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| Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships | |
|---|---|
| Name | Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships |
| Established | 2016 |
| Funder | The Leverhulme Trust |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Duration | 12–24 months |
| Award type | Research fellowship |
Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships provide time and resources for early-stage researchers to complete significant research projects in the United Kingdom. Funded by The Leverhulme Trust, the fellowships aim to bridge the gap between doctoral training and established academic posts, supporting projects across humanities, social sciences, and sciences. The awards are intended to enable researchers to develop publications, secure longer-term positions, and build networks with established institutions such as University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, University College London, and King's College London.
The scheme was introduced to target postdoctoral researchers who demonstrate promise in producing original research outputs and securing academic careers. Comparable initiatives include Wellcome Trust Early Career Awards, Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships, and ESRC Future Research Leaders. The fellowship supports work in partnership with host institutions including University of Edinburgh, University of Manchester, University of Glasgow, London School of Economics, and Durham University. Typical fellowships provide funds for salary replacement, research costs, and mentoring arrangements with senior academics from institutions such as Imperial College London, University of Warwick, and University of Bristol.
Applicants must meet criteria that emphasize early career status, often defined relative to the date of the PhD award, similar to eligibility rules used by Royal Society University Research Fellowships and Leverhulme Trust Major Research Fellowships. Applicants typically submit a research proposal, CV, publication list, and letters of support from proposed host departments, which might involve academics from Queen Mary University of London, University of Leeds, University of Southampton, University of York, and University of Birmingham. Interactions with notable supervisors and referees linked to Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, British Academy fellows, or researchers affiliated with Natural History Museum and Tate Modern strengthen applications. Eligibility may exclude those with substantial prior independent funding from bodies such as Horizon Europe or NIHR.
Awards typically cover a proportion of the fellow’s salary, research expenses, and modest overheads for hosting institutions, akin to financing models used by Wellcome Trust and Arts and Humanities Research Council. Funding duration is commonly 12 to 24 months, facilitating concentrated research time for outputs like monographs, articles for Nature, The Lancet, The Economic Journal, or exhibitions at institutions linked to British Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum. Host institutions including Royal Holloway, Lancaster University, University of Exeter, University of Kent, and Swansea University administer the funds and provide mentorship through senior scholars who may hold affiliations with Academy of Social Sciences or Royal Society of Edinburgh.
Peer review panels draw on expertise from senior academics and external assessors affiliated with institutions such as Princeton University, Yale University, Harvard University, Columbia University, and Stanford University when international context is relevant. Assessment criteria emphasize originality, feasibility, fit with host department strengths (for example, alignment with clusters at The Courtauld Institute of Art or School of Oriental and African Studies), and potential for future research career development comparable to criteria used by ERC Starting Grants. Panels consider publication record, referees’ views from scholars at National Institute of Economic and Social Research or Institute of Development Studies, and the quality of training and mentoring proposed with senior academics from University of Sheffield or Queen's University Belfast.
Fellows are expected to focus primarily on research, produce outputs such as journal articles for outlets like Journal of Political Economy or books with presses including Routledge and Bloomsbury, and engage with host department activities at universities like Goldsmiths, University of London and SOAS University of London. Responsibilities also include presenting at conferences hosted by organizations like Royal Geographical Society, participating in seminars at institutions such as Institute of Historical Research, and contributing to public engagement via collaborations with British Library or National Gallery. Fellows must comply with host institution policies relating to research integrity, ethics approvals from bodies like Health Research Authority when relevant, and reporting requirements to The Leverhulme Trust.
Outcomes frequently include monographs, peer-reviewed articles, grant success in schemes like UK Research and Innovation calls, and transitions to permanent posts at institutions such as University of St Andrews, Newcastle University, or international appointments at University of Toronto and Australian National University. The fellowship has supported interdisciplinary projects that intersect with cultural institutions including Imperial War Museums and policy bodies like Institute for Government. Long-term impacts manifest as enhanced research profiles, increased citation metrics in databases managed by Clarivate and collaborations leading to partnerships with research centres like Alan Turing Institute and Nesta.
Selected fellows have pursued projects on topics ranging from medieval literature, with advisors linked to Bodleian Libraries and editors at Cambridge University Press, to climate policy analyses involving researchers associated with Met Office and IPCC contributors. Other projects connected fellows with curatorial teams at Tate Britain and with historians whose work intersects with archives at National Archives (United Kingdom). Fellows have gone on to receive awards such as Philip Leverhulme Prize and fellowships from British Academy, establishing research groups and securing follow-on funding from bodies like European Research Council and Wellcome Trust.
Category:Research fellowships