British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships 2024/25

About the fellowships

The British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship offers outstanding early career researchers the opportunity to strengthen their experience of research and teaching in an academic environment. This scheme aims to help develop the award holder’s curriculum vitae and boost their prospects of obtaining a permanent academic post. The primary emphasis is on the completion of a significant piece of publishable research, and the integration of the award holder into the community of established scholars within their field.

Eligibility requirements

• Applicants must be supported by the UK host institution in which they wish to hold the Fellowship.
• Applicants must be within three years of their successful viva voce examination. For this round of competition, applicants are expected to have completed their viva voce between 1 April 2022 and 1 April 2025. Exemption from this criterion may be granted for reasons occurring after the date of the viva voce examination such as: maternity leave, illness, family commitments etc but must be confirmed with the BA prior to application.
• Applicants must be a British citizen or EEA national, or have completed a doctorate at a UK university. Any applicant who does not fall into one of these categories must demonstrate a strong prior association with the UK academic community, for example through a previous period of non-permanent employment (for a minimum of 12 months) at a UK university.
• Not have held a permanent academic post in an institution of higher education at any time in their career.
• Resubmissions of previously unsuccessful applications are not permitted unless by invitation of the British Academy.

The eligibility criteria listed above are based on the 2023/24 Guidance. Please check the British Academy’s guidance for 2024/25 for full details once it has been released.

How to apply

This scheme is extremely competitive. As a result, Queen Mary will only support the strongest of applicants. Candidates interested in applying for a fellowship based at the School of Law should submit an Expression of Interest to Cath Norman at dolresearch@qmul.ac.uk by 31 July 2024 including the following:

• an explanation of the reasons for your choice of the School and Queen Mary as your host institution which should include a proposed mentor (150 words maximum)
• an outline of your proposed programme of research (1,500 words maximum) including consideration of method, sources, and significance
• your planned research outputs, e.g. monograph, journal article(s), book chapter(s), digital resources, events (workshops, conferences), other (please specify) (300 words maximum)
• a list of existing publications (1 page maximum)
• a CV (2 pages maximum)
• a draft sample of writing, either published or accepted for publication (article or book chapter length).

Your application should demonstrate:

• that you are eligible according to the BA’s criteria;
• the excellence of your research track record and professional track record (where relevant);
• your fit with the School and relevant links to the Faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

The deadline for expressions of interest is 31 July 2024. All applications will be considered in an internal selection process and candidates will be notified shortly after the deadline.

Successful applicants will then have approximately one month to finalise their outline application, due 2 October 2024. They will also be invited to attend an orientation session run by The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences about the final stages of application. This will take place the week commencing 2 September 2024.

Apply for the 2024/25 fellowship