Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
The term postdoctoral research fellowship refers to independent sources of funding that you can apply for as an early career researcher to do your own research project. These are prestigious and highly competitive but give an excellent opportunity to focus on research for a period of time without a heavy teaching load.
How to apply
Please browse the below list of prestigious fellowships and, if you are interested, contact a potential mentor from our Academic Staff list via email with your proposal. Please note LSE Fellows cannot mentor research fellows.
The call is open to applicants who have completed their PhD at a research organisation that is part of an ESRC Doctoral Training Partnership (DTP) and who are within 12 months of passing their viva voce. At the submission deadline, the applicant must either have been awarded a PhD or have submitted their thesis and passed their viva voce with minor corrections, with the expectation that the PhD will be awarded by the fellowship start date.
See the ESRC websitefor further details.
The MWP is open to eligible applicants who are within 5 years from the completion of their PhD, from anywhere in the world, regardless of nationality and including non-EU citizens. Preference is given to applicants who have only just completed their doctorate and have not had a post-doctoral fellowship before. The Programme attracts circa 1200 applicants per year for 55-60 positions.
See the Max Weber websitefor further details.
The AXA Fellowship is a funding scheme aiming at supporting young promising researchers on a priority topic aligned with AXA and the Society. Our support should be transformative for the researcher and the advancement of her/his research field.
See the AXA websitefor further details.
- The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) website hosts a Funding Finder for information about postdocs and beyond
- Research Division at LSE. Sign up to their research briefing.
- Research Professional is a database of funding opportunities to which LSE has an active subscription. Create an account from an LSE computer and then access it off-site using your account. It includes funding at all levels including conference funding, travel funds, early-career research fellowships etc.
- Internal funding is also available in some circumstances.
- External sources are also listed on the HR site.