Postdoctoral Opportunities

These 2-year postdoctoral fellowships are intended to enable early career researchers to move from another country to the UK(Cambridge), provided that they have not spent more than 1 year in the three years prior to the deadline (usually September) in the UK. These are not typical research fellowships or project grants but are for training-through-research rather than just research. Applicants must have their PhD at application deadline and may have up to 8 years FTE post-doc research experience. Cambridge Archaeology operates an internal selection process, usually with two deadlines each year (1 March and 1 June). Potential applicants should make contact with their project Supervisor as early as possible and well before these deadlines. Further details of the scheme can be found at Postdoctoral Fellowships | Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (europa.eu)

For initial enquiries please contact Mr Nicholas Ward. Please note applications for this year have now closed.

Restricted call: British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships 

The 2025 British Academy Postdoctoral call (start date 2026) opens 2 July 2025. An internal shortlisting procedure will operate. Interested applicants should complete the internal selection form and follow the instructions included. This includes a proposal template with a synopsis of the supervisor, your proposed research, a CV and list of publications by an internal deadline of 9am BST Wednesday 20th August 2025. Awards are typically for three years and cover the salary of the Postdoctoral Fellow to work full-time on the Fellowship, small-scale research expenses, costs towards the time of a mentor and the host institution's estates and indirect costs. All documents should be sent to Dr Katherine Boyle and Mr Nicholas Ward

The Department of Archaeology and McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research welcome applications for ‘Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships’. These highly competitive awards provide career development opportunities for researchers with a proven record of research at a relatively early stage of their academic careers (PhD submitted no earlier than 19 February 2022 unless there has been a career break; doctoral thesis to have been submitted for via voce by 4pm on 19th February 2026).

Fellows are expected to undertake a significant piece of publishable research during the tenure of the award; the project proposed should therefore not be a reworking or mere extension of the candidate’s doctoral research. Successful candidates will join a large and dynamic group of postdoctoral research fellows at the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research. In addition to research funding from the Leverhulme Trust, they will be eligible to apply for up to £5,000 a year from the McDonald Grants and Awards Scheme to cover any other research expenses.  

In Cambridge applications to Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships are supported by matched funding from the Newton Trust for years 2 and 3. This year the Newton Trust has an internal application deadline of 13th November 2025. Therefore preliminary applications must be submitted to the McDonald Institute no later than midnight Sunday 12th October. Please send to grants@mcdonald.cam.ac.uk, cc-ed to Katherine Boyle. 
Detailed information on the internal deadlines for this scheme and the information required can be found here:

1. https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/early-career-fellowships
2. https://www.newtontrust.cam.ac.uk/ECFs/LeverhulmeECF/Leverhulmedepts
3. https://www.newtontrust.cam.ac.uk/ECFs/LeverhulmeECF

You must consult all three pages. 

Guidance for applicants can be found at this link here
Please read these guidance notes thoroughly. Applications should be developed in collaboration with a proposed host academic. Applications will be subject to internal review and two will be selected to be forwarded to the Newton Trust by 13th November. Successful internal applicants will have the opportunity to revise their application with feedback from the internal selection panel in early November. It is expected that applicants who go on to secure Newton Trust funding will be notified in December 2025 and will then prepare a final application to be submitted to the Leverhulme Trust by 19 February 2026, 4pm. Please note that internal application costing and processing s processes mean that application deadlines are at least two full working days before this funder deadline.
Applications at this stage should consist of the following in a single Pdf:  
•    completed coversheet here
•    a brief c.v. (not exceeding two sides) 
•    a list of your major publications (maximum one side) 
•    a statement of your current research (maximum 250 words) 
•    a brief statement (maximum 150 words) explaining why the Cambridge University Department of Archaeology is the best place for this research to be undertaken 
•    a detailed statement of your proposed research (maximum two sides) 

In addition, two letters of reference are needed at the internal stage, one of which should come from outside Cambridge (the national stage of the Leverhulme competition requires a third reference as well, but this is not necessary for the internal INT competition).  Please ask your referees to send their letters directly to grants@mcdonald.cam.ac.uk and Katherine Boyle by the deadline. Please ensure your application and reference letters have an appropriate file name (i.e. surname_LECRF2026; ref_surname_LECRF2026).  
 

Closing date: N/A

The Renfrew fellowship has concluded for this academic year.

Details will be posted at the next opportunity of applications. 

Of up to 5 years (may be shorter in the Humanities & Social Sciences), providing PI salary and up to £400,000 research expenses. You must have your PhD and may also have some postdoctoral experience in your proposed field of study, but generally no more than three years. Applicants must confirm that their project fits well with the Wellcome Trust subject remit relating to health, medicine etc. See Wellcome Early-Career Awards - Grant funding.

Awards of 3 years, intended to enable early career scientists or engineers of exceptional promise to conduct a research project of their own instigation with the ultimate objective of contributing to the knowledge base required for a healthy and innovative national culture. You must have no more than 3 years of postdoctoral experience. Royal Commission for the Exhibition 1851.

A 36-month Early Career Researcher award focusing on the Social Sciences, including heritage studies and some aspects of Biological Anthroplogy. Proposals can cover any research area, but the social sciences must represent more than 50% of the research focus and effort. The School of Humanities and Social Sciences operates an internal selection process which allows applications to go forward to submission. See ESRC new investigator grant – UKRI

Facilitated by the British Academy and/or Royal Society, these 2-year awards are intended for non-UK scientists with no more than seven years active full-time postdoctoral experience at the time of application who wish to conduct research in the UK. For those applying without a PhD, all requirements for the PhD must have been completed (including viva) before the fellowship starts. See International Fellowships 2024 | The British Academy  The internal deadline is Monday 6th January 2025 for which you will need to provide a CV and a draft application using the criteria listed at International Fellowships 2024 guidance notes | The British Academy under Question Guidance. The documents for the internal deadline and any questions should be sent to Nicholas Ward on grants@mcdonald.cam.ac.uk. 

These 8-year awards are intended for outstanding scientists with three to eight years of postdoc experience who have the potential to become leaders in their field. Some aspects of Archaeological Science are eligible for consideration. These are substantial awards and those interested must contact us at least three months before the deadline. See University Research Fellowship | Royal Society. Please note that this year's applications have now closed.

For these 5-year awards applicants may have no more than eight years of full-time postdoctoral research experience at time of application. Those without a PhD must have submitted their thesis/dissertation before interview. Proposals need to be at least 50% within NERC’s remit (i.e the Natural Environment). For some NERC schemes the University operates a selection/approval process. Therefore several months’ notice must be given. See Independent research fellowships – UKRI. Internal deadline is 25th February 2025

Information about Junior Research Fellowships, which are advertised by individual Cambridge Colleges can usually be found at College jobs - Job Opportunities at the relevant time of year.