Career Development Fellowships in Law

The University is committed to enabling all our colleagues to achieve their full potential. Durham University’s Career Development Fellowships are fixed term positions, which include structured development support for early career academics to deliver outstanding education, innovative research/scholarship, and to engage in citizenship activities. The post-holder will be a full academic member of the Department, working alongside world-class colleagues, with the support of a designated mentor.

Career Development Fellows will benefit from tailored support to strengthen their skills, will be provided with a range of academic opportunities, and will benefit from protected time to foster different aspects of their career. The Career Development Fellowships will enable early career academics to acquire a strong and well-rounded foundation to support future applications for substantive academic roles at Durham or elsewhere (no guarantee can be given that a permanent role at Durham will be available for the CDF to apply for at the end of the Fellowship).

Durham Law School is a leading law school. Consistently ranked in the Top 10 nationally and Top 50 globally, it has been growing strongly over the past few years and now comprises a community of over 100 academics and professional support staff. Durham Law School fosters innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to legal research and wishes to attract scholars with strong backgrounds in these areas. The Law School provides a supportive environment for its community of academics, which comprises a very generous sabbatical policy and an infrastructure of high-profile research centres that brings together colleagues for collaborative projects.

The Law School at Durham University seeks to appoint talented individuals to the fixed term Career Development Fellowships. We welcome applications from those with research and teaching interests in the broad field of:

• Intellectual Property Law (mandatory requirement to teach on IP Law on the LLB and LLM)
• Medical Law (mandatory requirement to teach on both Law and Medicine and Tort Law on the LLB)
• Public Law and Human Rights (mandatory requirement to teach on both UK Constitutional Law and The Individual and the State)

These posts offer an exciting opportunity to develop internationally excellent research/scholarship and teaching while providing unrivalled, tailored support for your career progression at an exciting and progressive institution. For more information, please visit our Department pages at

Given the developmental nature of these roles it is not anticipated that the posts will be extended beyond the initial fixed term. Following the end of the term, the role-holders will be in a strong position to apply for relevant permanent academic roles, should they arise, at Durham or elsewhere.

Successful applicants are normally expected to be within 8 years of completing their PhD, although career breaks for parental leave and/or health reasons will be considered. This is because the roles are aimed at early career academics who would benefit from a structured development programme and provision of both formal and ‘on the job’ training. The posts are also open to those who are returning to academia after a career in another sector.

Successful applicants will, ideally be in post by 1st September 24

The University provides a working and teaching environment that is inclusive and welcoming and where everyone is treated fairly with dignity and respect. Candidates will be expected to demonstrate these key principles as part of the assessment process.

Advert information