Postdoctoral Funding Opportunities

QMUL’s School of Languages, Linguistics and Film has sustained success in securing postdoctoral funding through a range of schemes. The School has a vibrant research culture across its departments: Comparative Literature and Culture; Film Studies; Linguistics; Modern Languages and Cultures; and the Language Centre, which has a research culture in Applied Linguistics. 

School staff take part in a wide range of department-based and interdisciplinary seminars, and are active within a number of research centres within and beyond the School. Researchers within the School also benefit from the interdisciplinary research, knowledge exchange and funding opportunities of QMUL’s Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences.

We would be delighted to hear from postdoctoral candidates working in relevant subject areas who are considering applying for a fellowship, including the schemes listed below, and would be happy to offer support in preparing applications. Initial enquiries should be directed to members of staff closest to your research interests (email addresses are available on the departmental sections of our website).

Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships

Outstanding postdoctoral scholars who have not yet held a full-time permanent academic post are encouraged to apply to the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships. Details of the scheme, including eligibility criteria, can be found here: www.leverhulme.ac.uk/early-career-fellowships.

Our current Leverhulme Early Career Fellows are Dr Peter Budrin, Dr Gemma Tidman, Dr Hannah Jane Middleton and Dr Nikolaus Perneczky.

The deadline for expressions of interest for the 2024 fellowships has now passed. Details of how to submit an expression of interest to SLLF for the 2025 fellowships will be announced on this page in autumn 2024. For enquiries about the application process, please contact the School’s Research Manager, Huw Jones, at huw.jones@qmul.ac.uk.  

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships

These fellowships enable early career researchers in the humanities or social sciences to pursue an independent research project, towards the completion of a significant piece of publishable research, and are tenable for three years. See the British Academy website for details: www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/postdoctoral-fellowships/

You can read about the research of our current BA Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr Jiří Anger, here.

If you would like to apply for a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship in SLLF, please submit one document (Word or PDF) with the following information to huw.jones@qmul.ac.uk by Wednesday 7 August 2024:

• 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

You are strongly encouraged before submitting your application to find a mentor, provisionally agree their support, and get some feedback from them on a draft application.

All applications will be considered in an internal selection process and candidates notified by 14 August 2024. Successful applicants will then have time to finalise their outline application by 2 October 2024. If you have any questions about the internal selection process, please contact Huw Jones, the School's Research Manager, at huw.jones@qmul.ac.uk.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships

SLLF also welcomes expressions of interest to the European Commission MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships. This scheme enables talented researchers with up to eight years of full-time research since their PhD award date to carry out a research project, acquire new skills and benefit from a short term secondment at another institution. As a mobility programme, the MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships allow researchers to develop their career in a country that they have not lived or worked in for 12 months in the three years before the call deadline. Applications are made with a well-matched QMUL supervisor.

Details of how to submit an expression of interest to SLLF will be published on this page when the next call opens in April 2024. For enquiries about the scheme, please contact Vicky Byers, Senior EU Partnerships Manager.