Impact of Covid-19 on the Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme

The ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme is administered by our Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) against a common specification and call deadline. As the call was launched on 18 November 2019, and is due to close on 23 March 2020, we do not anticipate that the deadline will present a problem to the vast majority of applicants. However DTPs can consider individual requests for extensions on a case-by-case basis where an individual has been directly impacted by COVID-19, and can also accept applications that might not include all of the usual supporting documentation, for example, institutional letters of support and costings, if COVID-19 has prevented applicants being able to obtain them.

We are pleased to announce the third call for our Postdoctoral Fellowship (PDF) Scheme aimed at those in the immediately postdoctoral stage of their career, to provide the opportunity to consolidate their PhD through developing publications, their networks, and their research and professional skills.

The PDF call forms part of ESRC’s strategy to supporting early career researchers and will be delivered through our national network of Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs).

The call is open to applicants who have completed their PhD at a research organisation that is part of a DTP or CDT and who are within 12 months of passing their viva voce. At the submission deadline, the applicant must either have been awarded a PhD or have submitted their thesis and passed their viva voce with minor corrections, with the expectation that the PhD will be awarded by the fellowship start date.

The call specification, a frequently asked questions document and application form will be available on the DTP websites. DTPs will have their own procedures in place to peer review the proposals and make funding decisions on behalf of ESRC. Where this includes an Expressions of Interest stage, potential applicants must abide by the deadlines specified by the DTP to which they intend applying.

All applicants must submit a full proposal along with the required attachments by 16.00 on 23 March 2020 to the DTP they are applying to.

The DTPs participating in the third round are: