Externally funded collaborative grants and visiting fellowships
If you are interested in applying for an externally funded collaborative grant or fellowship, please note that it is your responsibility to find an appropriate member of staff at the University of Cambridge who is willing to act as your sponsor. No further advice or support will be provided by our Research Grants Administration Team without this. University of Cambridge staff members who are willing to act as mentors should familiarise themselves with the Department of POLIS guidance for research applications in the first instance. Specific enquiries by those who have already secured a member of staff to sponsor them may be addressed to rga@polis.cam.ac.uk.
Centre of African Studies Visiting Fellowship 2025-26
The Centre of African Studies, with the generous assistance of the A.G. Leventis Foundation, is pleased to announce a Visiting Research Fellowship to be held at the University of Cambridge.
Applications are invited for a Visiting Research Fellowship to commence no later than Tuesday 20 January 2026. The maximum duration of a Fellowship is six months and is non-renewable.
Fellows will have access, by agreement, to the holdings of Faculty and Departmental libraries, to the library of the Centre of African Studies and to the University Library.
Travel, visa, college accommodation, and maintenance costs will be paid by the Centre on behalf of the fellow. The Centre is not able to provide additional sums for the travel and living expenses of anyone accompanying the Fellow to Cambridge. The sum is not subject to tax in the UK.
The aim of the Fellowships is to enable the fellows to focus on a period of research and writing in Cambridge.
Applications are invited from candidates in all the disciplines in the humanities and social sciences. Applicants are expected to have completed a doctoral degree before the Fellowship start date. Preference will be given to candidates with a distinguished research profile commensurate with their academic rank. Early- to mid-career researchers are particularly encouraged to apply. Offers are normally made to applicants who are based in African universities or research institutions. It is expected that applicants would come to Cambridge to work on a project that builds on existing research for which a period of residence in Cambridge is demonstrably appropriate. They should present a clear and feasible plan for preparing one or more pieces of work for publication. The initiation of a new research project will not be ruled out where there is a realistic expectation that it could be substantially advanced by the end of the tenure of the Fellowship.
All candidates are requested to submit a CV and research proposal each not exceeding 2 pages in length to vf@african.cam.ac.uk. The deadline for submissions is Friday 30th May 2025.