Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship

The Faculty of Arts at the University of Warwick encourages outstanding postdoctoral scholars to apply to the Leverhulme Trust’s Early Career Fellowships scheme, for Fellowships starting in the 2024/25 academic year.

The Faculty is one of the world’s top 50 Arts and Humanities faculties and is home to a thriving research culture spread across six Departments and Schools. These are Classics and Ancient History; English and Comparative Literary Studies: History; Modern Languages and Cultures; Cross-Faculty Studies; and the School of Creative Arts, Performance and Visual Cultures, which includes Film and Television Studies, Theatre and Performance Studies, History of Art, the Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies, and the Warwick Writing Programme. The Faculty also hosts a number of outstanding research centres, including the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance and the Yesu Persaud Centre for Caribbean Studies. Further information can be found on the Faculty’s research webpages.

Prospective applicants must submit an Expression of Interest containing the following information to Alan Ashton-Smith, Research Strategy and Development Manager for the Faculty of Arts (Alan.Ashton-Smith@warwick.ac.uk) by 5pm on Thursday 30 November 2023:

• A short description of their proposed project (maximum 2 A4 pages).
• A copy of their CV (maximum 2 A4 pages).
• The name of an academic in their proposed host Department or School. Candidates should contact their prospective mentor in advance of submitting an Expression of Interest.
• The names of three referees. Please note that referees will not be asked to provide a statement at this stage.

Applications are welcomed from candidates who have a strong research profile and meet the following eligibility criteria:

• hold a doctoral degree by the time they take up the Fellowship. If currently registered for a doctorate, they must have submitted their thesis by 4pm on 22 February 2024;
• not yet have held a permanent academic appointment, although the Trust will consider applications from candidates with permanent posts that do not include any research;
• not have held or currently hold a comparable funded post-doctoral position of three years’ duration or longer to pursue their own research;
• have submitted their doctoral thesis for viva voce examination no more than four years prior to the closing date. Those who submitted their thesis earlier than 22 February 2020 are not eligible to apply, unless they have since had a career break. Exceptionally, the Leverhulme Trust will accept applications from candidates who submitted their thesis up to five years prior to the closing date (i.e. no earlier than 22 February 2019) if they can make a case in their application that their work having been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.  
• either hold a degree from a UK higher education institution at the time of taking up the Fellowship or at the time of the application deadline hold a non-permanent academic position in the UK (e.g. fixed-term lectureship, fellowship) which commenced no less than 4 months prior to 22 February 2024.

The Leverhulme Trust has provided a list of common reasons why previous applications to the ECF scheme were not successful on the scheme webpage, and prospective applicants are encouraged to refer to this when developing proposals. 

The University will support successful candidates in the development of full applications, the deadline for which is 22 February 2024. For any queries about the scheme or internal process, please contact Alan Ashton-Smith (Alan.Ashton-Smith@warwick.ac.uk).

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