The first 2024 deadline has been announced as 29 March for four grants offered by the Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness.

Established in 1999 as a registered charity, the Foundation for the Sociology of Health and Illness (FSHI – SHI Foundation) seeks to promote and improve social scientific research, education and scholarship in the field of the sociology of health and illness.

FSHI provides the Mildred Blaxter Postdoctoral Fellowships to support individuals who have recently submitted or been awarded a PhD in the field of the sociology of health and illness, to enable them to disseminate findings of their thesis through publications and presentations, and/or develop a new programme of work related to their thesis. Fellowships can only be held in UK universities but awards are not restricted to UK or EU citizens. Full salary costs are provided for one year (including on-costs), plus up to £7,000 for mentor, research and/or conference expenses. London weighting is payable where appropriate.

The Postgraduate International Conference Travel Awards support the costs of presenting a sociology of health and illness paper at a recognised international conference outside the UK. Postgraduate students and early career researchers who are presenting or co-presenting a paper can receive assistance towards the costs of attending the conference. Applicants must be postgraduate students registered for a Master’s degree or MPhil/PhD at a UK university or early career researchers within three years of the award of their PhD. Awards of up to £1,000 can be made.

Research Grant Development Awards provide pump-priming funds for the development of high-quality, innovative research in medical sociology or the sociology of health and illness. Grants are intended to support groups to produce substantive outputs in the form of a full grant application to a major national or international funding body and, where appropriate, publications in peer-reviewed journals. Applications are considered from groups of at least four researchers, based in at least two different institutions, at least two of whom (including the lead applicant) should have a track record as active researchers in the sociology of health and illness. Grants of up to £6,000 can be made.

FSHI’s Symposium or Workshop Support Grants fund symposia, small conferences and workshops that address important issues in the sociology of health and illness field. FSHI is particularly keen to support meetings that promote discussion and debate on interdisciplinary themes of wide public relevance, and meetings with an international or comparative dimension. The scheme is open to meeting organisers based at UK universities for meetings to be held in the UK. Applications for support for one-day, two-day or longer symposia, conferences or workshops will be considered. Up to £2,500 can be provided for one-day events and up to £3,000 for longer meetings.

There are usually two application deadlines per year. Applications to the second 2025 round for all FSHI grant schemes must be submitted by the deadline of 31 October 2025.