From the archive: Getting British Academy buy-in

Confidence is key to convincing reviewers that you are worthy of a Senior Research Fellowship

A mainstay of the arts, humanities and social sciences funding landscape, British Academy and Leverhulme Trust Senior Research Fellowships buy out research time for experienced researchers looking to dedicate themselves to a project for up to a year. This year, the scheme will open to applications on 5 October and the deadline is 16 November.

As you might expect, this is a highly competitive scheme that receives bids from some of the UK’s foremost scholars. To stand a chance, you must frame your bid with the dual confidence that your personal project is valuable and that you are uniquely well positioned to undertake it. This is what Jeanne Morefield, associate professor of political theory and fellow at New College, University of Oxford, told us in June 2021, shortly after clinching her fellowship.