Unit invites applicants for British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships

The Constitution Unit encourages academically excellent candidates to propose projects to pursue with us as Early Career Fellows, linked to forthcoming funding opportunities from the British Academy.

The British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship offers outstanding early career researchers the opportunity to strengthen their experience of research and teaching in a university environment, and to develop and boost their prospects of obtaining a permanent university post. The primary emphasis is on completing a significant piece of publishable research, and integrating the award holder into the community of scholars in their field.

The Fellowship is tenable for three years starting, at the earliest, in September 2019. The application is in two stages: the Outline Stage is open for everyone within the eligibility criteria while the Second Stage is by invitation only. The eligibility requirements are set out in the link above.

Fellowships such as these are highly competitive. UCL will support a very small number of candidates, and there is no guarantee that candidates supported by the Unit will win UCL support, nor that candidates with UCL support will ultimately win funding from the British Academy. Nonetheless, we have had some success with this programme in the past, so exceptional candidates are invited to apply. In practice, to be considered exceptional by UCL, you are likely to have, in addition to a doctorate, a First Class undergraduate degree and a distinction at Masters level, and some prior publications or publications in press.

The Unit would like to encourage applications from exceptional candidates to work with one of our researchers:

– Professor Meg Russell (Unit Director) is particularly interested in applicants with projects on parliament or parliamentary reform, in the UK or comparatively

– Dr Alan Renwick (Unit Deputy Director) particularly invites candidates wanting to work on electoral systems, the conduct of referendums, or deliberative democracy, in the UK or comparatively

You can read more about each potential supervisor's research interests at the links above and are encouraged to do so before contacting them about your project. You are also encouraged to study the Constitution Unit research pages to get a sense of our past projects.

Candidates are required to send their proposal to Dr Lisa Vanhala and Monica Barbone (l.vanhala@ucl.ac.uk / m.barbone@ucl.ac.uk ) by 9am on 17 September 2018. 

More details of the fellowships and application requirements can be found on the British Academy website. Please read the eligibility criteria and application procedure carefully. Please note that, while the deadline is 17 September 2018, you must have a full draft proposal by then, on which your supervisor may have provided some support and feedback.

We therefore invite expressions of interest as soon as possible. To express your interest, please contact your potential supervisor within the Unit directly and send them the following:

• a brief description of the research you propose

• a CV, including a list of publications

• confirmation that you meet the British Academy eligibility criteria

The sooner you contact your supervisor the sooner they can advise you on your suitability, and on preparing your proposal.