Constitution Unit welcomes ESRC postdoctoral fellowship applications 2024/25

Please note that the deadline to submitting your full application is 25 March 2025. The Department of Political Science’s deadline for applications is 2 December 2024 and the deadline for submitting an outline application will be at the end of January 2025, which means that you will need to contact your potential mentor at the Constitution Unit at the very latest by 25 November 2024.

ESRC postdoctoral fellowships are aimed at those in the immediate postdoctoral stage of their career to provide the opportunity to consolidate their PhD through developing publications, networks, research and professional skills. Funding is avaliable for up to cover the salary costs of the fellow for one year full-time or up to two years part-time, plus up to £10,000 of additional costs (like mentoring , travel and subsistence, conference attendance, training, and fieldwork).

The call is open to applicants who have completed their PhD at a research organisation that is part of a Doctoral Training Centre and who have or will have passed, or passed with minor corrections, their viva within 12 months of the closing date of the full stage application (25 March 2025). Further details on eligibility rules (including allowances for career breaks or interruptions for family, health or other personal reasons) can be found in the FAQs.

Potential mentors

Potential candidates should identify an academic who would support their application and agree to act as a mentor. The following academics from the Constitution Unit would welcome approaches in the research areas indicated below (candidates are encouraged to explore their webpages for more detailed information about their previous research):

• Professor Meg Russell

Professor Russell is the Director of the Constitution Unit and Professor in British and Comparative Politics at UCL. She welcomes applicants wishing to conduct research in areas including parliaments and legislatures (organisation, policy impact, member behaviour, bicameralism and reform), political party organisation and constitutions and constitutional reform.

• Professor Alan Renwick

Professor Renwick is the Deputy Director of the Constitution Unit and Professor of Democratic Politics at UCL. He welcomes applicants wishing to conduct research in areas including electoral systems, electoral reform, referendums, deliberative democratic institutions, democratic reforms and innovations and constitutions and constitutional reform.

• Dr Tom Fleming

Dr Fleming is Lecturer in British and Comparative Politics at UCL and part of the senior team at the Constitution Unit. He welcomes applicants wishing to conduct research projects relating to parliamentary politics (either comparative or UK-focused).

Researching at the Constitution Unit

Completing a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the Constitution Unit will allow the applicant to also become part of a leading research centre on political and constitutional reform.

The Constitution Unit is a politically independent research centre based in the Department of Political Science at UCL, with a sharply practical focus. Founded in 1995 to conduct detailed research on constitutional reform in the UK, the Unit continues to produce rigorous, timely and independent research and has close working relationships with policymakers, including representatives of all political parties. Its work has had a significant real-world impact over the past 25 years.

Our current major projects include Constitutional Principles and the Health of Democracy (led by Professor Russell), Democracy in the UK after Brexit (led by Professor Renwick) and The Politics of Parliamentary Procedure (led by Dr Fleming), as well as ongoing research into The Changing Role of the House of Lords (also led by Professor Russell).

Our previous projects include: Brexit, Parliament and the Constitution, the Working Group on Unification Referendums on the Island of Ireland, Mechanics of a Further Referendum on Brexit, Doing Democracy Better, the Independent Commission on Referendums, the Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit and An Elaborate Rubber Stamp? The Impact of Parliament on Legislation.

We are part of the UCL Department of Political Science. The Department's status as one of Britain's leading centres for research in political science was confirmed by the 2021 Research Excellence Framework exercise. The Department acts as the bridge between UCL's world-class research and the policy-making community in Britain and internationally. It holds weekly seminars featuring distinguished external speakers and regular high-profile events for policy makers and others. Other potential mentors covering a broader range of political science topics are also available in the Department.

Application process

Applying is a multi-stage process.

Stage 1: Identify a mentor at the Constitution Unit (deadline: 25 November 2024)

First, you must find a prospective mentor who is willing in principle to support your application. At the Constitution Unit, this would be Professor Russell, Professor Renwick or Dr Fleming.

Please contact your preferred mentor directly as soon as possible, at the latest by 25 November 2024, briefly indicating your project topic, broad proposed approach, details of your previous qualifications (with grades) and any relevant publications.

Stage 2: Apply to the Department of Political Science (deadline: 2 December 2024)

If your proposed mentor indicates support in principle for your application, you should then apply to the Department of Political Science. Your proposed mentor must review and comment on your proposal before it is submitted to the Department for consideration.

Complete the application form for applicants (the form is several years old, but it is expected that most details will stay the same. The form is in PDF format, but please do copy and paste it into a Word document if that is easier) and send it to polsci.research@ucl.ac.uk, copying in Dr Zeynep Bulutgil (z.bulutgil@ucl.ac.uk), by 9am on 2 December 2024. 

Candidates will be informed of the outcome of their application by 12 December 2024.

Stage 3: Submit an outline application (deadline: January 2025)

Selected applicants will then need to submit an outline application, including a letter of support from the proposed mentor, via UCL's application system. Further details about this will be made avaliable.

UCL will communicate the outcome of this stage in February 2025.

Stage 4: Submit a full application (deadline: 25 March 2025)

Candidates who have been selected by UCL will work with our research support team on their final application and budget, in order to submit it to the UCL, Bloomsbury and East London Doctoral Training Partnership by 25 March 2025.

Useful links

• Application form
• ESRC postdoctoral fellowships
• UCL, Bloomsbury and East London Doctoral Training Partnership ESRC postdoctoral fellowships
• ESRC postdoctoral fellowships FAQs