Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship 2026

Guidance on the opportunity to hold a fellowship at the Ruskin, and on how to submit an expression of interest and the application form, can be found in the guidance document in the left-hand menu. If you cannot download the form 'Leverhulme EOI Form 2026', please email graduate@rsa.ox.ac.uk to have it emailed to you.

Further information about the scheme can be found at https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/early-career-fellowships.

Please note that expressions of interest must reach the Ruskin by no later than midday on 5th December. 

Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships 2026

Applications are invited from suitably qualified researchers in the early stages of an academic career, who wish to base a postdoctoral research project in the Ruskin School of Art at the University of Oxford.

The School will hold an internal competition to decide which application(s) will be put forward under the scheme, so applicants should not approach the Leverhulme Trust directly until departmental support is confirmed in writing. Being selected by the School does not ensure the award of a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship, but if you are selected to go forward to prepare an application to the Leverhulme Trust, we will work with you to ensure as strong a submission as possible.

It is hoped that the Fellowship will provide a platform for subsequent career development within the university sector or other research-active arts organisations. The objective is for Fellows to undertake a significant piece of publishable research during the tenure of the award, and the project put forward should therefore not be a reworking or mere extension of the candidate’s doctoral research project.

Those holding a Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at the Ruskin School of Art are normally invited to undertake teaching for the School, in line with the guidelines provided by the Trust (see Host University Commitments / Teaching at https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/early-career-fellowships). Such teaching is not a requirement of the scheme, but is offered as a career development opportunity and is encompassed by the purposes of the fellowship. Any such teaching does not, therefore, attract additional remuneration.

Full details about the scheme can be found on the Leverhulme Trust’s website at https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/early-career-fellowships.

Eligibility Criteria (see also https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/early-career-fellowships)

Potential candidates should satisfy themselves of their eligibility for the scheme, by reading the eligibility criteria provided by the Trust at https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/early-career-fellowships before deciding whether to submit an expression of interest.

Expressions of interest are due at midday on Friday 5^th December 2025.

The application process

Candidates are asked to indicate in their Expression of Interest their preferred mentor, but candidates should not expect input from the proposed mentor at this stage. Candidate preferences will be taken into consideration, though the School may nominate a different mentor according to availability and expertise. Candidates selected to go forward to the next stage will be put in contact with a mentor after the internal selection process has been completed. The mentor will provide support in the preparation of a bid to the Leverhulme Trust. For further information please see http://www.rsa.ox.ac.uk/people

Candidates must submit by email (subject line: ‘Leverhulme ECF 2026’) the following application materials by email to administrator@rsa.ox.ac.uk no later than midday (12pm) on 5^th December 2025.

1. A completed copy of the Expression of Interest form, available via the Ruskin website;

2. A two-page draft statement of research (which may use similar headings to that in the Leverhulme Trust’s Application Guidance Notes);

3. A two-page CV including education, publications, any awards, thesis title and examiners;

4. A 100-word abstract summarising the research for a general audience;

5. One academic reference (ideally from the thesis supervisor). This can be sent either with your submission or directly by the referee to the email address provided above, but must be submitted to the same deadline;

6. Practising artists should provide online access to up to 12 images, or a short excerpt of their film or music, as appropriate. Please include the link to your work in your draft statement of research.

If there are any circumstances which may have impacted on your research to date that you wish to be taken into account - for example a period of maternity leave, family commitments, illness, or other exceptional circumstances - please include a separate statement, which will be received by the School’s Director of Research, Dr Onyeka Igwe. Any such statements will be treated in confidence.

All applications will be considered by a sub-committee of the Ruskin School of Art’s Research Committee.

For any queries about the application procedure, please contact the Ruskin’s Head of Administration (Dr Richard Sykes), via administrator@rsa.ox.ac.uk. Please use the subject line ‘Leverhulme ECF 2026’.

Candidates nominated by the School will be required to submit the final version of the application to the University’s Humanities Division. The Humanities Division will notify nominated candidates of the deadline, and a member of the Divisional Research Facilitation team, together with an academic mentor from the Ruskin, will provide assistance and advice during the preparation and submission of the application to the Leverhulme Trust.

The Leverhulme online application deadline for the 2026 competition will be 4 p.m. on 19 February 2026.