This opportunity is open to:
Applicants can apply for a fellowship at more than one of the institutions in a single round. However, dates and applications must:
- be separate and distinct
- not overlap
- not be interdependent.
AHRC applicants must be applying to undertake primary research in an AHRC subject area for all hosts.
ESRC applicants are only eligible to apply to Library of Congress and as such must be applying to undertake primary research in an ESRC subject area.
All placements must take place in one continuous block of time.
Applicants can only hold an international placement scheme (IPS) fellowship at the same IPS institution once in each stage of their career, for example once as a student and once as an ECR.
Deferred entry applications are not permitted. If successful applicants are unable to undertake their IPS placement, they would have to reapply the following year. Delays caused by COVID-19 are the exception. See the ‘what we’re looking for’ section for more details.
Individual eligibility for PhD students
Placements must be undertaken during the funded period of their award (not their writing up year).
PhD students must include their doctoral training partnership grant reference in the ‘grant reference’ section of the application form.
Because the fellowships are intended to enrich and form part of the period of doctoral study, no additional time will be added to the doctoral award end date.
AHRC funded doctoral students can apply to any host. ESRC-funded doctoral students can apply to Library of Congress only.
Individual eligibility for ECRs and doctoral level research assistants
At the point of application, you must be either:
- within eight years of the award of your PhD or equivalent professional training
- within six years of your first academic appointment.
See research funding guide for further information.
You must have a contract with a UK research organisation (RO) at the time of application that extends beyond the end date of the IPS fellowship.
Previous AHRC funding is an advantage (including PhD funding) but not necessary.
Where previous AHRC funding has been held, ECRs must include their previous grant reference in the application form.
The project will be assessed on how well it demonstrates relevance to the applicant’s PhD and area of current research. Therefore, the proposed research activities and outputs for the project should complement or feed into the applicant’s current research whilst also linking to their PhD.
Doctoral level research assistants employed on projects that extend beyond the end date of the fellowship must have previously held AHRC funding (including PhD funding), except for NIHU.
Equality, diversity and inclusion
We invite applications from eligible doctoral students and ECRs in any arts and humanities discipline and from all regions and nations of the UK.
AHRC is committed to promoting the values of equality of opportunity, diversity, and inclusivity. A dynamic, diverse and inclusive research and innovation system must be an integral part of UK society, giving everyone the opportunity to participate and to benefit. Therefore, we particularly encourage applications from persons who identify as:
- an ethnic minority
- persons with disabilities
- persons of diverse gender identities and expressions
- persons identifying with other groups who are currently underrepresented.
Applicants with disabilities may request a modest amount of additional funding where this is essential to taking up the fellowship and where it cannot be provided by routes such as the UKRI disabled students allowance. Applicants requiring this additional support should contact AHRC for further guidance and to discuss how to reflect this request within the application form.
Diversity information will not be used in the assessment process and will not be used to make funding decisions.
Host-specific eligibility
Applicants to the National Institute of Japanese Literature (NIJL), the National Museum of Japanese History (NMJH) and, depending on the research field, the International Research Center for Japanese Studies (IRCJS) are required to speak and understand Japanese to an advanced level.
For all other NIHU institutes, a knowledge of basic (conversational) Japanese is useful, but not compulsory.
For Smithsonian institutions, applicants must select a contact at the institution who will act as an adviser should the application be successful. Please use the 2022 Smithsonian opportunities for research and study guide in order to contact an appropriate Smithsonian academic or staff member.
Applicants will also need to register on Smithsonian’s online system called SOLAA. Please do not start this process until prompted by the AHRC funding officer.
Before applying, candidates must ensure their UK RO and supervisor, head of department or mentor will be content to release them for the placement should their application be successful.
