Funding Opportunity - Mid-Career Fellowship Competition
Our 8th Mid-Career Fellowship competition has launched today. Apply by 30th January 2026.
ISRF Mid-Career Fellowship Competition
The Independent Social Research Foundation wishes to support independent-minded researchers to explore and present original research ideas which take new approaches, and suggest new solutions, to real world social problems.
Applicants will normally hold a full-time or part-time salaried position – which may be permanent or fixed-term – at an Institution of Higher Education and Research. Candidates should be more than 10 years post-PhD award at the time of application.
The awards are intended to provide full relief from all teaching duties and all associated academic administration for a period of (up to) one year.
The amount of an award depends on the nature of the work proposed and individual circumstances – the ISRF expects applications for grants up to a maximum of €102,500 (or £90,000 for UK-based applicants) to buy-out the cost of all teaching and associated administration in the applicant’s home institution for up to 12 months. Within that sum, reasonable support for research expenses may be considered on a matched-funding basis with the host institution.
Eligible Research
Innovative research which breaks with existing explanatory frameworks so as to address afresh empirical problems with no currently adequate theory or investigative methodology. Innovation may also come from controversial theoretical approaches motivated by critical challenge of incumbent theories. Interdisciplinarity in the generation of new investigative initiatives may be achieved by combining, cross-fertilising, and so transforming empirical methods and theoretical insights from the social sciences. Projects ranging across the breadth of the social scientific disciplines and interdisciplinary research fields are welcome, and relevant applications from scholars working within the humanities are also encouraged.
Applicants should consult the Criteria as set out in the Further Particulars and show that they meet them. Applicants are expected to submit their complete application electronically via the online application system, in English.