Postdoctoral Fellowship Opportunity
LSE has been awarded funding by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) to appoint a number of Postdoctoral Fellows for the 2027/28 academic year. The European Institute is looking to support a candidate, who will be based in the department. The scheme is open to both internal and external candidates.
We welcome applications from candidates whose research contributes to the study of contemporary Europe. Applicants may come from any discipline within the social sciences, with the European Institute offering particular expertise in our four main research themes of political economy, politics and policy, culture and society, and migration.
Applicants must have completed their PhD at a UK research organisation, and meet the ESRC’s eligibility requirements. You do not need to have previously held an ESRC-funded studentship. Applicants may not hold an established permanent academic post with a research component.
The primary purpose of the fellowship is to consolidate applicants' research profiles following the successful completion of their PhD. Proposed programmes of work must arise from and build upon the applicant's doctoral research. The fellowship cannot be used to fund new research.
Applicants must have submitted their thesis and passed their viva voce, with no corrections or minor corrections only, by 23 March 2027, and must have been awarded their PhD by the fellowship start date (usually 1 October 2027).
Applicants must have less than 12 months of active postdoctoral research experience (full-time equivalent) between passing their viva voce and 23 March 2027. Please see the FAQs for full details of the eligibility criteria.
Fellowships will normally last up to nine months (at full-time equivalent), starting on 1 October 2027, and must finish by 30 June 2028. Exceptions will only be considered for part-time awards, parental or sick leave.
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Applicants may submit only one application to one ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP).
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Full details of the programme, including answers to frequently asked questions, are available in the ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship FAQs.
Application Deadline:
Applications approved by the European Institute's internal selection panel must be submitted by 23.59 (UK time) on Tuesday 23 March 2027. Final applications will be submitted to the ESRC through LSE as part of the DTP competition.
| 10 November 2026 | Scheme launch |
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| 16 February 2027 | Deadline for applicants to contact prospective mentors |
| 08 March 2027, by 23:59 | Internal deadline for submission of draft proposals to the European Institute at ei.academic@lse.ac.uk |
| 23 March 2027, by 23:59 | Final application deadline (Please note: Only applications containing all mandatory attachments will be considered. Incomplete applications will not be considered.) |
| 19 May to 30 June 2027 (inclusive) | Applicants must be available to respond to nominations and submit their proposals to the ESRC (Please note: Applicants may be placed on the reserve list at this stage). |
| 1 October 2027 | Expected fellowship start date |
More Information:
The ESRC website includes resources on preparing research proposals, and information about ethics, research impact and development collaborations.
The ESRCs impact toolkit is a helpful reference for developing impact strategies.
ESRC Research Ethics Guidance provides useful information on ethics issues to consider during the lifecycle of a project.
ESRC Research Data Policy defines the roles and responsibilities of ESRC grant holders for research data.