Independent Social Research Foundation: Early Career Fellowship

Deadline: 17-Mar-23

The Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) is delighted to announce the Early Career Fellowship, offering up to €67,500 or £60,000 for scholars within 10 years of PhD award at the time of application in social sciences and humanities.

The Independent Social Research Foundation wishes to support independent-minded researchers to explore and present original research ideas which take new approaches, and suggest new solutions, to real world social problems.

Award Details

The amount of an award depends on the nature of the work proposed and individual circumstances – the ISRF expects applications for grants up to a maximum of €67,500 (or GBP equivalent)* to buy-out the cost of all teaching and associated administration in the applicant’s home institution for up to 12 months.
Within that sum, reasonable support for research expenses may be considered on a matched-funding basis with the host Institution.
*Note: Applicants based in the UK must apply in GBP (£), up to the limit of £60,000. All other applicants must apply in EUR (€), up to the limit of €67,500. These limits will not be adjusted in the event of GBP/EUR currency fluctuations.

Eligible Research

Innovative research which breaks with existing explanatory frameworks so as to address afresh empirical problems with no currently adequate theory or investigative methodology. Innovation may also come from controversial theoretical approaches motivated by critical challenge of incumbent theories.
Interdisciplinarity in the generation of new investigative initiatives may be achieved by combining, cross-fertilising, and so transforming empirical methods and theoretical insights from the social sciences. Projects ranging across the breadth of the social scientific disciplines and interdisciplinary research fields are welcome, and relevant applications from scholars working within the humanities are also encouraged.

Geographical Region: Europe

Eligibility Criteria

Eligible Applicants
- Scholars from within Europe* are eligible to apply. Applicants will normally hold a full-time or part-time salaried position – which may be permanent or fixed-term – at an Institution of Higher Education and Research. Candidates should be within 10 years of PhD award at the time of application. Career breaks may be taken into account. The awards are intended as providing full relief from all teaching duties and all associated academic administration for a period of (up to) one year.**
- Note: Eligibility for ISRF funding opportunities are unaffected by Brexit. They continue to encourage applications from scholars working within Europe (geographically defined – so, including those at UK institutions).
- *There is no limitation on nationality – however, they are unable to consider applications from those whose home institution is not within Europe.
- **Newly qualified post-doctoral scholars (as yet unemployed within academia) may apply, with institutional support from a European (including the UK) University which can commit to employing the applicant on (at least) a fixed-term basis for the duration of the award period.
Joint Applications
- The competition is open to individuals who wish to undertake a piece of original research. Where more than one researcher wishes to seek funds for the same project, two types of joint application will be considered:
  - Co-applicants: whereby one application is submitted for a single project, with a total budget up to the limit of €67,500 (or GBP equivalent), wherein two applicants would work on the same project. In the event that the application is successful, both applicants would be awarded ISRF Fellowships. It is up to the applicants to decide how the budget will be split, and to detail this in the application – for example, a 50-50 split could see each applicant bought out for, say, six months. The total project duration should be no more than 12 months, but buy-out periods may overlap wholly or in part.
  - Co-investigators: whereby separate applications are submitted, for discrete contributions to an overall project. The budget for each application may be up to the limit of €67,500 (or GBP equivalent). The applications will be considered independently of each other, and neither, one or both may be awarded. Each individual project may last up to 12 months, and award periods may overlap wholly or in part. Each application should have the same Project Title, beginning ‘CoInv’.