Important note:
The Council is currently seeking to defer start dates on successful Postdoctoral Fellowship applications until after October 2009. This is due to an increased number of applications received in the first half of this financial year compared with last year. This factor in combination with the transition to open date processing of Postdoctoral Fellowship applications has resulted in a higher than anticipated number of awards being made this year to date.
We are in a position to continue to receive applications, but potential applicants are asked to note this information in planning their proposed start date. We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause.
If you have already submitted an application, and are currently awaiting a decision, please note that you will be contacted to discuss how this may affect you if your application is recommended for funding.
ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowships forms an important element of the Council's ambition to promote excellence in UK social science research capacity. These awards provide a career development opportunity for those at a relatively early stage of their academic career who can demonstrate great potential in social science research. The scheme is also open to those returning to research following a career break.
New:
As part of the ESRC's new £3m initiative exclusively aimed at building research capacity in applied macroeconomics up to 10 fellowships have been allocated for high quality applications in this area in 2009/10.
The initiative aims to recruit not only new graduates, but also talented professionals from the financial sector and elsewhere into an academic research career. Further information about this initiative can be found here:
Applicants
Applicants should have no more than three years' active postdoctoral experience when they take up the award.
The awards are designed to enable the following:
- to produce publications in order to help establish a track record in their chosen specialisation and secure opportunities for long term employment in the HEI sector;
- to disseminate their research findings that have come out of previous doctoral work to both academics and non-academic audiences;
- to further improve their research and related skills through additional specialised training; and
- to carry out further limited research based on their PhD work and related work through developing proposals for further funding.
The scheme is open to all disciplines. However during 2008 ESRC is specifically encouraging applications in a number of disciplines identified as having particular capacity building difficulties. These are Economics, Education, Management and Business Studies, Advanced Quantitative Methods, Social Work, and Socio-Legal Studies.
Awards are tenable for 1 year on a full time basis (2 years Economics) and up to 2 years on a part time basis (4 years in Economics).
Application Procedure
Applications must be made electronically through the Joint Electronic Submission system (Je-S). Detailed guidance for completing the Postdoctoral Fellowship form can be found on the Je-S help-text specifically for Postdoctoral Fellowships (PDF).
Also see:
Contact
If your query is not answered in the information above please email: PTDEnquiries@esrc.ac.uk