Postdoctoral Fellowships

The Faculty of English at the University of Oxford invites expressions of interest from postdoctoral and completing graduate scholars who wish to apply for the UKRI Metascience AI Early Career Fellowship.

The UK Metascience Unit will fund a cohort of early career fellows to build understanding of how the growing adoption of AI is changing the research landscape, including what epistemic, metascientific, ethical and socioeconomic questions this raises, and how governments, industry, and funding organisations should respond. The funding opportunity is open to early career researchers who have completed their PhD by the start date of the fellowship or who can demonstrate equivalent research or innovation experience. However, individuals should not previously have been a project lead or lead on an externally funded project or led a significant programme of work in a commercial or non-academic setting.

A Faculty member is required to act as the mentor for the applicant. The mentor should have a strong interest in the applicant’s field of research and must work with the applicant to develop the project proposal. The sponsor will provide support throughout the duration of the Fellowship. (See here for a list of Faculty postholders.)

Please see full details of this opportunity on the UKRI website.

Your expression of interest documentation should be emailed to research.support@ell.ox.ac.uk by Tuesday 4 March 2025, as follows:

•    2-page (maximum) description of your project, including the name of the agreed mentor. You should bear in mind when writing your expression of interest that it will be reviewed by Faculty staff, some of whom will be outside of your specialism.   
•    A maximum 2-page CV.
•    You should also ask your proposed mentor to send a statement of support separately to research.support@ell.ox.ac.uk by Tuesday 4 March 2025.

The call for Expressions of Interest for the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship scheme for 2025 entry has now closed. Please check back in May 2025 for details regarding applications for 2026 entry.

The Faculty invites Expressions of Interest from researchers who wish to apply to the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship scheme (European Fellowships).

Candidates need to check carefully the detailed guidance for the scheme to ensure they are eligible. Broadly:

• Candidates should have a doctoral degree by the time of the deadline for applications (11 September 2024)

• Candidates must have a maximum of eight years’ experience in research, from the date of the award of their doctoral degree

• Candidates must not have resided or carried out their main activity (work, studies, etc.) in the UK for more than 12 months in the 36 months immediately before the call deadline

https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/postdoctoral-fellowships

The Faculty will select applications to support. Those interested should send a CV (maximum 2 pages), including a list of publications, and a two-page outline of the proposed research, addressing the aims and objectives of their intended project, research questions, its methodology, as well as intended outcomes, to research.support@humanities.ox.ac.uk. They should mention the name of a Faculty postholder who is willing to act as their sponsor, and describe how their research would enrich the Faculty’s portfolio. The internal deadline for Expressions of Interest is Monday 3 June 2024, 5:00pm.

The call for Expressions of Interest for the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme for 2025 entry has now closed. Please check back in July 2025 for details regarding applications for 2026 entry.

The Faculty of English at the University of Oxford invites expressions of interest from postdoctoral and completing graduate scholars who wish to apply for the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship scheme for entry in 2025.

The Fellowships are designed to enable outstanding, recent postdoctoral scholars in the Humanities or Social Sciences to obtain experience of research and teaching in a university environment for a period of three years, to strengthen their research and teaching track record and to improve their prospects of obtaining permanent posts by the end of the fellowship.  More information about the scheme is available on the British Academy website. There are strict eligibility requirements and potential candidates are advised to check these carefully.

Candidates who intend to apply for a BA Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Faculty are asked to submit an application form to ref@ell.ox.ac.uk no later than 31 July 2024. You should also ask your proposed mentor to send a brief note of support (200 words or less) to the same address by the same date. 

Please note that all applicants should have secured the agreement of a potential mentor within the Faculty, but mentors are not expected to provide any input into applications ahead of this stage.

You are also welcome to include, if appropriate, a separate statement of any circumstances that you feel may have impacted on your research track record (such as illness, parental leave, etc). 

There is no guarantee that applications which arrive after the above date will be supported or processed.  Candidates selected by the Faculty will be contacted by the Division’s Research Facilitation team with further information on the process and timetable for submitting your application via the British Academy application system. A Divisional workshop for selected candidates will be held in early September.

Download the application form.

The call for Expressions of Interest is currently closed. Please check back in December 2025 for details regarding applications for 2026 entry.

The International Fellowships Programme provides support for outstanding early career researchers to make a first step towards developing an independent research career through gaining experience across international borders. Each award is expected to involve a specific and protected research focus with the award holder undertaking high quality, original research. The scheme is jointly run by the British Academy and the Royal Society.

If you are interested in applying to this scheme via the Faculty of English, you should send a CV (max. 2 pages) and a 2-page description of your project which should address the project aims, objectives, research questions, methodology and outcomes to research.support@ell.ox.ac.uk by Tuesday 28 January 2025. You should also ask your proposed mentor to send a brief note of support (200 words or less) to the same address by the same date.

For eligibility criteria and further information, please refer to last year's scheme details: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/international-fellowships/ 

The call for Expressions of Interest is currently closed. Please check back in October 2025 for details regarding applications for 2026 entry.

Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships are designed to support scholars at a relatively early stage of their academic careers (defined as having submitted their thesis for viva voce examination no more than 4 years prior to the closing date), but with a proven record of research. Fellowships are tenable for three years on a full-time basis. Further details about the scheme are available on the Leverhulme Trust website.

The deadline for the Leverhulme scheme is 20 February 2025, but to enable the Faculty to select the candidates that it wishes to support, applicants must submit expressions of interest by emailing the below documents to the Faculty (research.support@ell.ox.ac.uk)  by 12:00pm on Wednesday, 18 December 2024. Please ensure you meet the eligibility criteria for the Leverhulme scheme before applying.

Required documents (preferably attached to the same email):

• a completed Expression of Interest form (.docx)
• a maximum 2-page Statement of Proposed Research (min Ariel 11pt, single spaced and 2cm margins): this should include aims, objectives, methodology and outcome (e.g. publication plans). The methodology should be clear and explicit, comprehensible to a non-expert. Include bibliographic references in full, including page numbers where relevant. (Candidates should not expect any input from their proposed mentors into their Statement of Proposed Research at this stage.)
• a maximum 2-page CV, including education, thesis title and examiners, any awards, and publications
• a Mentor Support form (.docx), completed by your proposed mentor

Candidates may also choose to include a statement of any circumstances which have impacted on their research progress (for example, periods of illness, or maternity / paternity leave, etc).

Potential applicants must not open an application with the Leverhulme Trust until Faculty support for their candidacy is confirmed in writing.

Please note: The Leverhulme Trust panel that makes these awards encourages a change of institution for its award holders. Potential applicants with Oxford DPhils must therefore ensure that their draft statement of research makes a compelling case as to why they need to remain at Oxford to undertake postdoctoral work.