The Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge welcomes applications for British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships.
The aim of the British Academy in making these awards is to offer opportunities for outstanding early career researchers to strengthen their experience of research and teaching in a university environment which will develop their curriculum vitae and improve their prospects of obtaining permanent lecturing posts by the end of the Fellowship. The primary emphasis is on completion of a significant piece of publishable research, which will be assisted by full membership of an academic community of established scholars working in similar fields. Awards are typically for three years and cover the salary of the Postdoctoral Fellow to work full-time on the Fellowship, small-scale research expenses, costs towards the time of a mentor and the host institution’s estates and indirect costs. Suitable subjects for the Fellowship include any field of study within the Humanities or Social Sciences, excluding primarily practise-based outputs such as: musical competition and performance, visual practice, creative writing and film making. Such outputs will be considered only when they form part of an integrated project of critical or historical significance.
Elegibility
Applicants must be within three years of the award of a doctorate. For the 2021/22 competition this means either already having been awarded a doctoral degree following a viva voce examination held on or after 1 April 2017; or having a reasonable expectation that they will have submitted and had their thesis examined by 1 April 2020.
Applicants must be a UK or EEA national, or have completed a doctorate at a UK university. Any applicant who does not fall into one of these categories must demonstrate a strong prior association with the UK academic community, for example through having already been employed in a temporary capacity (longer than twelve months) at a UK university.
The timetable for the 2021/22 Postdoctoral Fellowship Competition can be read here.
Please read the information on the British Academy wesite carefully. If you are eligible and are thinking of making an application through CRASSH, we advise that you make contact now with the CRASSH Administrator, Mette H. Rokkum Jamasb or the Fellowships Administrator, Michelle Maciejewska.
Applications should consist of the following:
• a two-page CV, including the dates on which you had your PhD viva and on which you were awarded the PhD;
• a list of publications (not exceeding one side);
• the name of your proposed mentor (the British Academy’s expectation is that a mentor will help integrate new fellows into their department. A mentor for a CRASSH project would usually be a member of academic staff in Cambridge, with a current or past involvement with research undertaken in CRASSH, who would be in a position to do this);
• the title of your research project;
• one letter of reference, from a referee external to the University awarding your PhD;
• a detailed description of your research project (maximum 750 words), addressing the following:
– the research problem(s) you are seeking to address;
– how your proposed research will tackle this research problem(s) – its design and methodology;
– how your proposed research will significantly change the established landscape;
– how your project fits within the timeframe of the award (its feasibility);
– why Cambridge, and CRASSH in particular, is the best-fit environment for this project;
– the appropriateness and demonstration of commitment of the proposed mentor.
Applications, including reference, to be received via email by Mette H. Rokkum Jamasb by 5 pm on Thursday, 22 August 2019.
Further information and FAQs can be found here.
