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UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES)

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Postdoctoral Fellowship Opportunities

Current Postdoctoral Fellowship Opportunities at UCL SSEES.

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There are currently no open postdoctoral fellowship opportunities. The main schemes we support are listed below, with anticipated dates for future calls. 

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions Postdoctoral Fellowship

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships are provided to excellent researchers, undertaking international mobility either to, or between, EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries, as well as to non-associated Third Countries.

The goal of MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships is to enhance the creative and innovative potential of researchers holding a PhD and who wish to acquire new skills through advanced training, international, inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary mobility. MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships will be open to excellent researchers of any nationality.

Through the implementation of an original and personalised research project, MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships aim to foster excellence through training and mobility and to equip researchers with new skills and competences in order to identify solutions to current and future challenges. Postdoctoral researchers are encouraged to engage with society at large to make the results of their research visible to citizens and to involve citizens, civil society and end-users in co-creation of research content when relevant.

Applications are made jointly by the researcher and a beneficiary in the academic or non-academic sector.

Application process

It is essential that applicants make contact in advance with a relevant member of the School of Slavonic and East European Studies academic staff who should agree to be their mentor and jointly complete their draft application, using the templates for this year’s competition, available via the EC Funding & Tenders website. Applicants will be required to confirm their own eligibility, in terms of research experience and mobility, following the criteria set out there. Mentors will be required to provide a statement of support for the application.

Completed applications (PDF download from the EC submissions system) should be submitted by email to Dr Alicia Barnes, Senior Research Coordinator (alicia.barnes@ucl.ac.uk), by the internal deadline and to whom any queries may be addressed. Applications should not be submitted in the online system at this stage.

Deadlines

  • UCL SSEES deadline: tbc – anticipated July 2025
  • MSCA-PF-2024 deadline: tbc – anticipated September 2025

Further details

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British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship

The British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship offers outstanding early career researchers the opportunity to strengthen their experience of research and teaching in an academic environment. This scheme aims to help develop the award holder’s curriculum vitae and boost their prospects of obtaining a permanent academic post. The primary emphasis is on the completion of a significant piece of publishable research, and the integration of the award holder into the community of established scholars within their field.

The scheme provides funding to cover the costs of a 36-month fellowship at a UK host institution. Applicants must be within three years from the date of their successful viva voce examination.

Applicants must be either a UK/EEA national, or have completed a doctorate at a UK university. Applicants who do not fall into one of these categories must demonstrate a 'strong prior association' with the UK academic community.  Full eligibility criteria are given on the British Academy website - applicants are required to confirm their own eligibility to apply to the scheme.

Application process

For the School of Slavonic and East European studies, applicants must complete the attached application form, based on the online application form in Flexi-Grant, which should be emailed to Dr Alicia Barnes, Senior Research Coordinator (alicia.barnes@ucl.ac.uk), alongside a CV (max 2 pages, A4) by the internal deadline.

Prospective applicants are required to identify a suitable mentor in SSEES and work together on the application with them. Mentors are also required to submit a statement of support by this deadline indicating how applications meet the criteria given below. Late or incomplete applications or those without the agreed support of a mentor will not be considered.

Deadlines

  • UCL SSEES deadline: tbc – anticipated August 2025
  • British Academy deadline (including Referee Statement & Institutional Approval): tbc – anticipated October 2025

Any queries may be directed to Dr Alicia Barnes (alicia.barnes@ucl.ac.uk)

Further Details

Endangered Languages Documentation Programme Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship

The Endangered Languages Documentation Programme (ELDP) provides grants for the documentation of endangered languages globally. ELDP especially welcomes applications from documenters from language communities, local scholars and students from the country where the language is spoken/signed, as well as collaborative and interdisciplinary projects.

The Individual Postdoctoral Fellowship (IPF) provides support for early career scholars – awarded their PhD no more than five years prior to the proposed start date of the fellowship – for up to 24 months, including salary and fieldwork expenses, up to 250,000 Euros. For an IPF ELDP expects:

  • A prior track record of documentary work, archiving and research publications
  • A clear relationship to the host institution in terms of intellectual relationships, as well as academic and technical support
  • A clear mentoring relationship between a staff member at the host institution and the PI
  • Clear strategies for both documentation and research for the period of the award

IPF awardees are required to hold their fellowship at an institution other than the institution where their PhD was awarded. Applicants can choose to hold their fellowship at the same institution where their PhD was awarded, but they must provide sound and convincing reasons for this decision.

Application process

To apply with SSEES, you must identify and attain the support of a suitable mentor who will need to support the development of your project and provide a statement of support for your application. A full draft of the proposal (application instructions found here) should be submitted to Dr Alicia Barnes (alicia.barnes@ucl.ac.uk) by the internal deadline for review and approval.

Deadlines:

  • UCL SSEES deadline: tbc – anticipated August 2025
  • Funder deadline (application): tbc – anticipated October 2025
  • Funder deadline (supporting statements): tbc – anticipated October 2025

The Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship

This fellowship is for early career researchers, with a research record but who have not yet held a full-time permanent academic post, to undertake a significant piece of publishable work.

The Trust places special weight on:

  • Originality: the research achieves more than the incremental development of a single discipline
  • Importance: the work will enable further research or enquiry
  • Significance: the proposed research has relevance outside a single field, and is able to excite those working in other disciplines
  • Merit: the quality of the research design and methodology, and the suitability of the researchers and institution for the realisation of the proposed research objectives

Applicants must have submitted their doctoral thesis for viva voce examination not more than four years prior to the application closing date.

The scheme provides funding for 50% of the Fellow’s total salary costs, up to a maximum of £28,000 in each year of the award, and up to £6,000 per annum for research expenses. Due to the match-funding required, the number of applications UCL can support will be limited.

Internal Demand Management

This scheme requires demand management at both SSEES and Faculty level. The number of applications selected to be submitted to the funder will depend on the provisions the Faculty of Arts & Humanities.

To apply, you will need to submit a Leverhulme Application Form and a Mentor Supporting Statement to a SSEES selection panel, which will then review applications and determine progression through to the Faculty competition.

Timeline

  • tbc – SSEES demand management anticipated October 2025

Documents

Criteria for SSEES Approval

The School of Slavonic and East European Studies will review draft applications on the quality of the individual applicant appropriate to their career stage (such as peer-reviewed publications), ambition of the research proposal (e.g. is it intellectually exciting, innovative), feasibility of the research proposal (e.g. consideration of risks and mitigations, contingency plans), fit of the project with the applicant’s existing experience and with current SSEES research.

Following SSEES review, selected candidates will then be mentored through the application process by UCL and SSEES staff.

Please contact Dr Alicia Barnes at alicia.barnes@ucl.ac.uk if you have any questions.

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