How I, a woman of colour, built a track record without public funding

Securing funding for postgraduate or academic research is incredibly competitive, and not everybody stands the same chance of winning prestigious public and private grants.

Grant success rates for women of colour in the UK remain lower than for their male and white counterparts, as demonstrated by official data from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Yet funding is often fundamental to accessing postgraduate research positions and, subsequently, to conducting academic research. In addition, success in “grant capture” is often an essential criterion for gaining a permanent contract and for being promoted in academia.

As a professor of Algerian origin from a lower-class background, securing research funding has always been a big worry of mine, and has been a real challenge at times. It seems that my experience is far from unique, too. I have been contacted by many students who want to start a PhD; I have also been approached by women of colour who want to conduct academic research: they all seem to be in a similar situation.

Our conversations have convinced me of the usefulness of explaining how, despite the anxieties and difficulties, I succeeded in funding some of my own projects – often through little-known pathways – and built a track record of grant funding and publications that, in recent years, has helped me to secure prestigious grants, including a fellowship from the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC). 

When undertaking my PhD at the turn of the millennium, I quickly realised that I would not benefit from public funding for my project, as the grants were seemingly being allocated to white British (often female) students exclusively. While there are now increased funding opportunities for a diverse range of students, demand for PhD bursaries still outstrips supply.

The first years of my doctorate were partially funded by educational grants from small and relatively obscure trusts and charities. There are hundreds of such bodies, charged with giving out grants to students from diverse backgrounds and for multiple other reasons. The sums they award are typically small, but I regularly applied for them and ended up having more than 20 trusts and charities supporting me. This gave credibility to my project, allowing me, in the final years of my doctorate, to secure larger grants.

Irrespective of the outcome of the initial application, such grant applications are an opportunity to identify partners willing to provide either in-kind contributions or small grants on future projects. When I was an early career researcher with a limited track record of projects, this tactic really proved its worth. It was through in-kind contributions and small grants provided by project partners that I was able to conduct the research for my 2017 book Museums, Immigrants, and Social Justice (Routledge). 

Over the years, I have also realised that there are multiple small funding sources that are only accessible to internal university candidates and are often poorly promoted. Knowledge is power, and it pays (literally) to read the emails from central research services, or to browse the intranet for grant opportunities. Although, again, these grants tend to be limited in size, they have funded some of my pilot studies. A successful pilot helps to refine ideas and topics, and I use these studies as stepping stones to secure more prestigious and larger grants. Funders tend to be risk-averse and are reassured by early successes and an existing track record of research funding.

I have also learned to maximise internal funding for other professional activities. For instance, my university, like most, provides grants for attending conferences, which is once again becoming a routine activity as the threat of Covid-19 recedes. When possible, the conferences I choose are those in locations where I can also conduct research activities, such as archival research or interviews. In parallel to attending conferences, I have conducted many early interviews, tested different ideas and collected primary data for my latest project and book, Rethinking Heritage for Sustainable Development (UCL Press). This research subsequently received funding from the AHRC and Italy's Caligara Foundation.

Finally, a number of my projects developed in entirely serendipitous ways, and could not have been completed without the kindness of friends and strangers. For instance, when I was writing my first book as an invited fellow at Stanford University, I was able to benefit from free accommodation from perfect strangers who were long-time practitioners of yoga. A friend had put me in contact with them as I was unable to find affordable accommodation and also wanted to start yoga.

So it pays to make contacts and to use them when the opportunity arises – even if it is in ways you never expected. Through this network of solidarity, I was able to benefit not only from first-class academic and editorial guidance. I was also able to live with some of the most extraordinary human beings I have ever met.

I am not sure that my yoga improved, though!

Sophia Labadi is professor of heritage at the University of Kent. Her latest book, Rethinking Heritage for Sustainable Development (UCL Press) is out in June.