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Post-doctoral fellowship opportunities

Our short-term research fellowships work with items in our Special Collections, including the new John Evan Bedford Library of Furniture History.

Special Collections, in collaboration with Leeds Arts & Humanities Research Institute, is pleased to announce a limited number of short-term postdoctoral fellowships for 2022.

Applications for the below fellowships should be submitted by Monday 10 January 2022.

The John Bedford Fellowship 2022

New this year, The John Bedford Fellowship offers the opportunity for a researcher to spend two months working full-time in Leeds making use of the John Evan Bedford Library of Furniture History.

The library comprises some 3,000 printed items and extensive archival material, focusing on 17th–20th century furniture history, including the research notes of the furniture historians Edward T Joy and Pauline Agius.

Scholars working in and across any disciplines in the Arts and Humanities are eligible to apply. This collection is particularly relevant to those with research interests in architecture and architectural history, history of art and design, book history, business history, collectors and collecting, history of printing, social and economic history, history of science, and material culture.

On completion of their research, you will produce a scholarly output, such as an academic journal article, focused on material from the Bedford Collection. You will give a lecture or seminar on the Bedford Collection and your research whilst at Leeds, hosted in Special Collections, along with a blog post to promote the Bedford Collection and your research for use on the Special Collections and LAHRI websites.

The successful Fellow will receive a payment of £6,000 to enable them to spend time in Leeds undertaking the research.

View full details and information on how to apply for the John Bedford Fellowhip at LAHRI

Brotherton Short-Term Post-Doctoral Fellowships

Successful applicants will spend four weeks in Leeds to carry out research activities aimed at developing your ability to submit strong applications to externally-funded postdoctoral positions, which must then be held at the University of Leeds (for example, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship; Leverhulme Early-Career Fellowship; Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions; Newton Fellowship; Wellcome Trust Early Career Award, NERC Research Fellowship).

Blog posts from previous fellows highlight their work with Special Collections’ materials including the Opera North Archive, the Medical School Archive, the Ken Smith Archive, the University of Leeds Archive, seventeenth-century travel archives and the Ripon Cathedral Library Collection.

Research must be completed by the end of September 2022. On completion of your research, you will write a short report on their experience which will be submitted to the funding body, the Brotherton Committee, and write a blog post to promote the collection and your research, which will be used on the Special Collections and LAHRI websites. Other social media activity is encouraged during the Fellowship.

Support for developing suitable external funding bids will be provided by the AHC Faculty pre-award team.

Fellows are awarded £2,000 living expenses and up to £500 travel expenses, while they are in Leeds.

View full details and information on how to apply for the Brotherton Short-Term Post-Doctoral Fellowships.