Accessibility Fund

Opportunities for Funding

The University and the School of Divinity are committed to supporting equality and diversity in all aspects of their activity. Everyone has the right to study and work in a supportive and tolerant environment free from discrimination and harassment, regardless of race, religion, disability, ethnicity, or sexual identity or orientation. 

Would you like to conduct some research, create a resource, or hold an event, for example, that delves into some aspect of equality, diversity and inclusion? You can apply for up to £300 of EDI accessibility funding, and applications from all Divinity students and staff are welcome.  (Please see the application form for the detailed eligibility criteria.)

Key questions informing the EDI agenda are:

  • How can our learning communities advance equality for groups  who are under-represented in Higher Education?
  • How can we learn together as a School from students’ experiences of being marginalised in any area of their life?
  • How do we ensure we are able to support diverse learning communities in the School? What might this mean for our staff and our infrastructure?

Possibilities include:

  • Research Projects (e.g. a study into the EDI experiences of a particular cohort of students).
  • Resources (e.g. interactive video and online guides).
  • Events (e.g. mini conferences, networking sessions, and exhibitions).

Funding

We welcome applications that are:

  • Collaborative: particularly those that encourage working together as small groups; are student-led or involve students; or bring together colleagues from different sub-disciplines within the School.
  • Innovative and Impactful: make an identifiable difference to students and should also have the potential for wider impact and sustainability (e.g. results or experiences capable of being disseminated to effect change or adoption elsewhere within the University or shared with other institutions).
  • Small-scale: engage with small groups of students (the fund exists to support initiatives that are focused on students’ particular experiences of equality, diversity and inclusion so ideas for quite modest activities are welcome).

Please note:

  • Human Resources should be consulted for advice on appropriate hourly rates of pay (and holiday pay) for work to be carried out by students interns and research assistants.
  • Initiatives will not normally be funded more than once. Thus, applicants should indicate how the initiative will be sustained beyond the initial funding, if applicable.
  • The purchase of equipment will not normally be funded.
  • Successful recipients will be required to submit a brief report on what they have achieved. They must also produce a media element (e.g. podcast or video), a poster, or provide an image for the School of Divinity web page.
  • Successful recipients may be asked to present at a local EDI event.

Awards made in 2021-2024

  • Dr King-Ho Leung to attend, and report to the School's EDI Committee about, the plenary panel 'Theology, Race, Freedom and Epistemic Justice' of the annual conference of the Society for the Study of Theology. 
  • Logia - towards refreshments at its events designed to build community and advance the career development of women (undergraduates and postgraduates) in the School of Divinity.
  • Laurence Lamonde-Mercier for producing a poster resulting from an undergraduate research project, 'Gendered Violence in the Hebrew Bible', under the supervision of Dr Madhavi Nevader.
  • Gillian Chu to organise a conference (at St Andrews in the autumn of 2022), 'Navigating Conference Calls for Papers and Organising Inclusive Academic Conferences (Theology, Divinity, and Religious Studies)'.
  • Julia Glanz - to attend the European Academy of Religion 2022 to deliver a paper, 'Contrasting Coherencies: An Inclusive Hermeneutic for Evaluating Second Temple Jewish Texts from the Perspective of a Neurodivergent Reader' and to disseminate findings to, and through, the School's EDI Committee.
  • Logia - towards refreshments at its events designed to build community and advance the career development of women (undergraduates and postgraduates) in the School of Divinity.
  • St Mary's College Society - for extending social events to include interfaith hospitality.
  • An interdisciplinary conference on Bible and Theology (October 2024) aimed at overcoming fragmentation between sub-disciplines within the School of Divinity. 

Applications

Applications will be considered by the School’s EDI officer (Dr Eric Stoddart) and two members of the School’s EDI committee. Three application rounds will take place in 2024-2025 with closing dates of:

  • Monday 30 September 2024 by 5pm
  • Monday 9 December 2024 by 5pm
  • Monday 3 February 2025 by 5pm

Please complete the EDI Accessibility Fund Divinity Application Form (Word).

If you have not submitted a funding proposal before or if you have a specific query please email divedi@st-andrews.ac.uk.  

Please submit the application form to: divedi@st-andrews.ac.uk.

Emails regarding the outcome of applications will be sent to the submitter and copied to the Head of School, Director of Operations and the budget holder.