POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIPS

WHAT IS A POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP?

A Post-Doctoral Fellowship (PDF) is intended to provide an opportunity for early career researchers to consolidate their PhDs through developing publications, their networks, and their research and professional skills.

WHAT IS ON OFFER?

Successful applicants will receive funding for up to one year full-time, or up to two years part-time. In exceptional cases, applicants can apply for a fellowship for up to 18 months. However, this must be fully justified by the programme of activities being proposed.

PDF awards include paying the Fellow a salary for the duration of their award and, additionally, provide up to £10,000 to support their work (e.g. funding for attending conferences). The grants also include other costs linked to the award, which are paid to the university concerned to cover things like office space and IT support.

AM I ELIGIBLE FOR A SENSS ESRC-FUNDED PDF?

Please check your eligibility carefully, as this call is only open to those who have:

1) Completed their PhD at a UK university; AND,

2) Been awarded their PhD or have passed their viva voce with either no changes or only minor corrections by the application deadline of 4.00 pm GMT on 16 May 2024; AND,

3) Been awarded their PhD by the Fellowship start date of 1 October 2024; AND, 

4) Had no more than 12 months of active post-doctoral experience since passing their viva (allowing for career breaks) by 16 May 2024.

Please note that who have passed their viva voce with major corrections will not be eligible for this year’s competition. Instead, they will be able to apply under the following year’s call once their PhD has been awarded. This is to ensure that all PDFs can commence their fellowships by the annual start date of 1 October.

Please note that, following ESRC advice, candidates who did not have their viva voce in time to be eligible for the 2023 competition but will now have more than 12 months of active postdoctoral experience by this year’s closing date of 16 May 2024. In these specific circumstances only, DTPs can offer some discretion over the period of active postdoctoral experience for an applicant to be eligible, up to a maximum of 14 months.   

WHICH UNIVERSITIES CAN I APPLY TO?

The SENSS Doctoral Training Partnership consists of eight universities across the south and east of the UK. Click here to find out which universities are part of SENSS.

WHICH PATHWAYS OR DISCIPLINES CAN I APPLY FOR?

SENSS offers PDFs across all its six inter-disciplinary Themes. Click here for more information on these Themes.

 

HOW DO I APPLY FOR A PDF? 

SENSS has a two-phase application process: phase one consists of an expression of interest phase (outlined below), the deadline for which is 20 March 2024. If applicants are successful in phase one, under phase two they will be invited to put in a full application, the deadline for which is 16 May 2024. After this deadline, the reviews process will begin. Those who are shortlisted for interview on Friday 28 June 2024 will be advised of this by Friday 21 June 2024. If you are applying, please hold the 28 June in your diary as this is the only day on which interviews will be held.

HOW DO I FIND OUT MORE? 

The SENSS Director, Professor Fragkiskos Filippaios, held two webinars in March on how to apply for those interested in applying for a Post-Doctoral Fellowship. Videos of these webinars will be uploaded here shortly for you to watch if you were unable to attend these virtually.

PHASE ONE OF THE APPLICATION PROCESS

Step one: read the ESRC’s documents (see below) carefully, and ensure you are eligible for a PDF.

Step two: if you are eligible, start thinking about your topic and programme of work.

Step three: at the same time, identify an academic you think would be best-suited to mentoring you during your PDF, and make contact with that senior academic, who will be your primary mentor. The ESRC requires fellows to have a mentor based at the university at which the fellowship is held, and states that “a secondary mentor is permitted”. Please note that SENSS requires its Fellows to have two mentors during their fellowship: one based at the Fellow’s home university, and one at a different SENSS university. SENSS has taken this position, which is endorsed by the ESRC, because we believe that having a second mentor from a different SENSS university strengthens the Fellow’s research, exposes the Fellow to different institutional practices, and increases the Fellow’s access to professional academic and non-academic networks. Our current and former Fellows’ experience has borne this out. Therefore, applicants must name two mentors in their full applications.

Step four: submit your expression of interest (EoI) to SENSS via Qualtrics by 12.00pm noon GMT on Wednesday 20 March 2024. We require you to submit an EoI by the deadline so that we can gauge demand and, most importantly, support you in your application, including working with you on your costings. The EoI phase of this competition is now closed. The document here shows the questions asked on the Expression of Interest Qualtrics survey.

Please note the following:

  • If you do not submit an EoI by 20 March 2024, you will not be permitted to put in a full application for this competition.

  • You may only apply to one SENSS university for a PDF. You may also submit applications to other ESRC-funded DTPs, but you must tell us if you do so.

  • If you are invited to put in a full application, you will receive a decision on that application during the week commencing 8 July 2024.

  • You will be expected to start your PDF on 1 October 2024.

OUTCOME OF THE EXPRESSION OF INTEREST PHASE

After the deadline of 20 March, the university to which you have applied will review your expression of interest and, if your application is deemed sufficiently strong when viewed against the selection criteria set out by the ESRC, you will be contacted and invited to submit a full application.

 

ESRC PDF APPLICATION DOCUMENTS