Oxford Sociology invites applications for Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships
Deadline to register an intention to submit: Friday 20 November 2026
Deadline for Expressions of Interest: 5pm, Friday 27 November 2026
Funder's Deadline: Thursday 18 February 2027
Oxford Sociology invites Expressions of Interest (EOIs) for the 2027 Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships scheme.
The Fellowship supports early career researchers with a strong record of research who have not yet held a full-time permanent academic post. Fellowships are intended to enable researchers to undertake a significant piece of publishable work and to further develop their academic careers.
Prospective applicants should consult the Leverhulme Trust's Early Career Fellowship guidance carefully before submitting an Expression of Interest, particularly the eligibility requirements.
The Leverhulme Trust encourages applicants to move institutions for the Fellowship. Applicants who completed their DPhil at Oxford should therefore use their proposed research statement to make a compelling case for why remaining at Oxford is necessary or particularly beneficial for their postdoctoral research.
Departmental selection process
The Department will run an internal selection process to identify the candidate(s) it is able to support for the 2027 competition. The internal process will consist of an intention to submit, followed by an Expression of Interest (EOI) from the applicant and a short, separate statement from their proposed departmental mentor.
Intention to submit
Applicants must contact a member of the Faculty in advance and obtain their agreement, in principle, to act as their proposed mentor before submitting an intention to apply. Applicants should not name a proposed mentor whom they have not contacted and who has not agreed to support their proposed application.
Applicants intending to submit an EOI should email research@sociology.ox.ac.uk by Friday 20 November 2026, providing:
- the working title of their proposed research project; and
- the name of their proposed departmental mentor.
Expression of Interest
Applicants should then complete the Expression of Interest form and send an academic CV (no more than three pages) to research@sociology.ox.ac.uk by 17:00 Friday 27 November 2026.
The EOI form will ask applicants to provide:
- the institution at which their doctorate was obtained
- their doctoral thesis submission date
- details of their postdoctoral experience
- a statement outlining their current and previous research
- details of the research they propose to undertake during the Fellowship
The Department will contact proposed mentors directly and provide them with a link to a separate mentor support form. The mentor support statement must also be submitted by Friday 27 November 2026.
Applicants should approach potential mentors well in advance of the intention-to-submit deadline to allow sufficient time to discuss their proposed research and its fit within the Department.
What happens next?
EOIs and mentor support statements will be considered through the Department's internal selection process. Selected candidate(s) will then be invited to develop a full application to the Leverhulme Trust with departmental support. Applicants will be notified of the outcome of the internal selection process in the week commencing 7 December 2026.
Further information
Questions about the Department's Expression of Interest process should be directed to research@sociology.ox.ac.uk.
