For early career researchers

The Institute is pleased to offer a range of postdoctoral and early-career Fellowships for recent graduates. Closing dates for application are late February and late April each year for visits in the following academic year. Applications for visits in 2023-24 are now closed.

Our most popular scheme is the Postdoctoral Fellowship (up to 10 months), offering about 12 places per year to postdocs from around the world. The new RACE.ED Stuart Hall Foundation Fellowship (3 to 10 months) is designed to support research that engages meaningfully with the works of Stuart Hall, building on the Institute Project on Decoloniality. Scholars working on gender and sexualities studies are encouraged to apply for the GENDER.ED Postdoctoral Fellowship (3 to 10 months).

Historians may be interested in the Daiches-Manning Memorial Fellowship in 18th-Century Scottish Studies (2 to 6 months) or the IASH-HCA Postdoctoral Fellowship (3-10 months). Scholars with an interest in digital arts, digital humanities, digital education, digital design and digital social sciences may wish to apply for the Digital Research Postdoctoral Fellowship (3 to 6 months). Researchers working in the field of contemporary Islam and Muslim culture can apply for the IASH-Alwaleed Postdoctoral Fellowship (3 to 10 months), while scholars in public theology can apply for the IASH-CTPI Duncan Forrester Fellowship (3 to 10 months).

Scholars wishing to examine specific special collections held at the University of Edinburgh can apply for the Heritage Collections Research Fellowship (3 to 6 months). The Environmental Humanities Visiting Research Fellowship (minimum of 2 months) is open to researchers in the environmental humanities, while those working in the social sciences, political science, sociology, international relations, social anthropology, sustainable development and associated fields may wish to apply for the IASH-SSPS Research Fellowship (2 to 4 months).

While most of our schemes are open to scholars from any country, some are targeted at scholars from specific countries; for Indian nationals, we offer the Charles Wallace India Trust Fellowship (3 months), and US citizens or foreign nationals in the US or permanent residents affiliated with a US institution may apply for the American Philosophical Society Fellowship (2 to 4 months). Lastly, researchers who already have their own funding but wish to be affiliated to the University of Edinburgh may apply for the Visiting Research Fellowship (minimum of 2 months), which provides an office at IASH but is not accompanied by a bursary.