The Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures at Royal Holloway University of London invites Expressions of Interest in application to the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship scheme, to be held in the Department or the School of Humanities from 2024. Expressions of Interest will be assessed with a view to identifying applications for development.
We welcome interest from postdoctoral researchers wishing to undertake exciting and innovative research projects in Modern Languages or Comparative Literature and Culture. Recipients of Fellowships receive the support of an appropriate mentor and will be integrated into the research and teaching in one of the leading Modern Languages departments in the UK. Our world-leading research strengths were confirmed by the results of the nationally-conducted Research Assessment Exercise 2021, which saw us ranked 5th in the country for our overall research by Grade Point Average.
We have an international reputation for research in French, German, Spanish, Italian, Comparative Literature and World Literatures, and are home to the Centre for Visual Cultures. Our research reflects both our language-specific interests and shared strengths across a range of specialisms: literature from the middle-ages to the present; film, television and digital media studies; visual cultures; critical and cultural studies; philosophy and critical theory; gender and sexuality studies; colonial and postcolonial studies; historical and political studies.
In both our teaching and research cultures we aim to foster interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary work, creativity, and co-operation.
Fellowships are tenable for 3 years on a full-time basis. The Trust will support requests to hold the award part-time over a proportionately longer period for health-related reasons, disability or childcare commitments.
Full details of the scheme can be found here.
Applying
The initial documentation should be submitted to Prof James Williams (Research Lead, Languages, Literatures and Cultures) by noon, Friday 13th December 2024, and should consist of:
- ONE PAGE (600 words max) covering research question and context; materials; approach; an indication of structure
- ONE PAGE CV
To be successful, applications should have a strong match with research interests in the Department and, for interdisciplinary applications, the School of Humanities. Applicants are encouraged to check the research interests of the Department here.
With that in mind, applicants are encouraged to seek informal preliminary support either through existing academic contacts in the Department or by writing to Prof Williams (james.williams@rhul.ac.uk) for advice and introductions. The Department welcomes cross-disciplinary projects and when appropriate will seek supporting academic guidance from other disciplinary areas.
The Department particularly welcomes applications from persons identifying with structurally and historically disadvantaged groups.
