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School of History

Postdoctoral and Doctoral Opportunities

We ensure to support and nurture postdoctoral and early career colleagues, and we have been highly successful in supporting postdoctoral applications.

Alongside their research mentors, Prof Kim Wagner supports our postdoctoral researchers (PDRs), and is the dedicated PDR coordinator. He organises a colloquium series, which runs throughout the year and is a great opportunity for PDRs to present their research to the rest of the School.

The Humanities and Social Sciences Early Career Researchers (ECRs) Network supports researchers at the beginning of their academic careers. As well as regular talks and workshops, there are opportunities to meet other ECRs from across the Faculty to share experience and knowledge. In addition, the Humanities and Social Sciences Peer Review College provides individual support for early career researchers in grant and fellowship applications.

We have a diverse community of postdoctoral fellows who contribute to our dynamic research environment. We welcome enquiries and applications from potential postdoctoral fellows. More information on our current postdoctoral fellows can be found on our postdoctoral research page. All enquiries should be directed to Senior Research Manager Sarah Saines (history-research@qmul.ac.uk) or Director of Research Funding Dr Chris Moffat.

The School of History operates an internal peer review process to support, mentor, and manage demand for highly competitive postdoctoral research fellowships. Applicants wishing to consider applying for these awards are encouraged to contact the Director of Research Funding, Dr Chris Moffat, and a member of staff in the appropriate area of expertise to act as your mentor at least six weeks in advance of the relevant scheme’s deadline (and at least three weeks ahead of any stated internal deadline).

Applications must fit the funding scheme criteria and the School’s research profile. Many schemes are oversubscribed with low success rates. We are only able to support the strongest applications. 

Funding opportunities:

Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships

We are inviting outstanding early career researchers to apply for the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship Scheme.

Our expressions of interest deadline is Friday 8 November 2024. Candidates will receive the outcome from the School within 2 weeks and support for successful candidates will be confirmed in early December. 

If you are interested in applying for this scheme through QMUL School of History, please submit an application in one document (Word or PDF, using a 12 pt font) to history-research@qmul.ac.uk.

Applicants wishing to consider applying for the Early Career Fellowships are encouraged to contact a member of staff in the appropriate area of expertise to act as their mentor in advance of the internal deadline. Applications must fit both the funding scheme and the School’sResearch Clusters. Applicants are also encouraged to highlight the support of Faculty and institution‐level infrastructure, and commitment to interdisciplinary research and exchange notably through the Queen Mary Institute for the Humanities and Social Sciences (IHSS)

Because these Fellowships require an institutional contribution to match that made by the Leverhulme Trust, only a small number of exceptional applications will be supported. The School is only able to nominate a limited number of applications for consideration by a University selection panel. Candidates will be notified in December whether they have been selected to submit an application to the Leverhulme Trust.

The expressions of interest must include in a single PDF document:

  • a statement confirming eligibility for the scheme - please state in a series of bullet points how you meet the Trust’s eligibility requirements (see https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/early‐career‐fellowships)
  • a proposed start and end date for the award
  • a 2-page academic CV
  • An outline research proposal including title, non-technical abstract (100 words), statement of past and current research (250 words) and 2 page (A4) project outline. The project outline should include aims, objectives, methodology and outcome (e.g. publication plans). It should make clear the scope and importance of the proposal. The methodology should be clear and explicit, comprehensible to a non-expert
  • A statement on why QMUL would be a good institutional fit, which includes a proposed mentor for your project and how your research activities might contribute to the Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences (IHSS) at QMUL. (250 words)
  • the name of your QMUL mentor, whose support you should secure in advance of your application.

Your application should demonstrate:

  • that you are eligible according to the trust’s criteria
  • the excellence of your research track record and professional track record (where relevant);
  • your fit to the School of History and relevant links to the Faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences

Full scheme details can be found on the Leverhulme Trust Website.

To aid applicants in preparing a strong application, the School of History will hold an online applicant workshop on Thursday 17 October 2024, 16:00 - 17:00. Please email history-research@qmul.ac.uk to request the meeting link. After this date, applicants may request a link to the session recording by contacting history-research@qmul.ac.uk.

Successful applicants will then have approximately two months to finalise their application. They will also be invited to attend an orientation session run by The Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences about the final stages of application.

If you have any questions about the internal selection process, please contact Dr Chris Moffat, Director of Research Funding.

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships

We invite outstanding early career researchers to apply for the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships. If you are interested in applying for this scheme through QMUL School of History, please submit an application in one document to our Senior Research Manager, Sarah Saines (history-research@qmul.ac.uk) by date TBC.

The School offers an excellent research environment for scholars working across all periods and regions, with Fellows fully integrated into our vibrant and welcoming research community. In the most recent REF (REF2021), 86% of our research activity was classified as “world-leading” or “internationally excellent”, with the School achieving the second highest proportion of 4* outputs for History in the country.

You are strongly encouraged to identify and secure the agreement of a mentor before you submit an expression of interest. Staff profiles can be found on our website

The Expression of interest should include:

  • an explanation of the reasons for your choice of the School of History at Queen Mary as your host, which should include a proposed mentor (150 words maximum)
  • an outline of your proposed programme of research (1,500 words maximum)including consideration of method, sources, and significance
  • your planned research outputs, e.g. monograph, journal article(s), book chapter(s), digital resources, events (workshops, conferences), other (please specify) (300 words maximum)
  • a list of existing publications (1 page maximum)
  • a CV (2 pages maximum)
  • a draft sample of writing, either published or accepted for publication (article or book chapter length).

Your application should demonstrate:

  • that you are eligible according to the BA’s criteria
  • the excellence of your research track record and professional track record (where relevant);
  • your fit to the School of History and relevant links to the Faculty of the Humanities and Social Sciences
Full scheme details can be found on the British Academy website. To aid applicants in preparing a strong application, the School of History will hold an online training session. Please email history-research@qmul.ac.uk to request the meeting link.  After this date, applicants may request a link to the session recording by contacting history-research@qmul.ac.uk.

All applications will be considered in an internal selection process and candidates will be notified within 2 weeks of the deadline. Successful applicants will then have approximately one month to finalise their outline application, with outline applications due to be submitted via FlexiGrant (the BA system) by date TBC (inclusive of referee report and approvals).

If you have any questions about the internal selection process, please contact the School’s Research Manager, Sarah Saines (history-research@qmul.ac.uk) or Dr Andrew Mendelsohn, our Director of Research Funding in the School of History, a.mendelsohn@qmul.ac.uk.

 

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