The Centre for Gender Studies welcomes applications from outstanding early career scholars who have recently completed their doctorate or are in its final stages, both from the UK and internationally.
Draft applications should consist of a cv and detailed research proposal (including research objectives, methods, budgets, time-frames, necessary resources etc.) In addition, applicants should state which funding scheme they are applying to and the deadline for application.
Please note that the Centre for Gender Studies does not directly fund post-doctoral fellows. The Centre accepts applications for the externally-funded fellowships listed below and applicants should also visit the POLIS webpages for the Departmental Guidelines:
The British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024-25 internal call deadline has yet to be announced. The Fellowships have an early October deadline, with departmental selection of candidates occurring in September. Applicants must be UK or EEA nationals or have completed a doctorate at a UK university, and then meet all other terms outlined on the BA's call page.
Eligibility criteria and other details about the scheme are available on the BA website.
The scheme offers early career researchers at UK institutions a postdoctoral salary and £2,000 annual research expenses for three years. Applicants must be within 3 years of completing their PhD, but applications from late-stage PhD students are also accepted.
Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships are jointly funded by the Leverhulme Trust and the Cambridge Isaac Newton Trust and are open to applicants who have received their PhD since 23 February 2022 and no later than the LT deadline on 22 February 2024.
Applicants must obtain match funding for their salary from the Isaac Newton Trust in order to be eligible to apply, and must have submitted their PhD within 4 years of the submission deadline. By the fellowship start date successful candidates must either have had their PhD award confirmed or hold an academic position in the UK. Applicants may not have held a full-time, permanent academic post in a UK university or comparable institution. Applications for 2023-24 are now closed. More information on the application process can be found on the POLIS Post-Docs webpages.
ESRC New Investigator Awards are considered by a Cambridge selection panel three times per year in October, March, and June. This scheme is suitable for early career researchers who have yet to make the transition to be an independent researcher. Proposals are welcome in any topic which falls within ESRC’s remit, including projects at the “interface with the wider sciences”, provided that social sciences accounts for at least 50% of the proposed research. The ESRC will award grants of between £100-300K (covered at 80%fEC). The ESRC expect the University to run an internal selection process to ensure that we submit only bids from outstanding individuals with the potential to become the research leaders of the future. The University may only submit a limited number of applications. To meet these requirements, this call will be overseen by a cross-school Committee, as decided by University’s Research Policy Committee. Only applicants whose proposals have been approved through the internal selection process will be allowed to proceed with submission of their applications to ESRC.
If you would like to apply with the support of the UCCGS you should send your research project proposal to Dr Lauren Wilcox by Thursday, 7th March 2024, e-mail: lw487@cam.ac.uk. The internal selection deadline for March 2024 is Midday Friday, 15th March 2024. Interested applicants should submit an online application.
You will be required to upload the following:
- Your research project proposal (template provided here)
- A letter of support from your Head of Department
This letter is very important to the success of the application as it is needed to confirm the details of the departmental support and the applicant’s eligibility. The letter must also specify a department/faculty based mentor, and a reviewer, both of whom have agreed to provide feedback on the full proposal, should the applicant be selected to proceed. The reviewer may be from within or outside the applicant’s department/faculty. Please note that naming a reviewer is an internal requirement, and the reviewer will not be named on the full application to ESRC. The mentor and the named reviewer will be expected to provide feedback on the full proposal prior to submission to ESRC. This will be coordinated by the School Research Facilitator.
- An X5 PDF report
The report should show the preliminary costing for the project, including the cost of the applicant’s salary and research assistance (if required). The X5 should not be submitted for ROO approval at this stage; the costing is for indicative purposes only, to inform the internal selection. It will be possible to modify it after the internal selection.
Please contact the ESRCNewInv@admin.cam.ac.uk for more information about the funding scheme.
ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowships. Open to applicants with 12 months postdoctoral experience or less with the aim of developing essential research and professional skills. This funding call is currently closed, with news of the 2024 round expected to be available in early 2024. Instructions from the 2023 call can be found on the POLIS Post-Docs webpages for reference - the 2024 process and dates are likely to be similar.
British Academy International Fellowship (replacing the Newton International Fellowships) - For non-UK residents only. Those interested in applying to this scheme must have a co-applicant who is permanently employed within the POLIS Department. We will need a confirmation from the hosting co-applicant, CV, and research proposal to review before departmental support can be confirmed.
Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences The Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) supports, promotes and conducts interdisciplinary research of the highest order. The Centre runs a wide variety of programmes and is based in the same building as the Centre for Gender Studies.
Please direct initial enquiries to the Centre Administrator, gender@gender.cam.ac.uk
Information on other relevant funding bodies can be found at the web links below:
