Application form

Applications are now open for 2026-27 Fellowships. 

This application round (for visits between August 2026 and July 2027) closes on 27 February 2026 for mid-career and senior scholars, and on 24 April 2026 for postdoctoral and early-career researchers.

All applicants are requested to read the following information carefully before completing their applications.
1) IASH does not support research in the sciences. If your work is in chemistry, biology, mathematics, medicine, engineering, etc. please DO NOT complete this application. Interdisciplinary topics such as history of science, medical humanities and veterinary humanities can be supported, and we welcome research in those areas.
2) You must have contacted staff at the University of Edinburgh before making your application. Your main Edinburgh collaborator / mentor must be named in the form below. If you list a member of staff at another university as your mentor / collaborator or leave the field blank, your application will be rejected. It is the applicant's responsibility to make contact with staff at the University of Edinburgh and to gain their agreement to act as mentor, but they do not need to provide a letter of support or reference.
3) You must ensure that your referees submit their references to iash@ed.ac.uk by the deadline. Applications without references will not be considered.
4) Applicants should read the Institute Policy on the use of AI before making their application, and ensure that they adhere to its requirements. In particular, the use of generative AI tools like LLMs that can produce content such as generating references, text, images or any other form of content must be disclosed when used by applicants. The Policy is available here (opens as PDF).

Please note that the majority of our Fellowships require applicants to hold a doctorate, or to be able to provide a transcript, testamur, or a letter of completion / eligibility to graduate as part of an application, if you have not yet graduated; you do not need to have actually graduated at the time you apply.
If you do not currently have a position within academia, please put "independent researcher".
If you do not currently have a position within academia, please put "independent researcher".
Address to which correspondence should be sent
Summary of project (not more than 50 words) in terms which will be understood by a non-specialist in the subject.
You must name a current or emeritus/emerita member of staff at the University of Edinburgh in order for your application to be eligible. Applications which do not have support from at least one member of staff at Edinburgh will not be considered. Full details of all staff research interests are available on the university website: https://www.ed.ac.uk/
Our Fellowships vary in duration. Most senior/mid-career Fellowships allow a visit between 2 and 6 months, while most postdoctoral/early-career Fellowships allow visits up to 10 months. For guidelines, please consult the web page for the Fellowship Programme to which you are applying.
If 'Yes', please give details.
If you are applying for one of our funded Fellowship programmes and are not successful, would you like your application to also be considered for the current round of unfunded Visiting Research Fellowships? This assumes you have access to departmental / grant / sabbatical funding to support your visit. NOTE: VRFs are also selected on merit via competitive application.
Signature of applicant
Please enter your name

Today's date: 11:00pm December 2, 2025

Supporting documents
Please upload your CV and Research Proposal as separate documents in .doc, .docx or .pdf format. Please use an easy-to-read font, such as Arial or Times in 11pt or 12pt. Your files should be named 'LASTNAME,Firstname-CV' and 'LASTNAME,Firstname-ResearchProposal' (and 'LASTNAME,Firstname-CoverLetter' if applying for the British Council Fellowship only - cover letters are not required for any other Fellowship programmes). Research Proposals that exceed the specified word limit (details below) will not be considered. NOTE: If applying for the American Philosophical Society Fellowship only, you are asked to supply a CV of maximum 1 page (listing publications related to your proposal, and up to ten most significant publications) and a project proposal of no more than 2 pages including a bibliography, and a 1-page budget statement. Your budget should detail amounts for travel, subsistence, photo-reproduction, supplies / other (please specify) and a total amount requested. You should then provide a short statement explaining the reasons for the requested budget allocations. NOTE THAT YOU MAY RECEIVE AN ERROR MESSAGE AT TIMES OF HIGH TRAFFIC, SAYING YOUR ATTACHMENT IS TOO LARGE - PLEASE IGNORE THIS ERROR IF YOUR FILE IS BELOW 8MB, AND SUBMIT THE FORM ANYWAY. YOU MAY NEED TO REFRESH THE PAGE. IF YOU RECEIVE AN EMAIL CONFIRMATION, THEN YOUR APPLICATION HAS SUCCESSFULLY SUBMITTED. WE WILL CONTACT YOU IF THE ATTACHMENT FAILS TO APPEAR IN THE PORTAL.
Please upload your academic CV (maximum 4 pages) in Word or PDF format. No other formats are accepted. The maximum individual file size is 8MB. If you receive an error message during upload, please try again, as the system can be slow to respond at busy times. NOTE: If applying for the American Philosophical Society Fellowship only, you are asked to supply a CV of maximum 1 page (listing publications related to your proposal, and up to ten most significant publications) and a project proposal of no more than 2 pages including a bibliography, and a 1-page budget statement. Your budget should detail amounts for travel, subsistence, photo-reproduction, supplies / other (please specify) and a total amount requested. You should then provide a short statement explaining the reasons for the requested budget allocations.
More information
  • Files must be less than 7 MB.
  • Allowed file types: pdf doc docx.
Please upload your project proposal in Word or PDF format. No other formats are accepted. The maximum individual file size is 8MB. If you receive an error message during upload, please try again, as the system can be slow to respond at busy times. Your proposal should use the following word counts: OUTLINE OF RESEARCH (500-750 Words) Describe the research you would like to undertake during an IASH Fellowship, including a brief overview of the background, methodologies and potential outputs. Research which is innovative and/or interdisciplinary is particularly encouraged. IMPORTANCE & TIMELINESS (Max. 250 Words) Describe why your proposed research is important and how it will make a contribution to your chosen field at this point in time. Please note that we are asking about TIMELINESS, meaning urgency or aptness of the research, not the TIMELINES of your individual research components! Applicants may wish to include a short table, Gantt chart or list of key milestones in their proposal, if appropriate, but this is not mandatory. RELEVANCE TO EDINBURGH & COLLABORATIVE OUTCOMES (Max. 250 Words) Describe the relevance of your research to the priorities of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science at the University of Edinburgh, the priorities of the British Council, and/or the importance to your work of research resources specific to the Edinburgh context. Include details of any further contacts you have made with academic staff at the University of Edinburgh, as well as any planned collaborative outcomes. References and footnotes are not included in the word count.
More information
  • Files must be less than 7 MB.
  • Allowed file types: pdf doc docx.

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