Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships Applications Open (Deadline 31/10/23)

The Faculty of English and Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic welcome applications from potential applicants for the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship Scheme 2024.

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.

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 have submitted their PhD no earlier than 22 February 2020 (unless you have had a career break) and not later than 4pm on 22 February 2024*. However, the Leverhulme Trust will accept applications from candidates who submitted the doctoral thesis for viva voce examination between 22 February 2019 and 22 February 2020 if their work has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic – you should explain your case in your application. Applicants should currently either hold a degree from a UK HEI or at the time of application have held an academic position (eg fixed-term fellowship) in the UK for at least 4 months (ie were appointed before 31 October 2023). 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 Tuesday 31 October 2023

- A cover sheet (attached and can be download from Isaac Newton Trust Website)
- A CV (not exceeding two sides);
- A draft of the following three items required for the Leverhulme application:
  1. A list of your major publications (maximum one side);
  2. A statement of your current research (maximum 250 words); and
  3. A detailed statement of your proposed research (maximum two sides).
- Two letters of reference, at least one of which should be from someone external to Cambridge. Please ask your referees to send their letters directly to administrator@english.cam.ac.uk.

Leverhulme Trust Postdoctoral Fellowships require you to nominate a mentor during the application process (described as a ‘host’ on the INT coversheet). 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.

The INT will inform successful candidates and departments in good time for finalisation of submissions before the Leverhulme national deadline of 4pm on the 22 February 2024. Final decisions from the Leverhulme Trust regarding successful applicants are expected at the end of May 2024.