The Grants in Aid of Research were minor subsidies granted under exceptional circumstances. Such grants had already been made on several occasions by the Faculty of Archaeology, History and Letters (FAHL) as of 1932, though not consistently. They were given to students who could not complete their research and had used up their scholarship, or to researchers who intended to examine their case study. They were not formally established and regularly assigned until 1959. On March 20th 1959, on the suggestion of the Director J. B. Ward-Perkins, the Sub-commitee on Scholarships recommended that if money became available through saving on scholars holding their awards for one year only, or through the election of state students, or for other reasons, some of this might be used as grants, for example to assist former Rome scholars who wished to go to Rome for short periods to finish some piece of work. The Sub-Committee was in favour of building up a fund for use as and when required.

Even though names of Grantees are recorded as of 1960, files found in the Administrative Archive date back to the academic year 1962. In 1988 (see FAHL Minutes, 27 May 1988) two applications forms were created to distinguish an Excavation grant from a Research Grant. In 1992-3 the name of the award changes from Grants in Aid of Research into Research Grants. Regularised as Rome Awards in the Academic year 1996.