School of Social and Political Science

Applying for postdoctoral fellowships

The School of Social and Political Science (SPS) welcomes applications for postdoctoral research. This page gives details about the most frequently-applied for postdoctoral fellowship schemes, general guidance about how to start the application process, and information about School pathways and support.

Please note that the School holds review and selection processes for the main postdoctoral fellowship applications listed below. These schemes are highly competitive and the School receives a large volume of applications. The School deadlines are much earlier than the funder deadlines and we recommend that, if you are interested in applying to a scheme, you get in touch with the SPS Research Office at the earliest opportunity. Some review processes may be changing for 2024/25 and we advise that you keep checking these pages for details.

Important information about applying to Postdoctoral Research Fellowships - Note that candidates must secure School support via the Research Office before applying to funded postdoctoral research fellowships

Main Postdoctoral Fellowship Schemes

The most commonly-applied for schemes are:

Scheme-specific guidance is given on each of the webpages on this site. Note that School specific selection processes operates on all of these schemes.

Starting the process
  • Check the webpages linked above to see when the School's deadlines for applications are. For other funded postdoctoral research fellowship opportunities, not listed here, please contact us to discuss whether or not the School supports the scheme.
  • Once you decide to apply for a postdoctoral research fellowship, you will need to identify and approach a potential mentor, and discuss your application with them. You should do this as early in the application process as possible. School policy is that all postdoctoral fellows must have a mentor, even where this is not a requirement of the fellowship scheme. Your mentor needs to be a permanent member of SPS academic staff with research interests aligned with your own. Academic profiles of SPS staff can be found on our web pages Subject Areas | School of Social and Political Science by clicking on 'People' under each of the seven Subject Areas.
  • Let the SPS Research Office know that you are planning to submit a postdoctoral fellowship application and provide the name of your agreed mentor.
  • The project must have Head of Subject Area approval. Your mentor will need to arrange this for you and must ensure that the Research Office receives an email from the Head of Subject Area confirming their support for your application ahead of the School panel deadline.
  • It is the responsibility of the candidate to ensure that their documents are submitted to School deadlines in adherence to the guidance provided.
Pathways and Panels
  • The School operates internal pathways for all the main postdoctoral fellowship opportunities listed above.
  • The School pathways allow the SPS Research Office to assess the level of interest in a scheme round and, where necessary, employ demand management processes.
  • The School's pathways generally consist of a review process carried out by a panel. If demand management is also needed, e.g. a selection process, the panel is asked to rank the applications too.
  • Panels are usually made up of 3-4 researchers based in SPS, who are familiar with the funder or the specific scheme .
  • The SPS Research Office puts together panels on a scheme-by-scheme basis and panels take place in written format by email.
  • Feedback is provided to applicants who are chosen to progress to full application stage and also to candidates who are unsuccessful in a selection process.
  • The School's Director(s) of Research retain responsibility over all selection processes.
If you secure support to proceed to full application stage
  • The SPS Research Office will work with you to develop your application. This includes providing your salary costings, your mentor's salary costings (where appropriate), and estates and indirect costings (where appropriate). You will need to develop your budget for research resources, such as fieldwork costs, necessary equipment, or conference attendance, with the SPS Research Office. Templates to help you develop your costings can be provided.
  • If you wish to see any past successful applications , please contact us. Bear in mind that application forms may change. The SPS Research Office only provides copies of previously successful applications to candidates who are given support to proceed to full application stage.
  • Note that all applications must be approved by Head of School - including outline applications. Please do not submit your application until approval has been obtained.
  • Ethics review is integral to the application development process and engagement in School review processes is an essential part of the project design process. A School ethics assessment, done in conjunction with your mentor. The procedure is normally very simple: see the School ethics pages for details. Please note that this must be done in addition to any ethical statements required within the PDRF application and sufficient time should be allowed in order to incorporate feedback into the application form
School Approval

All applications must be approved by Head of School. To obtain approval, please submit the following to the SPS Research Office:

  1. A completed application form (or a very nearly completed application with FINAL costings).
  2. Confirmation of the ethical opinion on your projects (provided via the School ethics process).

You will be informed by email when your application has been approved.You must allow sufficient time (at least a week) for School approval to be obtained - bear this in mind if you are working to a submission deadline. Please do not submit your application until approval has been obtained.

