Applying to QEST Funding
27 November 2025
Deadline: December 18, 2025
The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) offers three grants to support makers and conservators: the Apprenticeship, the Emerging Maker Grant and the Scholarship.
Join us on the 18th December at 11am for an online session for Northern Irish makers who are considering applying to QEST funding. This session will be led by Katherine Dunleavy, Head of Programmes and Partnerships at the Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust. Katherine is responsible for engagement and inclusion across QEST’s programmes and works strategically across the UK to help more people develop their craft skills and access support from QEST. Katherine will lead the webinar, showing insight into the application process and discussing how you can be most ready to apply.
We will also be joined by Andrea Spencer who received a QEST bursary and was able to travel to the USA in what she sees as a transformative experience at that stage in her career. Andrea will discuss how her practice benefitted from QEST support and advice to makers interested in applying.
There will be time for a Q&A at the end but if you have any questions you’d like to submit beforehand, please email them to lorna.towns@craftni.org by Monday 15th December.
Taking place online over Teams at 11am on the 18th December.
About QEST:
The Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust (QEST) is a charity that transforms the careers of talented and aspiring makers by funding their training and education, creating pathways to excellence and strengthening the future of the UK’s craft sector.
Celebrating 35 years of impact in 2025, QEST has awarded £7.4 million to almost 900 craftspeople working across the UK in 130 different craft disciplines. From guitar making to woodturning, thatching to enamelling, QEST embraces craft in all its many forms and are proud to contribute towards its evolving tradition. Through key partnership programmes, the Charity also inspires the next generation of makers by offering them opportunities to develop hand skills, meet professional craftspeople, and explore creative careers.
QEST was founded by the Royal Warrant Holders Association in 1990 to celebrate the 90th birthday of HM Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother. HM The King is the Charity’s Patron.