Funding support

The Cambridge Group was founded in 1964 by Peter Laslett (History Faculty) and Tony Wrigley (Department of Geography). It was initially a free-standing research grouping with support from the Gulbenkian Foundation and the Social Science Research Council. In 1974 it became a Unit of the Social Science Research Council with three co-directors, Peter Laslett (until retirement in 1983), Roger Schofield and Tony Wrigley. Between 1990 and 2001 it was a Designated Research Centre (DRC) of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) affiliated with the History Faculty, with Roger Schofield as Director. From 1994 to 2011 Richard Smith served as Director. In 2001 the Group joined the Department of Geography and since October 2013 the Group has had premises and support from both the Geography Department and the History Faculty.

Since 2001 the Group has secured major grants from the ESRC, the Leverhulme Trust, the Wellcome Trust, the AHRC, the Isaac Newton Trust, and the British Academy, as well as other smaller grants.