About

Applications for this fellowship are closed.

In 2009 the Faculty of History received funding from the International Balzan Prize Foundation to establish an annual Lecture in modern intellectual history since c. 1500. The Balzan-Skinner scholar held a Visiting Fellowship at CRASSH  for one term during the academic year. Since 2016 this fellowship has been known as the Quentin Skinner Lectureship in Intellectual History since c1500.

Like previous Balzan-Skinner Fellows, the Quentin Skinner Fellow will be invited to give a lecture on a subject of their choosing in the broad field of intellectual history since 1500, including the history of political thought, and will organise a half-day colloquium to follow the lecture.

For all enquiries please contact fellowships@crassh.cam.ac.uk.

Current fellow

Current Quentin Skinner Fellow

 

Apply for the Quentin Skinner Lectureship

The Quentin Skinner Lectureship will suit an early career scholar who is able to take sabbatical or unpaid leave from their employing institution, or whose post-doctoral position can accommodate a period of study in Cambridge. The Lecturer will receive an honorarium of £1000. The funds available for the Lectureship are not, however, able to support a ‘buy-out’ from teaching and other duties at the Lecturer’s home institution. The Lecturer will not be employed by the University of Cambridge.

The Quentin Skinner Lecturer will hold a Visiting Fellowship at the University’s Centre for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH) for a term during the 2023 – 2024 academic year. An accommodation grant of up to £2,000 will be available to enable the Lecturer to be resident in Cambridge for this period (up to a maximum of twelve weeks), and a working space will be allocated in CRASSH. The Lecturer is encouraged to be in Cambridge for as much of the term as possible, although applicants are welcome to discuss obligations in relation to their home institution. The Lecturer will be a member of the CRASSH community of postdoctoral and visiting fellows and will be expected to participate in Centre activities. The Lecturer is also encouraged to attend the Faculty of History’s Political Thought and Intellectual History Seminar, which meets weekly on Mondays at 5pm.

The Lecturer is expected to offer the lecture for publication, subject to the normal external refereeing process, in a suitably extended and annotated form in The Historical Journal.

Eligibility

Scholars holding posts (irrespective of the source of funding) in institutions of higher education or research who are ideally in the early stages of their careers (normally at a stage no further than ten years beyond the award of the PhD) are eligible to apply. Those who are currently at Cambridge, employed by the University, one of its institutions, or one of the colleges, will not normally be considered.

The appointment will be made by the Quentin Skinner Lectureship Committee, and the Committee is keen to hear from those interested in holding the Lectureship and giving the lecture. Please contact Professor Richard Bourke to register your interest and ask any further questions. Prospective applicants are welcome to discuss their individual circumstances. The eventual choice may not be restricted to those who have applied.

Application requirements

No paper or emailed applications can be accepted. In order for your application to be considered by the Appointments Committee, we must receive a completed application via the online application system.

Please contact us via email at fellowships@CRASSH.cam.ac.uk if you experience technical difficulties with the system or if you require further information about eligibility or provision.

The following information will be required:

  • curriculum vitae (providing details of educational qualifications and publications, including work in progress and the names of two academic referees) uploaded in the Additional Material File
  • A brief (maximum 1,000 words) statement outlining a preliminary proposal for the Quentin-Skinner Lecture in the field Description
  • A sample chapter of written work (maximum 8Mb) is to be uploaded as a PDF in the Additional Material File

To submit your completed application, click on the Submit button at the bottom of the form.  You can submit at any time up until the deadline, provided all fields have been completed.  You can amend your application after submission.

Please note that uploaded documents MUST be PDF files, maximum file size 8Mb. The system will not allow you to submit your application without these.

The Appointing Committee will comprise the Chairman of the Faculty of History, the Director of CRASSH, an Editor of The Historical Journal, and three representatives of the Faculty’s Political Thought and Intellectual History Subject Group.

The Quentin Skinner Lectureship is supported by CRASSH, the Faculty of History and Professor Quentin Skinner.

Lectures archive

Quentin Skinner & Balzan Skinner lectures

Quentin Skinner & Balzan Skinner lectures
Dr Hannah Dawson (University of Edinburgh)
10 Sep 2010 All day, CRASSH

Hannah Dawson gives the First Balzan-Skinner Lecture: Normativity of Nature

Analytic Philosophy in Britain and America: the Forging of a Tradition
6 May 2011 10:00am - 4:30pm, CRASSH

Joel Isaac presents the Balzan Skinner colloquium.

Dr Tim Stanton (University of York)
5 Oct 2012 All day, CRASSH

Tim Stanton presents ‘John Locke and the Fable of Liberalism’

Balzan-Skinner Lecture and Symposium: Romantic Liberalism in Southern Europe, c. 1820-1850
26 Apr 2013 11:00am - 5:30pm, SG1, Alison Richard Building

Gabriel Paquette presents ‘Romantic Liberalism in Southern Europe, c. 1820-1850’

Gandhi’s Realism: Means and Ends in Politics
10 Mar 2014 12:30pm - 2:00pm, CRASSH Meeting Room

Karuna Mantena presents ‘Gandhi’s Realism: Means and Ends in Politics

Gender in the History of Early Modern Political Thought
22 May 2015 10:30am - 5:00pm, SG1, Alison Richard Building

Anna Becker presents the Balzan Skinner Lecture and Symposium

Acknowledging Equality
22 Apr 2016 11:00am - 5:30pm, Alison Richard Building SG1/2

Teresa Bejan presents ‘Acknowledging Equality’

The Nature of Politics: Quentin Skinner Lecture and Symposium
9 Jun 2017 11:00am - 6:00pm, SG1, Alison Richard Building

Quentin Skinner Fellow Dr Sophie Smith (Oxford) delivers the annual lecture and participates in the symposium.

Philosophy and Political Agency in the Writings of Frederick II of Prussia.
27 Apr 2018 11:00am - 5:30pm, SG1/2 Alison Richard Building, Sidgwick Site

The annual Quentin Skinner Lecture and Symposium with Dr Avi Lifschitz.

Rethinking Liberties in Twentieth-Century Africa
7 Jun 2019 11:00am - 6:00pm, Room SG1/2 Alison Richard Building, Sidgwick Site

The Quentin Skinner Lecture and Symposum with Dr Emma Hunter

POSTPONED ‘The Most Liberal of All Ideas’: The Holy Alliance and the History of Global Order
4 Jun 2020 11:00am - 7:00pm, SG1/SG2, Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9DT

Quentin Skinner Fellow Dr Isaac Nakhimovsky gives the annual Quentin Skinner Lecture.

POSTPONED ‘The Most Liberal of All Ideas’: The Holy Alliance and the History of Global Order
17 Jun 2021 11:00am - 7:00pm, tbc

The Quentin Skinner Fellow Dr Isaac Nakhimovsky gives the 2021 Quentin Skinner lecture.

“The most liberal of all ideas”: the political thought of the Holy Alliance
10 Jun 2022 11:00 - 18:30, Keynes Hall, King's College, Cambridge CB2 1ST

Dr Isaac Nakhimovsky gives the annual Quentin Skinner lecture.

Quentin Skinner lecture: ‘In and against the state’: revolutionary feminism during deindustrialisation
9 Jun 2023 11:00 - 17:30, Room SG1, Alison Richard Building, 7 West Road, Cambridge

Katrina Forrester gives the annual Quentin Skinner lecture.

CENTRE FOR RESEARCH IN THE ARTS, SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

Tel: +44 1223 766886
Email enquiries@crassh.cam.ac.uk