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The Leverhulme Trust () is a large national grant-making organisation in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
. It was established in 1925 under the will of the 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), with the instruction that its resources should be used to cover certain trade charities and support "scholarships for the purposes of research and education." Over time, it has come to focus on the latter aim. The Trust is based in London and is a
registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...
under
English law English law is the common law list of national legal systems, legal system of England and Wales, comprising mainly English criminal law, criminal law and Civil law (common law), civil law, each branch having its own Courts of England and Wales, ...
. The current Chair of the Trust is Alan Jope CBE.


Activities

Since its foundation in 1925, the Trust has provided funding for research projects, fellowships, studentships, bursaries and prizes. It operates across all academic disciplines with the intention of supporting individuals in research and professional training. Dispensing over £100 million a year, the Trust is one of the largest providers of research funding in the UK. The Trust places special weight on: * the originality of the projects put to them; * the significance of the proposed work; * the ability to judge and take appropriate risk in the project; * the removal of barriers between traditional disciplines.


History

Victorian businessman and entrepreneur William Hesketh Lever manufactured and marketed
Sunlight soap Sunlight is a brand of laundry soap, laundry detergent and dishwashing detergent manufactured and marketed around the world by Unilever, except in the United States and Canada, where it has been owned by Sun Products (now Henkel Corporati ...
. In order to produce cheap soap and undercut competition, he controlled large concessionary areas in the Congo. These were granted to him by King Leopold, with whom he was a close friend. Many Congolese were exploited for use in forced labour which was allowed to continue for many decades before coming to light. Lever extended his business activities in ways that both served and profited from the rapid rise of a mass market for basic consumer products. He was also a philanthropist, supporting a variety of educational, religious, civic, community and medical causes. His achievements were recognised in 1922 when the title of Lord Leverhulme of the Western Isles was conferred upon him. On his death in 1925, Lord Leverhulme left a proportion of his interest in the company he had founded,
Lever Brothers Lever Brothers was a British manufacturing company founded in 1885 by two brothers: William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme, William Hesketh Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme (1851–1925), and James Darcy Lever (1854–1916). They invested in and su ...
, in trust for specific beneficiaries: to include first certain trade charities and secondly the provision of "scholarships for the purposes of research and education". The Leverhulme Trust was established. In the succeeding years, Lever Brothers became a cornerstone of
Unilever Unilever PLC () is a British multinational consumer packaged goods company headquartered in London, England. It was founded on 2 September 1929 following the merger of Dutch margarine producer Margarine Unie with British soap maker Lever B ...
, created in 1930 by the merger of Lever Brothers with
Margarine Unie Naamloze Vennootschap Margarine Unie (English: Margarine Union Limited) was a Dutch company formed in 1927 in Oss by the merger of four margarine companies, Antoon Jurgens United, Van den Bergh's, Centra, and Schicht's. Margarine Unie was the do ...
of the
Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...
. The Leverhulme Trust's shareholding thus became part of Unilever plc. November 1983 saw an evolution in the arrangements for the two charitable objectives. Subsequently, the Leverhulme Trust has been able to give concentrated attention to research and education.


Grant schemes

The Trust seeks to provide mechanisms for the support of researchers and students, and currently offers the following schemes:Charity overview, THE LEVERHULME TRUST - 1159154, Register of Charities - The Charity Commission ;Research Project Grants: Provide funds to employ research staff for up to five years on an original project of high quality and potential. Choice of theme and the design of the research depend on the applicant. ;Research Leadership Awards: Available every three years. They support researchers who have begun a university career and need to build a research team able to tackle an identified but distinctive research problem. Each UK institution is limited to one bid only. ;Study Abroad Studentships: Support for up to two years of advanced study or research at a centre of learning in any overseas country, with the exception of the United States. ;Early Career Fellowships: Provide career development opportunities of two or three years. For those who are at a relatively early stage of their academic careers but with a proven record of research. ;Research Fellowships: Provide support for up to two years for experienced researchers, particularly those who have been prevented by routine duties from completing a programme of original research. Awards are not limited to those holding appointments in higher education. ;International Fellowships: Open to those holding a full-time post in a UK institution of higher education or comparable institution and support a period overseas in a stimulating academic environment for up to two years. ;Major Research Fellowships: Provide up to three years of full-time teaching replacement so that the applicant can concentrate on a piece of research, typically bringing it forward to publication as a monograph. ;Emeritus Fellowships: Provide support for up to two years of research to be conducted by the applicant following retirement from an academic post. ;Visiting Professorships: Enable distinguished academics based overseas to spend up to ten months at a UK university, primarily in order to enhance the skills of academic staff or the student body within the host institution. ;
Philip Leverhulme Prize The Philip Leverhulme Prize is awarded by the Leverhulme Trust to recognise the achievement of outstanding researchers whose work has already attracted international recognition and whose future career is exceptionally promising. The prize sche ...
s: Awarded to outstanding scholars who have made a 'substantial and recognised' contribution to their particular field of study, are recognised at an international level, and where the expectation is that they have further progress to make. ;Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships: Support doctoral studies in UK universities and nurture the future generation of young researchers. Each award funds 15 Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarships at that institution. ;Arts Scholarships: Provide training opportunities across the whole range of artistic disciplines in the fine and performing arts. Arts scholarships may be in the form of: (a) bursaries to enable individuals to develop their talent, and/or; (b) innovative teaching awards to provide new and original training opportunities for the students concerned.


See also

*
Royal Institution Christmas Lectures The Royal Institution Christmas Lectures are a series of lectures on a single topic each, which have been held at the Royal Institution in London each year since 1825. The lectures present scientific subjects to a general audience, including yo ...
* Leverhulme Medal of the
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
* Leverhulme Medal of the
British Academy The British Academy for the Promotion of Historical, Philosophical and Philological Studies is the United Kingdom's national academy for the humanities and the social sciences. It was established in 1902 and received its royal charter in the sa ...


References


External links


Leverhulme Trust websiteLeverhulme Trust – Grants in focusLeverhulme Trust on Twitter
{{Authority control 1925 establishments in the United Kingdom Charities based in London Educational foundations based in the United Kingdom Foundations based in the United Kingdom Funding bodies in the United Kingdom Science and technology in the United Kingdom