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British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships (2024 call)

Member Institutes and Centres of the School of Advanced Study are inviting proposals from suitably qualified applicants for the 2024 round of the prestigious British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships scheme.

Expressions of interest must be submitted by 5th August 2024

SAS Member Institutes are inviting applications for fellowship proposals focusing on the following themes:

Digital Humanities Research Hub

  • Born-digital cultural heritage
  • Digital approaches to material and cultural heritage
  • Digital/computational approaches to literary and historical texts and data
  • Multilingual Digital Humanities/digital culture

Institute of Advanced Legal Studies

  • Law and Humanities
  • Drafting Legislation, Regulation and Policy
  • Information Law and Policy
  • Public International Law

Institute of Classical Studies

  • Cultural heritage imaging
  • Roman archaeology
  • Digital epigraphy/prosopography/linked data
  • Reception of Greek and Roman antiquity (modern/early modern)

Institute of Commonwealth Studies

  • Minority rights protection; ethnic, religious, and linguistic minorities, especially Afro-descendants in Latin America; Dalits and caste-based discrimination; Roma in Europe
  • Indigenous peoples' rights
  • Human rights and development; human rights-based approaches to development; UN human rights mechanisms
  • Transnational social mobilisation and norm entrepreneurship
  • Sociological and anthropological approaches to human rights
  • Reconciliation initiatives
  • Genocide Studies
  • Ecocide; Human Rights aspects and implications of environmental destruction and degradation
  • International human rights law; Statelessness; Comparative nationality law; Legal identity

Institute of English Studies

  • Book history and studies of the book
  • The book trade
  • Publishing
  • Collections and archives in galleries, museums, and libraries (the GLAM sector).

Institute of Historical Research

  • In this round, IHR welcomes a broad range of subject fields in any area that fits with Institute staff expertise

Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies

  • In this round, ILCS welcomes a broad range of subject fields in any area that fits with Institute staff expertise

Institute of Philosophy

  • Philosophy of AI
  • Philosophy and the Senses
  • Philosophy of Neuroscience
  • Philosophy of Mind.

Refugee Law Initiative

  • Contemporary challenges to refugee protection
  • Climate change, disasters and mobility
  • Internal displacement and conflict

Warburg Institute

  • The movement of culture across time and space
  • The role of images in society
  • The relationship between science and magic
  • The legacy of Aby Warburg and other key figures in the Institute’s history

These grants enable early-career researchers to gain further experience of conducting research and teaching in a university environment with mentoring support from a SAS academic. The aim is to enable researchers to develop their CV and improve their prospects for obtaining permanent lecturing posts. Currently, the Academy funds salary costs (80% fEC), and small-scale research expenses up to £6,000 for three years. Further details can be found here.

British citizens and nationals from the EEA are eligible, regardless of where their doctorate was obtained. Anyone of any nationality who has a doctorate from a UK university is eligible. If an applicant does not meet the prior categories, they may be accepted if they can demonstrate ‘strong prior association’ with the UK academic community. Applicants must be of Early Career Status, meaning they must apply within three years from the date of their successful viva voce examination. For this round of competition, applicants are expected to have completed their viva voce between 1st April 2022 and 1st April 2025. The application deadline for the first stage of the 2024 scheme is Wednesday 2nd October 2024 5:00pm (this is the British Academy's deadline for applicants, including referee statement and organisational approval). Shortlisted applicants will be invited to submit for the second stage application. 

Anyone who wishes to apply for one of these fellowships through the School of Advanced Study should follow the process below:

Process: Expressions of interest must be submitted by Monday 5th August to the director of the chosen institute, copying research@london.ac.uk. Descriptions of our institutes can be found here. 

The expression of interest must include:

  • CV
  • Provisional title for research project
  • A 100-word abstract
  • An outline (two pages maximum) of the research proposal, including intended publication outputs
  • Identification of potential mentor from among your chosen institute’s staff

Applicants who are to be supported in the fellowship competition by the School of Advanced Study will be notified by 12th August 2024.