The Faculty of English and Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic welcome applications from potential applicants for the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship Scheme 2026.

The Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship (ECF) is a highly prestigious and competitive, post-doctoral award for researchers who are near the start of their career. The Leverhulme Trust awards approximately 100 three-year fellowships nationally, for early career researchers with matched funding by the Isaac Newton Trust (INT) for those wishing to hold a fellowship at the University of Cambridge. Each candidate entering the national competition must have the support of the host institution and hold an offer of matching funding for 50% of the salary costs for Years 2 and 3 of the Fellowship and any salary costs exceeding £56k in any year of their fellowship

There is therefore a two-stage Cambridge selection process before applications are submitted to the Leverhulme Trust. The first is by the Faculty/Department, the second by the Isaac Newton Trust.

Eligibility

Candidates must have submitted their PhD no earlier than 19 February 2022 (unless you have had a career break) and not later than 4pm on 19 February 2026.  Those wishing to make a case for a career break should present the case for interruption by a period of maternity leave, family commitments, illness, or other exceptional circumstances. Please note that time spent working outside academia does not qualify as a career break. Applicants should either hold a degree from a UK HEI at the time of taking up the fellowship or at the time of application, have held an academic position (eg fixed-term fellowship) in the UK for at least 4 months prior to the closing date. Hence, those who do not hold a UK degree and whose UK academic position commenced after October 2025 are not eligible. Additionally they should not yet have held a full-time permanent academic post (NB this includes stipendiary Junior Research Fellowships at Oxbridge Colleges – see FAQs) in a UK university or comparable UK institution, nor may Fellows hold such a post concurrently with the Early Career Fellowship.

Please check the eligibility criteria on the Isaac Newton Trust (INT) website. Full details of the Leverhulme Trust’s eligibility rules and application procedure should be consulted before applying

Instructions for applicants applying to English/ASNC

After first checking your eligibility and the full guidance on the INT and Leverhulme websites, please supply the following application materials to administrator@english.cam.ac.uk, by the Faculty deadline of 09:00 on Monday 20 October 2025:

• internal competition coversheet, (attached) and can be downloaded from Isaac Newton Trust Website
• A CV (not exceeding two sides)
• A list of publications (maximum one side)
• A statement of current research (maximum 250 words)
• A detailed statement of your proposed research to undertake as an LECF. (maximum two sides)
• Two references sent directly to administrator@english.cam.ac.uk  Please note that:  only one referee can be from Cambridge (and can be the proposed mentor), referees cannot be from the same institution and the head of department at the proposed host department cannot be a referee.

Please ask your referees to send their letters directly to administrator@english.cam.ac.uk.  Please note that a third reference will be required for the national stage of the Leverhulme competition, but only two are required at the internal stage.

Mentor

Leverhulme Trust Postdoctoral Fellowships require you to nominate a mentor during the application process (described as a ‘host’ on the INT coversheet). Please ensure your proposed mentor has confirmed their support before submitting your application. Please use the Academic staff pages on our website to identify a potential mentor and contact them in good time prior to submitting your application. Mentors should be permanent post-holders in the Faculty (ie: Assistant Professors, Associate Professors, Professors)

Salary

Please note that successful applicants will normally be placed on Scale Point 41 (current rate £37,694) progressing one point up the scale each year of their Fellowship.

The faculty will contact any applicants letting them know if they will be supporting their application before the INT deadline of the 13 November. The INT will inform successful candidates and departments in good time for finalisation of submissions before the Leverhulme national deadline of 4pm on the 19 February 2026. Final decisions from the Leverhulme Trust regarding successful applicants are expected at the end of May 2026.

If you have any queries about this process or timetable, please email administrator@english.cam.ac.uk.