The second round of funding awards announced by the Arts and Humanities Research Board this week has brought further windfalls for universities and colleges across the country.

More than Pounds 1.7 million is shared out among more than 130 research projects in three categories - research grants of more than Pounds 5,000, research grants below Pounds 5,000 and research leave.

The board received more than 450 applications for help.

Among the biggest winners is a 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ College London, which receives research grants totalling Pounds 153,962, while the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Sheffield, which benefited from large and small grants totalling nearly Pounds 195,000 in the first round, takes another Pounds 90,523.

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The 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Reading, awarded only slightly less than Oxford 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ in the first round, was awarded another Pounds 16,242.

Examples of other awards include Pounds 2,800 for research at the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Westminster on reporting modern war, focusing on the way technology and commercial pressure has affected the way news reporters dealt with the war in Chechnya, research leave for a project at the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Ulster studying contemporary Irish cinema, and more than Pounds 30,436 for a full analytic catalogue of the Waddell manuscripts being compiled at the 51¹ú²úÊÓƵ of Kent at Canterbury.

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Paul Langford, AHRB chief executive, said: "The quality and number of applications that we have received illustrates the richness and diversity of arts and humanities research."

The next awards will be announced at the end of May. Future rounds will include Scottish and Welsh institutions after funding agencies in both countries recently agreed to support the board.