ISRF Mid-Career Fellowship

Eligible Applicants

Scholars from within Europe† are eligible to apply. Applicants will normally hold a salaried position at an Institution of Higher Education and Research. Candidates should be at least 10 years from PhD award at the time of application. The awards are intended as providing full relief from all teaching duties and all associated academic administration for a period of (up to) one year; applications may be made by those whose sole or principal post is a part-time equivalent.

† There is no limitation on nationality – however, we are unable to consider applications from those whose home institution is not within Europe. 

Should buy-out funding not be administratively viable or appropriate, non-UK based applicants should contact ISRF to discuss other ways that a Fellowship award could be administered in the context of their local academic/administrative requirements.

Eligible Research

The ISRF wishes to support independent-minded researchers to explore and present original research ideas which take new approaches, and suggest new solutions, to real world social problems. 

Proposed research should break with existing explanatory frameworks so as to address afresh empirical problems with no currently adequate theory or investigative methodology. Innovation may also come from controversial theoretical approaches motivated by critical challenge of incumbent theories.

Interdisciplinarity in the generation of new investigative initiatives may be achieved by combining, cross-fertilising, and so transforming empirical methods and theoretical insights from the social sciences. Projects ranging across the breadth of the social scientific disciplines and interdisciplinary research fields are welcome, and relevant applications from scholars working within the humanities are also encouraged.

Duration & Timing

The awards are intended as providing full relief from all teaching duties and all associated academic administration for a period of up to one year, and must commence no later than end of December 2025.

Value

The amount of an award depends on the nature of the work proposed and individual circumstances – the ISRF expects applications for grants up to a maximum of €100,000† to buy-out the cost of all teaching and associated administration in the applicant’s home institution for up to 12 months. Within that sum, reasonable support for research expenses may be considered on a matched-funding basis with the host Institution.

† PLEASE NOTE: Applicants based in the UK must apply in GBP (£), up to the limit of £85,000. All other applicants must apply in EUR (€), up to the limit of €100,000 (this will not be adjusted in the event of GBP/EUR currency fluctuations). 

For further information, Terms & Conditions of award, and to apply, please click on the 'Apply' button above.

The closing date for applications is 5pm GMT (6pm CET) on 28th March 2024.