The Faculty of Modern and Medieval Languages and Linguistics welcomes applications from potential applicants for the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship Scheme 2025.
The scheme provides prestigious three-year fellowship awards for researchers who are near the start of their post-doctoral career. Full details on eligibility are published on the Leverhulme Trust’s website.
The Leverhulme Trust provides 50% of the total salary costs for the three years of the fellowship of £28,000 in each year (plus a contribution to research expenses of up to £6,000 per year). In Cambridge, an internal competition provides matching funding from the Isaac Newton Trust.
The application process
Applications are made over two stages. As the Leverhulme Trust provides only part of the salary costs for these fellowships, applications must be made initially to the Isaac Newton Trust for match-funding. The Isaac Newton Trust runs an internal competition to decide which candidates can be offered matching funding.
If you hope to hold the award in the Faculty of MMLL, you should apply to take part in the competition for INT matching funding by the deadline of 5pm on Thursday 31 October 2024.
You are strongly encouraged to contact and discuss your plans with a proposed mentor from MMLL, who would follow your work if you are awarded the Fellowship.
Documents required
Applications should consist of the following documents:
- A completed cover sheet, available from the Isaac Newton Trust website
- A CV (not exceeding two sides of A4)
- A draft of the three items required for the Leverhulme application:
- A list of major publications (not exceeding one side of A4 paper)
- A statement of current research (maximum 250 words)
- A detailed statement of proposed research (not exceeding two sides of A4)
For more details on application materials, please see "research and publication" on Leverhulme ECF Application Help Notes 2025.
Two letters of reference are needed for the internal selection round, one of which should be external to Cambridge. The second reference can be either internal or external to Cambridge. Referees should (a) state in what capacity they know you (b) comment on the proposed research and the extent to which it will make a difference to your field of research, and (c) provide an appraisal of your academic and personal qualities for carrying out the research proposal and how this will contribute to your career development. References are subject to a word limit of 500 words. Please ask your referees to send references directly to Miyoung Kim, Faculty Research Administrator (researchadmin@mmll.cam.ac.uk) by the closing date (5pm on Thursday 31 October 2024).
Applicants are advised to read the information on references provided by the Leverhulme Trust (Application Help Notes 2025) and ensure that referees are aware of the guidance provided in the Leverhulme Guide for Applicants to avoid having to revise references at a later stage.
(NB. If you are selected by the INT to be submitted to the Leverhulme competition, three references will be required at that stage, with a maximum of one from Cambridge.)
External candidates
In line with the Leverhulme Trust's intention that these fellowships should encourage mobility between institutions, we welcome applicants from outside Cambridge. Since we need to demonstrate the relevance of research to the Faculty, applicants are encouraged to state briefly why it would be beneficial to them to work in Cambridge, and what they would hope to contribute to our research culture and (where appropriate) teaching. For this purpose, they should normally expect in advance of their application to contact a member of the Faculty with interests in their field; (that person, however, need not be a referee for the applicant).
Full details of the Leverhulme ECF scheme including eligibility criteria are available on the Leverhulme Trust website.
