Grants

Are you looking for resources or support for collaborative project or research in the field of colonial collections? On this page you will find an overview of relevant scholarships and grants. The page will be updated regularly, so make sure to come back shortly.

NIAS – NIOD – KITLV

Fellowship: Moving objects, Mobilising Culture in the Context of (De)colonisation

The fellowship enables researchers and heritage professionals from former colonized countries to conduct five months of research into ‘colonial collections’: objects and collections from those countries that arrived in the Netherlands in a context of colonialism.

Applications for the fellowships are now closed. Early 2025, the Call for Applications will reopen for two fellows.

NWO

Research on collections with a colonial context

NWO offers grants for two types of research:

• Grants for research within researchers from the countries of origin carry out short-term research (research exchange) in the collections of Dutch museums and institutions. This could include short-term provenance research, for example.
• Grants for larger projects that aim to create sustainable networks (consortium grant). This type of grant can be used to set up a comprehensive programme of research and exchange between a country of origin and (European) the Netherlands, including activities such as setting the agenda and obtaining an overview of the objects in the collections, researching the provenance and significance of the collections throughout history and in contemporary society, and how knowledge about these collections and objects can be made accesible.

Both types of research will be led by scholars from the countries of origin or special municipalities.

The Call for Proposals is currently closed. It may reopen.

Nuffic

Cultural Heritage scholarship programme

Nuffic offers students and young professionals from Indonesia, Nigeria, South Africa, Sri Lanka and Suriname the opportunity to follow a one-year master’s programme in the Netherlands related to their cultural heritage, specifically related to collections that got involuntarily lost during the Dutch colonial era. The programme offers 15-20 scholarships to students from participating countries for one-year master’s programmes in the Netherlands, starting in September 2024. The offered specialisations include programmes such as Applied Museum and Heritage Studies, Colonial and Global History or Cultural History and Heritage, and other related fields that closely align with the needs of the participating countries.

Applications for the scholarhips are currently closed. They may be reopened.