Academic Visitors

The Department of Sociology welcomes applications from a wide range of individuals. Visitors to the department come under three main categories:

1. Visiting Fellows: academics at Assistant Professor level, early career researchers, or non-academic practitioners of equivalent standing.

2. Visiting Senior Fellows: academics at Associate Professor level, or non-academic practitioners of equivalent standing.

3. Visiting Professors: Full Professors, or non-academics who have achieved prominence in public life or attained distinction in their profession.

We welcome applications from early career researchers.

We also welcome research students from other universities to spend from one term up to one academic year at LSE as a Visiting Research Student (VRS).

All visitors are required to make a significant and substantial contribution to teaching, research and the intellectual life of the department. This may include the following: giving lectures or seminars to undergraduate, postgraduate or research students; participating in the research seminar series; giving a public lecture. All visitors are expected to contribute a blog post to the Researching Sociologyblog series.

Visitors are part of the intellectual life of the department and are able to meet all staff here and elsewhere in LSE. Visitors are also welcome to join in the many talks, debates and public lectures held across LSE. Visitors will be provided with a shared office space, an LSE IT account and email address, as well as access to LSE’s library.

Please note that the department does not reimburse visitors’ travel or accommodation expenses, nor does it provide secretarial assistance. Visiting appointments are unpaid.

Visitors are required to use the exact visitor title when referring to their LSE affiliation in any written or electronic correspondence.

If you are interested in visiting the Department of Sociology at LSE you are advised to contact a member of faculty in the first instance, who might be willing to act as the Departmental Sponsor for the duration of your visit. Please note all applicants must have a sponsor.

To make an application please fill in the form, following the guidelines: Visitors Application Form

All applications, together with an up-to-date CV, must be formally submitted to Sociology.research@lse.ac.uk by one of the following deadlines:

22 September 2025, for an earliest start date of 24 November 2025

8 December 2025, for an earliest start date of 2 March 2026

16 February 2026, for an earliest start date of 5 May 2026

20 April 2026, for an earliest start date of 6 July 2026

29 June 2026, for an earliest start date of 7 September 2026

No visit can commence before the official notification is issued.

Applications will be assessed by the Research Committee according to the following criteria:

The applicant’s fit with departmental research clusters and the research interests of individual academics
The applicant’s international standing in the discipline
The applicant’s potential contribution to teaching in the Department and/or the School more broadly
The availability of office space in the Department

Please note that the Research Committee panel reviews applications during specified times following the deadlines listed above. Applications submitted late will not be considered until the next meeting, except in exceptional circumstances. Once approved by the Committee, applications then have to be submitted to the School for confirmation. The process can take several months, and we therefore advise prospective visitors to apply well before they intend to come.

Visitors who are not nationals of the European Economic Area and who receive financial support from a UK source to carry out their research are required to have eligibility to work in the UK.

Academic Visitors

Application procedure