Pay Scales for Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (updated April 2025)

Unless the funder has a set stipend for postdoctoral fellowships, SPS postdoctoral fellowships are graded on the UE07 pay scale, with most awardees starting at the bottom of this scale, UE07.32 (c. £40,497 before taxes at April 2025). Current salary scales are published on the University Human Resources webpages for pay scales. Appointments above UE07.32 are at the discretion of SPS and will be commensurate with research experience and career profile. Existing University of Edinburgh employees with a current research position will have their fellowship costed from their current spine point if relevant (for instance a research fellow employed on an ongoing research grant at UE07.34 will continue upwards from 34 or 35, taking into account yearly progression). The ESRC New Investigator Grant and UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship schemes are costed at the bottom of UE08 (UE08.39, £49,559). This reflects the expected advanced early career research profile and experience level of potential applicants. All appointments at UE08 and above require interview and approval at College level.

When costed on a grant or fellowship application, however, additional salary costs such as National Insurance and employer pension contributions (if enrolled in the USS pension scheme) increase the salary costs for a one year full-time postdoctoral contract to approximately £51,000 (for UE07.32 at 2025 rates). In addition to salary costs, overheads bring the total for one postdoctoral contract (full-time, one year) to just over £143,000 (please see below).

Overheads

As part of a Fellowship application, many funders allow overheads to be added to the budget. Overheads are essentially the additional running costs of hosting and supporting a member of staff, and represent a better picture of the true cost to the School. This is part of a standard costing methodology called ‘full economic costing’ or fEC which operates across the HEI sector in UK.

Overheads are split into two different categories, estates and indirects, for which the University has standard rates that are automatically calculated:

Estates costs on an application contribute to the physical maintenance of the School and University, including facilities in the Chrystal Macmillan Building, providing office/desk space, furniture, computers and other physical elements that are necessary.

Indirect costs contribute toward the services that are needed in the University, including IT support, HR, payroll, pensions, library resources, etc.

For one full-time research contract for one year: estates non-lab rate: £16,980; indirects rate: £69,941. Depending on the funder, estates and indirects are typically included at a pro-rata rate for each research position. This means if a contract is part-time 2.5 days per week, the estates and indirects would be calculated at half these standard yearly rates. Contracts extending over more than one year would be multiplied out accordingly.

Find out more on fEC  the University of Edinburgh in grant applications and different categories of fEC costs. You will need to login with MyEd.tent.

Travel and  Subsistence – costing your travel and fieldwork

SPS uses standard maximum rates for travel and subsistence, but these can be revised according to specific countries or situations. Please be advised these are not per diem rates, which the University does not allow, but estimates that will be charged against the project and/or reimbursed according to receipts and actual money spent. According to University Policy, staff must use standard class rail travel and economy class air travel and public transport should be used in the first instance. 

UK travel - up to £200

EU travel – up to £350

International travel – up to £1,200

While tickets can often be found for less, these standard rates take into account that travel costs could rise over a number of years or that costs may be higher due to travel during peak seasons or at short notice.

All expense claims must adhere to the Sustainable Travel Policy. Please note that using the University’s Travel Management Company (TMC) is mandatory. 

Accommodation - £180 per night (inc. VAT) for UK (outside of London) and £250 per night (inc. VAT) for London and other major cities across the Globe. If fieldwork requires renting a flat or room on a weekly or monthly rate, this would usually be expected to be less than £180 per night. Consider time of year if planning hosted conferences – Edinburgh during festival season books up very quickly and accommodation is likely to be much more expensive or hard to find centrally.

Subsistence - £45 per day, up to £65 if in expensive cities/countries. 

Local travel can be costed separately depending on project needs. If your fieldwork or travel is in a country with a lower/higher cost of living, you should edit the costs based on previous experience of conducting research in this location. Please keep in mind all costs will need to be broken down to daily rates and justified in the application. 

Hosted Events - rooms and catering

Rooms can be booked in the Chrystal Macmillan Building (CMB) free of charge (such as the 6th floor seminar room) but may need to be booked in advance and availability will be subject to teaching needs. Outside of CMB larger spaces for conferences and events may cost £750-£1,000 per day, and may require additional A/V support at an additional cost.

Catering is bookable centrally. A good estimate is £25 per person for full day catering, including tea/coffee and snacks in the morning and afternoon, as well as a buffet lunch with cold/hot drinks. Dinners can be costed as part of conferences, for instance for research teams and key invited speakers. Plan on £46 per person in Edinburgh, but please note alcohol is not allowed as an eligible cost.