Brotherton/LHRI Short-Term Post-Doctoral Fellowships 2018

Opportunity for early-career researchers to work in Special Collections

Leeds Humanities Research Institute, in collaboration with Special Collections, is pleased to announce a limited number of short-term post-doctoral fellowships for 2018.

These fellowships are designed exclusively for early-career researchers to make use of the Special Collections held within the Brotherton Library.

Scholars working in any discipline are eligible to apply.

About the fellowships

Successful applicants will spend four weeks in Leeds to carry out research activities aimed at developing the fellow's ability to make strong applications to externally-funded post-doctoral positions which must then be held at the University of Leeds (e.g. British Academy Post-Doctoral Fellowships; Leverhulme Early-Career Fellowships; Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions; Newton Fellowships, Marie Curie Fellowships, Wellcome Trust Research Fellowships, ESRC Future Research Leaders Scheme, NERC Research Fellowships).

On completion of their research, Fellows are required to write a short report on their experience that will be submitted to the funding body, the Brotherton Committee, and to write a blog post to promote the collection and their research, which will be used on the Special Collections, Cultural Institute and LHRI websites.

The aim of the fellowship scheme is to help researchers maximise external funding opportunities for post-doctoral research, and applicants must be eligible for relevant funding schemes (as summarised below). Support for developing suitable external funding will be provided by LHRI and the AHC Faculty pre-award team.

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

How to apply

Applications should consist of electronic/email versions of:

A completed application form incorporating:

A 500-word research proposal for the short-term fellowship
A 200-word statement from the Leeds academic mentor confirming support for the application
The mentor's confirmation of the candidate's eligibility for externally-funded schemes
A 2-page CV of the post-doctoral scholar
One academic reference should be emailed directly by the referee via to the LHRI Administrator ahead of the deadline on Wednesday, 10 January 2018 at 5pm. It is the responsibility of prospective fellows to ensure that references are sent.

Fellowships awarded should take place between April 2018 and before the end of October 2018 (and prior to the intended application for an externally-funded fellowship).

Eligibility

Candidates who have completed their PhD at any university are eligible. Scholars who have completed their doctorate at Leeds are eligible to apply.

However, given that the selection of candidates will be based on the candidates' ability to make use of the fellowship to enhance applications for externally funded post-doctoral fellowships, it will be important to explain how additional time at Leeds will strengthen candidates' profiles. Please note, furthermore, the criteria below for external schemes.

All candidates must have passed their PhD viva by the application deadline, but not earlier than April 2013. Exceptions to this rule may be allowed in certain circumstances, subject to prior agreement.

Overseas Candidates

Please note the criteria for the following schemes:

Newton Fellowships

All applicants must be working and be based outside of the UK for at least one year at the time of application.

Applicants who completed their PhD at a UK organisation must have been working and based outside the UK for at least one year at the time of application.

Applicants proposing to return to their UK PhD organisation and/or PhD supervisor will normally be considered to be ineligible, so applicants must have exceptional reasons for proposing to do so.

Marie Sklodowska-Curie actions

Candidates will not have lived or worked in the UK for more than 12 months during the last three years, and will either hold a PhD or have at least 4 years (full time equivalent) research experience at the application date. Research experience is calculated from the date candidates obtained the degree that would enable them to start work on a doctorate.