Funding opportunity: ESRC postdoctoral fellowships

Opportunity status: Open
Funders: Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Funding type: Fellowship
Publication date: 10 November 2026
Opening date: 10 November 2026 9:00am UK time
Closing date: 23 March 2027 11:59pm UK time

Apply for a postdoctoral fellowship to develop:

publications
networks
research skills
professional skills

You must have:

completed your PhD in the UK at a UK research organisation (RO)
less than 12 months’ active postdoctoral experience (at full-time rate) measured from passing your viva voce to the funding opportunity closing date

Fellowships must be held at a RO that is part of a Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) and aligned to an accredited subject area.

You can apply to this funding opportunity if you have:

completed your PhD in the UK at a UK research organisation
have less than 12 months of active postdoctoral experience (at full-time equivalent rate) from passing your viva voce to the competition closing date

At the submission deadline, you must either have:

been awarded a PhD
have submitted your thesis and passed your viva voce with minor corrections, with the expectation that the PhD will be awarded by the fellowship start date

If major corrections are required to your thesis you will not be eligible for this year’s funding opportunity. That is unless you can show that your corrections have been submitted and approved by the competition closing date.

Your proposal can be from a single discipline or a combination of disciplines, but social sciences must make up at least 50% of your fellowship activities.

Equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI)

We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.

We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:

career breaks
support for people with caring responsibilities
flexible working
alternative working patterns

Find out more about EDI at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).

Scope

Your actual programme or proposed programme of activities should reflect your prior knowledge and experience and be designed to support your longer-term research career aspirations.

Your application must demonstrate a realistic and practicable programme of work. Some suggested activities which could be included are as follows, but it is important to note that you are not expected to complete all activities on this list:

producing publications to help establish track record
engaging with a range of different audiences to communicate research findings
building networks to develop impact opportunities and inform and support further development
collaborating with users through an internship or placement to help develop professional and transferrable skills and understanding of users’ organisations, provided they are an integral part of the fellowship
further training to improve research and related skills
developing funding proposals
teaching, if this is aligned with the wider purposes of the fellowship (up to a maximum of six hours per week)
research visits to internationally leading ROs, either in the UK or abroad, for research collaboration, training, and access to data or other resources not available at your host organisation

New research cannot be funded through these fellowships.

Fellowships must be held at a research organisation that is part of a DTP and aligned to an accredited subject area.

We welcome proposals from both single disciplines and combinations of disciplines, but the fellowship activities must be based at least 50% within the social sciences.

Duration

The duration of this award is up to nine months full-time, or up to 18 months part-time. The duration of part-time awards should be pro-rated based on the fellow’s time commitment.

Fellowships must start on 1 October 2027. We will consider requests for later start dates in exceptional circumstances, speak to your DTP to discuss this further.

Participating DTPs

The DTPs participating in this opportunity are:

You must apply directly to the DTP and they will administer the assessment process. Only one application to a single DTP is permitted.

DTPs will have their own procedures in place to assess proposals through expert review and make funding decisions on behalf of the ESRC. Where this includes an expression of interest stage, you must abide by the deadlines specified by the DTP to which you intend applying.

Full details, including the opportunity specification, a frequently asked questions document and an application form will be available on the DTP websites.

Deadline

You must submit a full proposal along with the required attachments by 23 March 2027 at 11.59pm UK time to the DTP you are applying to.

You will not be able to apply after this time.

Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.

Personal data

Processing personal data

ESRC, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your UKRI Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications.

We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our privacy notice.

Publication of outcomes

If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the UKRI Gateway to Research.

For queries, contact the relevant DTP directly.

ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowships