BA International Fellowships (formerly Newton IF)

This is a pre-announcement - full details of this scheme are expected to be published by the British Academy on 21st January 2025

All SAS member institutes welcome proposals from suitably qualified applicants for the British Academy International Fellowships scheme.

The deadline for sending expressions of interest to Institute Directors is Thursday 6th February 2025.

Applicants must have a PhD, or be in the final stages of their PhD, provided it will be completed (including viva) by the start of the fellowship. Applicants should have no more than 7 years of active full time postdoctoral experience at the time of application (discounting career breaks, but including teaching experience and/or time spent in industry). Applicants must be working outside the UK, must not hold UK citizenship, must be competent in oral and written English, and have a clearly fined and mutually-beneficial research proposal agreed with a UK host researcher.

Establishing eligibility is the sole responsibility of the applicant - if you have any doubts, please contact overseas@thebritishacademy.ac.uk

Fellowships are tenable for up to two years and the award is offered at 80 per cent fEC. Applicants may apply for research expenses of up to £12,000 and relocation costs of up to £8,000. Applicants will need to justify the level of research expenses and relocation costs requested in their application.

Applicants may also be eligible to receive follow on alumni funding following the tenure of their Fellowship to support networking activities with UK-based or international researchers.

The British Academy International Fellowship award-holders are no longer classified as visiting researchers on a stipend, but salaried employees. Award-holders will receive a reasonable salary set by their host institution. 

Before applying, please read the Guidance Notes thoroughly (currently these are the 2024 notes).

Process and deadline

Actions for applicants due by 6 February 2025 at the latest:

• Submit expression of interest to the relevant institute director and copy in (cc): research@london.ac.uk

Expressions of interest should include:

• the name of your proposed UK host researcher (an academic based at the Institute)
• a CV
• a paragraph confirming your eligibility (please review the BA's criteria beforehand)
• a 100-word abstract of your proposed project
• a brief outline (2 pages maximum) of the research proposal, including intended publications and how the proposal research mutually benefits the UK host and researcher.

Actions for the school:

• Confirmation of support from the School will be communicated directly to applicants by 14th February 2025.

Working on the proposal and the internal processes

• Once support has been agreed, Research Services will coordinate the application process
• the SAS Co-applicant and/or Director will act as peer reviewers in this call
• Draft Costing and ethical assessment will be submitted by 21st February to be reviewed by UoL Research Services and finalised with Applicant by the 4th March at the very latest (Research Ethics Self Check Form will have been submitted and approved in accordance with the Research Ethics Guidance, which can be found at Research Ethics - Policies and Guidance.
• Confirmation of nominated referees should also take place before 4th March (one by the Applicant and one by the UK (SAS) Co-applicant)
• Final paperwork must be submitted to Research Services via the FlexiGrant portal by 11th March at the latest to ensure all checks can be undertaken including the institutional risk assessment and final approval (institutional and online) can be given before the deadline.

If you need any assistance with this call, please contact the Research services team. See University of London Research governance.