British Academy International Fellowships

The British Academy's International Fellowship 2025 scheme is now closed. This page will be updated when our pathway for the next round opens.

The deadline for the 2025 School's panel review and selection process was Monday, 10 February 2025 at 10am.

The British Academy International Fellowships scheme enables researchers to work for 2 years at a UK institution. The overarching aim of the International Fellowships is to attract and retain emerging talent in the UK and build a globally connected, mobile research and innovation workforce. The objectives are to:

Attract talented international early career researchers to establish and conduct their research in the UK.
Support international early career researchers to pursue high-quality and innovative lines of research.
Provide international early career researchers opportunities to acquire and transfer new skills and knowledge through training and career development.
Foster long-term relationships through networking opportunities and the International Fellowships alumni programme.

Eligibility

The applicant must:

Have a PhD, or applicants in the final stages of their PhD will be accepted provided that the PhD will be completed (including viva) before the start date of the Fellowship. Confirmation of award of the PhD will be required before any Fellowship award is confirmed;
Have no more than 7 years’ active full-time postdoctoral experience at the time of application, including teaching experience, time spent in industry, honorary positions and/or visiting researcher positions. Career breaks must be clearly detailed and explained in the application;
Not hold UK citizenship;
Not have lived, worked, or undertaken research in the UK in the 12 months immediately prior to the application, with the exception of short-term visits of less than three months in total and applicants who are refugees in the UK according to the Geneva Convention.

This is a highly competitive scheme, so in addition to the scheme eligibility criteria, the School requires applicants to have at least 2 peer-reviewed academic publications which are deemed of high quality, for which they had leading role.

If you would like further guidance on whether your CV and publication track record is suitable for this scheme, please speak to your mentor in the first instance.

The full scheme guidance can be found on the British Academy website here: International Fellowships 2025 | The British Academy. We ask that anyone applying to the School pathway read this thoroughly.

SSPS Key Stages and Dates for the BA International Fellowships

1. Mentor Identification

Applicants should be aware that SPS requires a mentor (SPS core staff) for all early-career fellowships. Applicants are responsible for first identifying, contacting and securing an agreed mentor for the proposed fellowship application. We strongly encourage all applicants to contact prospective mentors as soon as possible. If selected to proceed to full application stage, mentors will be required to work closely with applicants in developing their application.

2. Notification of Expression of Interest to School

Once you have a mentor in place, email the Research Office at ssps.research@ed.ac.uk indicating your intention to submit.

3. Submission to School Panel Review and Selection process

This is a highly competitive scheme and the School receives a large number of expressions of interest. The School therefore operates an internal review and selection process to determine which applicants will be supported and proceed to a full stage application.

In order to be considered for the School panel process, you must ensure that the following are sent to the SPS Research Office at ssps.research@ed.ac.uk by Monday, 10 February 2025 at 10am:

Outline project proposal (max. 2 pages)
References/Bibliography (max. 1 page)
Candidate CV (max. 2 pages)
A mentor statement (max. 1 page)
Your mentor must ensure that in principle approval from the Head of Subject Area for your application is emailed to the SPS Research Office before you submit your documents to the School panel process.

Documents should all be in either Calibri or Arial font, size 11, with 2 cm margins.

Further information on preparing a submission to a School panel can be found here: Preparing a submission to a School panel.

Information for prospective mentors

The mentor support statement needs to demonstrate how you are a suitable mentor to support the proposed project.
The mentor statement should engage with the guidance for the British Academy International Fellowship scheme.
Ahead of the School deadline, please ensure you have sought email approval from your Head of Subject Area to support the candidate. Applications to the School panel review and selection process without Head of Subject Area support will not be considered. A copy of the email confirming support needs to be sent to ssps.research@ed.ac.uk.
Prospective mentors should be aware that the application process will require their active input.

4. Development and submission of application to British Academy

The review panel will decide which applications the School will support and provide feedback to successful applicants in order to strengthen their proposals. Applicants will be informed whether or not they may proceed with their application by Tuesday, 18 February, allowing successful applicants sufficient time to develop a full stage application. Applicants being supported in the scheme will work with their mentors and the research office to develop and submit their draft proposals and budgets for an SSPS deadline on Tuesday, 4 March.

5. Submission of final draft of complete application

A final draft of your application needs to be ready by Tuesday, 11 March to allow time for final review by the SSPS and central University of Edinburgh Research Offices and for formal University/School approval process in time for the British Academy's deadline on Tuesday, 18 March at 5pm.