1. Faculty of Arts, Humanities and Cultures
  2. School of Languages, Cultures and Societies
  3. Research and innovation
  4. Postdoctoral Fellowships
  5. British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme

British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme

The British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme is now open for outline applications. 

LCS internal process/advice for the 26/27 scheme

Please note that you are strongly advised to check the updated eligibility requirements for this scheme on the British Academy (BA) website before beginning an application. It is particularly important to note that the BA do not allow unsuccessful applicants to reapply to this scheme, and so serious consideration should be given to the readiness of your application. 

This scheme operates an outline application stage: only applicants who are successful in the outline phase will be invited to make a full application. Applicants who are successful in the 2026/27 outline stage will be invited to submit a full application by 17 February 2027.

The School of Languages, Cultures and Societies (LCS) screens applications for quality and offers rigorous peer review to candidates. You are strongly encouraged to get in touch with us at the earliest possible opportunity so that we can help you to shape your research project, as well as working with you on the application itself. 

If you have any queries on this scheme which are not covered by these pages then please contact LCSResearch@leeds.ac.uk and we will be happy to help. 

LCS internal process: advice for applicants

1.    Find a mentor 
Interested applicants should send their full academic CV, plus a detailed project proposal (no more than two pages of A4), to their prospective mentor for consideration. We would encourage you to get in touch at the earliest opportunity so that you can finalise your project in conjunction with your mentor. If you do not have a mentor in mind, please have a look at our  research pages, staff profiles, and searchable mentor lists - and feel free to make contact directly with relevant colleagues. Once you’ve reviewed these potential lists of mentors, if you still feel you need advice, please contact LCSResearch@leeds.ac.uk and we will try to put you in touch with potential mentors. 

2.    Notify the Research Team and start your Flexigrant application 
Once you have found a mentor to work with, then (if you haven’t already), please let us know that you’re preparing an application by contacting LCSResearch@leeds.ac.uk. Don’t forget to tell us who your mentor is. We suggest that you begin work on your application on the BA Flexigrant system as early as possible. Your mentor will offer support and peer review through this early stage of the process. It is important that you work on your application in the Flexigrant system, as our peer review processes require you to provide us with a copy of this for us to review.  

3.    Peer review – deadline 9am Wednesday 26 August 2026
Applicants are strongly encouraged to send their draft applications for School peer review before they are submitted to the BA. We require drafts to be submitted by 9am Wednesday 26 August 2026 at the absolute latest if you wish to take advantage of peer review. When submitting your application to the School for peer review, please note that we require you to download and send us your full application from the Flexigrant system. We suggest that you focus on the following parts of the application: the research proposal; personal statement; plan of action; planned research outputs; plans for dissemination and publication and academic CV. 

4.    Internal scheme deadline - deadline 16 September 2026 
The internal closing date for applications for this scheme is 16 September 2026, 2 weeks before the BA’s deadline of 30 September. Applications received after this internal deadline cannot be supported. 

Timeline for the outline application phase 

In summary, the key dates for the outline application phase are as follows: 

  • 9am 26 August 2026 – peer review deadline. Applicants must have provided the School with a downloaded version of their Flexigrant applications by this date. Feedback on applications will be provided within 7 - 10 working days of receipt. 

  • 16 September 2026 – University of Leeds internal deadline for the scheme. Applications must be almost or completely finalised by this date, so that our teams have time to add the final details and undertake the checks and sign off. 

  • 30 September 2026 – BA deadline (please note that your referee must have submitted their reference to the BA by this date). 

What next

Outline applications which are successful will be notified in early 2027 and invited to submit to the second stage (full application). Successful applicants who are invited to submit to the second stage should contact LCS as soon as possible using LCSResearch@leeds.ac.uk to discuss further support and peer review in time for the BA deadline.

Timeline for the 2026/27 second stage:

  • 13 January 2027 - opens for applications

  • 17 February 2027 - deadline for applications. Note: there will be an earlier deadline for peer review within LCS

  • June/July 2027 - results announced

  • Earliest start date for successful applicants: 1 September 2027

  • Latest start date: 1 January 2028