The Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (FHASS) is inviting Expressions of Interest (EoIs) from early career researchers seeking support for their application to the Leverhulme Trust's Early Career Fellowship scheme 2027.

The funding opportunity

The Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships scheme supports early career researchers, with a research record but who have not yet held a full-time permanent academic post, to undertake a significant piece of publishable work.

Full details of this opportunity are available on the Leverhulme Trust website.

Applicants should also refer to the Leverhulme Trust’s approach to grant-making.

Eligibility criteria

• Applicants must not yet have held a full-time permanent academic post in a UK university or comparable UK institution, nor may Fellows hold such a post concurrently with the Early Career Fellowship.
• All candidates must hold a doctorate by the time they take up the Fellowship. Those who are or have been registered for a doctorate at any time may apply only if they have submitted their doctoral thesis for viva voce examination by the closing date of 4pm on 18 February 2027.
• All candidates must have submitted their doctoral thesis for viva voce examination not more than four years prior to the application closing date. Hence those who formally submitted their doctoral thesis for viva voce examination before 18 February 2023 are not eligible unless they have since had a career break.
• Applicants must either hold a degree (any degree) from a UK higher education institution at the time of taking up the Fellowship or at the time of the application deadline must hold an academic position in the UK (e.g. fixed-term lectureship, fellowship) which commenced no less than 4 months prior to the closing date. Hence, those who do not hold a UK degree and whose UK academic position commenced after October 2026 are not eligible. The Trust will consider candidates without a UK degree whose UK academic post commenced after October 2026 if they have been in continuous UK academic employment for more than 4 months prior to the deadline.
• Candidates who have held or currently hold postdoctoral positions to pursue their own research project totalling (individually or in combination) 3 or more years are not eligible to apply. Please note, this refers to the full duration of the post/s and not the duration completed at the time of application or start of the Fellowship.
• Applicants who have not already moved institutions in the course of their academic career (i.e. between their undergraduate university and proposed host university) should nominate a new host university, or otherwise demonstrate clear evidence of the academic and/or personal reasons for remaining at the same university, such as access to highly specialist equipment or a highly specialised research team.
• Candidates who have held a Leverhulme Study Abroad Studentship for postdoctoral research are not eligible to apply for an Early Career Fellowship. Please note, this only applies to the 2019 award schemes onwards.

Internal expression of interest stage

• The applicant identifies and contacts a prospective mentor to discuss their potential application. The mentor should be the applicant’s first point of contact throughout the EoI process.
• Once the applicant has confirmed a mentor, the mentor should notify the Head of School that an application is being submitted.
• The applicant completes the following online Microsoft form: FHASS internal EoI for the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships 2027 – Fill in form.
• They are also required to submit a PDF copy of their academic CV (maximum two pages), together with an email from their mentor confirming that they have read the Expression of Interest (EoI), contacted the Head of School, and support the application. This needs to be sent to greenbank@lancaster.ac.uk by 5pm on Friday 6^th November 2026.
• The panel selects candidates to put forward and notifies all successful and unsuccessful candidates.

Application timetable

Date	Details
7 September 2026	Internal Expression of Interest opens. Applicants to complete the Microsoft EoI form and email a PDF copy of their academic CV (maximum two pages), together with an email from their mentor confirming that they have read the Expression of Interest (EoI), contacted the Head of School, and support the application to s.greenbank@lancaster.ac.uk
6 November 2026	Internal Expression of Interest closes 5pm, Friday 6th November.
9-13 November 2026	RSO eligibility checks. Ineligible applicants notified by RSO. Applications sent to the panel for review.
w/c 23 November 2026	Selection panel meets. Successful candidates will be notified (along with Research Cluster lead, Head of School and mentor). Selected applicants will work on their application with RSO and their mentor in preparation for the deadline. Unsuccessful candidates will be notified.
1 January 2027	Leverhulme online application form opens.
22 January 2027	Candidate to submit their application to the FHASS Peer Review College to allow sufficient time for review and comments.
12 February 2027	Head of School submits supporting statement via the Leverhulme application portal no later than 12th February.
16 February 2027	Candidate to submit their application via the Leverhulme portal to allow time for final University approval.
18 February 2027	Leverhulme Trust deadline at 4pm.

Any queries about this scheme should be directed to s.greenbank@lancaster.ac.uk.