British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship

Notify Faculty of intention to apply by: 4 August 2026

Funder deadline: 17:00 BST, 30 September 2026

This scheme provides full funding for a three year full-time fellowship. The Fellowship is tenable for three years, starting autumn 2027. 

A note that, due to the expectation that there will be an institutional cap on applications for the 2026/27 round, it is likely that the Faculty will only be able to support two candidates for submission.

Eligibility

The applicant must be a researcher from the humanities and social sciences and be based at an eligible university or research organisation for the duration of the Fellowship. Suitable institutions include any UK university or recognised research organisation based in the UK. British citizens and any nationals from the EEA are eligible, regardless of where their doctorate was obtained. Anyone of any nationality who has a doctorate from a UK university is eligible. If an applicant does not meet the prior categories, they may be accepted if they can demonstrate ‘strong prior association’ with the UK academic community. Details of the requirements for 'strong prior association' are available in this year's scheme guidance notes.

Applicants must be of early-career status, meaning they must apply within three years from the date of their successful viva voce examination. For this round of competition, applicants are expected to have completed their viva voce between 1st April 2024 and 1st April 2027. Exemption may be granted due to reasons occurring after the viva voca (e.g. maternity leave, illness, family commitments, etc.) but exemption must be requested from the British Academy. 

The applicant must already be of postdoctoral status at the time when the Research Awards Committee meets. Those expecting to have completed their viva by 1st of April 2027 are eligible to apply, but must withdraw if their examination is not completed by this date. 

Mentor for the Fellowship

The primary emphasis is on completion of a significant piece of publishable research. Applicants who wish to apply for this funding through the Oxford Law Faculty must secure the support of a senior member of the Faculty as a mentor/supervisor. While the fellowship funding will allow for independent research, both the funder and the Faculty require the Fellow to have a mentor to discuss project progress and wider academic life in general on a regular basis. 

If you are interested in applying, please contact a faculty member who you wish to be your mentor before you submit your expression of interest to our Research Support team. 

Application Process at the Faculty of Law

The application has a two-stage application process, round one has an October deadline and then some applicants will be invited to submit a round two application in February/March. Successful applicants would start their fellowship between 1st September 2026 (at earliest) and a date to-be-confirmed. 

For the first stage, the deadlines for the Faculty of Law are as follows. 

Outline Stage 2026-2027 internal deadlines

• Call Opens - 1 July 2026
• Notify Faculty of intention to apply by: 4 August 2026
• Internal Selection submission deadline: Midnight (End of Day) 18 August 2026 (Provisional)
• Research Services deadline (incl. Referee Statement): 17:00 BST 23 September 2026
• Deadline for Applicants (including Organisation Approval): 17:00 BST 30 September 2026
• Result of Outline Stage Announcement: January 2027

Full application guidelines are available on the British Academy website.

Note that we will be holding an Internal Selection process. Applicants will be required to submit to research@law.ox.ac.uk by, provisionally, 23:59pm BST 18 August 2026 a draft proposal including the following materials:

• A proposed research  programme, following the guidance as for the online application form, which has a 2,000 word limit.
• Details of previous research, following the guidance as for the online application, which has a 600 word limit.
• A statement on how the proposal is distinctive from your previous research (200 word limit).
• A short CV (suggested length 2 pages).
• A statement of support from the proposed mentor (either sent by the candidate or sent confidentially by the mentor), minimum 1 page, maximum 2 pages. 

For further queries on the internal review materials and process, please contact research@law.ox.ac.uk.