'Alpha-rated' but no cash - how crushing

Martin Willis spotlights the dispiriting process of waiting to hear from funding bodies about unsuccessful bids, and highlights the lack of feedback from most of these bodies, in particular the British Academy (Letters, 9 July).

Well, the funding applications are no longer pending - the results are in. In league with colleagues at Kingston University and the University of Nottingham, we applied to the British Academy and received an "alpha-rated" grade, yet we've been told we won't receive a penny. Dispiriting isn't the word. How many other cases like ours are there?

Marquard Smith, Director Institute for Modern and Contemporary Culture, University of Westminster.