Fellowships-in-Residence

Fellowships-in-Residence

Fellowships-in-Residence provide an opportunity for academics based outside Oxford to conduct research on American history, politics, international relations, literature or culture, at the RAI. Applicants should be working on research within the field of the RAI’s core activities.

Fellows-in-Residence use their time at the Institute to write books and articles, and participate in our community through seminars and events. Preference will be given to applicants who outline a specific research project for their time at the RAI, which either uses the resources of the Institute's Vere Harmsworth Library or would be of interest to our scholarly community.

Two men standing and talking
Senior Visiting Research Fellow speaking

 

Fellowships-in-Residence are non-stipendiary, but carry full access to the Vere Harmsworth Library – which offers the strongest collection in US history in Europe, including a wide range of digital resources – and to Oxford University’s other libraries. Fellows have access to hot-desk space at the RAI. We expect Fellows to spend at least three working days each week at the RAI, to attend seminars and events at the Institute, and to give an academic paper at the Institute during their Fellowship. It will be helpful to give an outline of this paper in the application.  

Fellowships-in-Residence are tenable for a full academic year, or for the long summer vacation. Applications for shorter periods will be considered on a case-by-case basis. For dates of term, see http://www.ox.ac.uk/about/facts-and-figures/dates-of-term.

Applicants are likely to be:

  • Academics who have recently completed a doctorate, or are at an early stage of their academic career
  • Academics with posts in the UK or elsewhere 
  • Academics who wish to conduct research in Oxford during the summer. Please submit applications for summer fellowships in the spring of the calendar year in which the fellowship is to be held.

Apply for a FiR

 

A Fellowship-in-Residence application consists of 4 elements:

  1. A completed application form
  2. A two-page curriculum vitae
  3. A one-page outline of the research to be undertaken during the Fellowship. This should include the title of the project(s) to be undertaken, a summary of the project, its research question and intellectual significance, as well as prospective publication plans
  4. Two academic references in support of the applicant, which must reach the RAI by the application deadline

 

All application materials should be sent to enquiries@rai.ox.ac.uk. 

The deadline to apply for fellowships tenable in the academic year 2022-23 has now passed. Applications for fellowships tenable in the summer of 2023 or the 2023-24 academic year will open early in 2023.

 

 

The programme of seminars and lectures took my breath away and ensured there was always a buzz in the air. And the scholars I met, from all over the world, challenged and stimulated me daily. My time at the RAI was a wonderful intellectual experience.

Dr Michael Ondaatje, University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia