For Applicants

This section contains the information, FORMS AND TEMPLATES required by all applicants. For any questions that are not covered, please contact the EAP team.

APPLYING FOR A GRANT

The call for applications for Round 21 (2025/26) is now closed. 
The next round will be announced in September 2026 for awards in 2027.

The application process follows the same pattern every year; it has two stages:

  • Preliminary applications give an outline of the proposed project and description of the endangered material. These are reviewed by the EAP team, and a subset of applications are invited in December to the second application stage.
  • Detailed applications provide a full description of the project including content to be digitised, the project team, project plan and the budget. It is especially important to provide clear evidence of rights and permissions to digitise and make the digitised content available. The detailed applications are reviewed by an extended expert team.

All applications must be submitted via the online portal, which goes live when the call goes out.

Past experience has shown that around a half of the preliminary applications go through to the detailed stage, and of those around 30 offers are made. Applicants are advised to contact the EAP team with any questions that they might have in order to improve the quality of their proposal and ultimately ensure their project is successful. We hold webinars for applicants and the dates for these are advertised on our website.

ANNUAL SCHEDULE FOR GRANT APPLICATIONS

(This is the annual cycle. Check precise dates for each round)
September: call for applications opens
November: closing date for submissions
December: successful applicants will be notified and invited to submit a detailed application
February: deadline for detailed applications
April: notification of Panel decision
Summer: new projects start (no earlier than July and no later than the following February)

CRITERIA FOR ASSESSING APPLICATIONS

Applications are evaluated against three broad criteria:

I.   Content of archive

The case for the material to be digitised must cover the following areas:

  • Endangerment. Applicants must demonstrate that the material is vulnerable due to lack of resources or political and/or environmental threats, and that there is an urgent need to safeguard it.
  • Research value. Applicants must demonstrate the extent to which the archive is rare or unique, its cultural importance and its potential value for future research.
  • Location and age of material. The material must be located outside of Western Europe and North America, and date from before the middle of the 20th century.
  • Legal and ethical rights. Applicants must have the permission of the collection’s owners to digitise the materials and make them available online free of charge for research. As well as an awareness of the copyright status of the archival material in the country in which it resides, applicants must also consider any associated data-protection, privacy or other ethical issues.

II.   Project team

Applications must include the following information about the proposed team:

  • Track record of Principal Applicant. Applicants must show that they have the experience necessary to manage and complete the project successfully. Applications at the detailed stage may include up to three co-applicants who can provide any skills or experience that the Principal Applicant lacks.
  • Skills within the project team. Applicants must identify the skills the project will require, such as: language skills; project-management and financial skills; digitising and cataloguing skills; technical skills for handling equipment and vulnerable material. Applicants must demonstrate how they will ensure that the team is composed of people who have these skills or will be trained in them.
  • Knowledge within the team. There must be evidence that the Principal Applicant and proposed team understand the material, its condition and its research and cultural value. The project team must include members with knowledge of the relevant languages and scripts of the materials in the archive.

III.   Project plan

The proposal must contain an outline of an effective plan showing how the following questions have been addressed:

  • Feasibility. Applicants must demonstrate an understanding of the practicalities and logistics of the project: Is the time frame reasonable? Are the team available at the time specified? Have all risks been considered? Have all costs been taken into account? Who will oversee the finances?
  • Local capacity building. Wherever possible, the project should create the opportunity for future archival and digitisation work to be carried out in the region where the archive is located. Applications should include a plan for the period after the project is completed, outlining what will happen to the equipment and the potential for the training and experience of the team to be applied in future activities.
  • Budget. The budget must be within the limit for the project type. Applicants must provide justification for the cost of all salaries, equipment and travel, and demonstrate that the budget represents good value for money. Host Institutions should make appropriate financial contributions to these costs.

APPLICATION DOCUMENTATION

The documents below are provided to help with preparation of the application. All applications must be submitted via the online portal. The link to the portal is made live when the call is made and applicants have around around two months to complete the online form. All fields on the facsimile form are replicated in the online portal. The Guide for Applicants has seven appendices, of which is the last one is the text of the standard Grant Agreement.

Guide for Applicants

The Guide is 10 pages long and the remaining pages of the document are the Appendices. Below are the links to the Appendices provided as separate documents, for reference by applicants together with their teams and collaborators. If you require them in other formats (such as Word) please get in touch. Note that the Programme operates in English, but to assist applicants in communications with key stakeholders, the Guide, Appendix 3 and Appendix 5 Parts A and B have been translated into other languages and are available from this link. 


1. Preliminary application form

This facsimile form is provided as a reference to help applicants prepare their preliminary applications. It should not be submitted, but it may be used and filled in offline and the answers copied to the portal when it goes live.


2. Detailed application form and related documentation

This form is provided for reference so that applicants who are invited to submit a detailed application in December can discuss aspects of the proposal with colleagues. 


3. Permission and copyright forms

These must be submitted along with the detailed application and uploaded to the portal. Applicants must discuss with archive owners to ensure access to the material will be granted, and where copyright exists in the material, that this is cleared in advance. This form is available in other languages (AR, ES, FR, HI, PT, UR) for reference if required, but the forms should be submitted in English.


4. Referee report form

These must be submitted with the detailed applications via the portal. They are provided here for practice purposes.


5. Host Institution, Archival Partner and Co-Applicants

This document shows the information that must be submitted at detailed application stage by other collaborators in the proposed project. Parts A and B of this form will be available in other languages (AR, ES, FR, HI, PT, UR).


6. Post-offer Risk Assessment, conditions and clarifications

All offers made in April/May are subject to a satisfactory up-to-date risk assessment. There may be additional conditions or clarifications.


7. Grant Agreement

Note that all grants are awarded to our standard terms and conditions. The current version of the Grant Agreement text is provided for reference, and it applies to all grants with no amendments possible. Applicants should be aware of the content of the detail of the Grant Agreement from the start of the application process and should discuss their plans with their Host Institution, in order to avoid delays at the contract stage.

FOR REFERENCE ONLY. This is the text of the current version, last edited in 2024 and in use for Round 20 in 2025. The agreement is created for each new grant and must be signed without alteration by the host institution.