will normally involve an interview process for shortlisted applications. We are expecting interviews for shortlisted applications in this round to be held on Tuesday 17th June 2025 so applicants should ensure that they can be available on this date if shortlisted.
- Applicants are advised to ensure that they leave sufficient time between the interview date and the proposed starting date so that, if appointed, all the necessary discussions and arrangements can be formalized in time. For example, the start date for any project funded under this application round might typically be a proposed date during September or October 2025.
- For details about how we treat applicants’ data, please see our privacy notice.
Notes:
- Any awards made will be subject to terms and conditions set by the Management Committee of the William Leech Research Fund.
- For those holding a full-time fellowship, formal approval from the Committee is needed to undertake other paid employment or duties.
- Recipients will liaise regularly with the Director (who can provide support where required) and be required to submit periodic reports to the Management Committee, as well as meet the Committee to discuss the progress of their work. They are also expected to share their work in an accessible way to those within churches and engaged in Christian social action, including producing a final report at the conclusion of their tenure.
- We are actively seeking to build up the opportunities for sharing learning between those involved in different research funded by the William Leech Research Fund, so where possible we will encourage appropriate and ethical ways of sharing of findings and contacts between funded projects that support these cumulative networks and learning.