British Association for Romantic Studies

British Association for Romantic Studies

Website of the British Association for Romantic Studies (BARS), set up in 1989 by academics to promote the study of the cultural history of the Romantic period.

Awards and Prizes

Awards and Prizes

BARS supports a portfolio of prizes and awards, which are largely targeted towards postgraduates and early career scholars.  These all have their own pages, which are linked to from the brief descriptions below.

  • BARS’ longest-running scheme is the Stephen Copley Research Awards, named for one of the Association’s founders and established in order to allow postgraduates and early career scholars to travel to relevant libraries and archives.  A number of awards are made each year; the maximum sum that an individual can apply for is £300.
  • In 2014, BARS established its First Book Prize, which is awarded biennially at the International Conference to the author of the best first monograph in Romantic Studies.  The prize comes with a cash award of £250.
  • In 2016, BARS established the BARS/Wordsworth Trust Early Career Fellowship in collaboration with the Wordsworth Trust.  This fellowship provides accommodation for a month in Grasmere and financial support towards travel to allow an early career researcher to work with the Trust on audience engagement and create a plan of their own to engage new audiences.
  • Also in 2016, BARS began a new collaboration with the British Association for Victorian Studies (BAVS) on the Nineteenth-Century Matters scheme, for which both organisations work with a host institution to provide an otherwise-unaffiliated postdoctoral researcher with a platform from which to organise professionalization workshops and research seminars on a theme related to nineteenth-century studies.
  • BARS’ final new initiative in 2016 was the establishment of the Scottish Romanticism Research Award, in collaboration with the Universities Committee for Scottish Literature (UCSL).  This fellowship provides up to £300 to a postgraduate or early career researcher to help fund expenses incurred through travel to Scottish libraries and archives.

BARS also provides financial support for conferences and events in the field of Romantic Studies.