John Fell Fund

Notify Faculty of intention to apply by: 07 January 2026 (HT26 round)

Next Deadline: Noon, 28 January 2026 HT26 round)

The John Fell Fund supports small grants of up to £10,000 and large grants (with no upper limit, but applications over £65,000 are unlikely to be funded). The applicant may not ask for funding for his or her salary, but salary costs of a researcher/assistant may be requested. In the Law Faculty we often apply for funding for pump-priming activities, or workshops or for support for early career researchers.

ELIGIBILITY:

This is for Oxford internal applicants only. If on a fixed term contract then the contract must run beyond the proposed project end date. Established researchers may normally only apply to the John Fell Fund for the same project once (ECRs who have secured funding for a small award may later apply for main award funding on the same project). Resubmissions for unsuccessful applications will not be accepted, except where invited by the John Fell Fund Committee or Divisional Sub-Committee.

OVERVIEW OF SCHEME:

 Please see full scheme details on the John Fell Fund website.

DEADLINES:

Deadlines will generally be in Week 2 of each term. The dates for the next standard round are:

Funder deadline: 12pm Noon, 28 January 2026 (Hilary Term 2026 round).

Law Faculty deadline for notification of intention to apply: 07 January 2026, by email indicating whether you will be applying for a small or main grant.

Law Faculty deadline for final proposal: 19 January 2026 

Please note that if there is a large amount of interest in this opportunity, there may be a need for an internal selection process. For this, a draft proposal containing the following will be required by 14 January 2026:

• Abstract (up to 400 words)
• Draft budget costing
• Justification of Resource (up to 3 pages)
• Research Objectives and proposed outcomes (up to 2 pages)