RACE.ED Stuart Hall Foundation Fellowship

• Research visit at the University of Edinburgh for three to ten months
• Bursary of £2,000 per month, plus grants for visa fees if required
• Dedicated office space at IASH, University e-mail and library access
• An allocated University mentor from the RACE.ED Network and/or a School within the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
• Weekly Fellows’ Lunch to build community
• Collegial work-in-progress seminar series for testing new ideas
• Calendar of engaging events at the Institute and College

RACE.ED is a cross-university network concerned with race, racialization and decolonial studies from a multidisciplinary perspective. Working across different traditions of thought, research, and teaching commitments, RACE.ED is made up of more than one hundred colleagues across the three colleges of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, and Science and Engineering at the University of Edinburgh.

Successful applicants to the Fellowship will benefit from working with the Stuart Hall Foundation to develop their career and research profile. Post holders will be able to engage with and contribute to the resources and networks of the Stuart Hall Foundation, including an annual gathering of Stuart Hall Foundation Scholars and Fellows, and privileged access to the work of the Foundation.

Inspired by the life and work of Jamaican-born British public intellectual Stuart Hall, founding figure of British Cultural Studies, key arts supporter, inspirational educator and leading voice for social justice, the Stuart Hall Foundation was established in 2015 to address urgent questions of race, class and intersecting inequalities through a commitment to public education. 

The Stuart Hall Foundation is committed to providing opportunities for students and academics, pursuing themes resonant with the work of Professor Stuart Hall and that of the Foundation. Acutely aware of the obstacles to achievement in higher education faced by young people from culturally diverse and disadvantaged backgrounds – evidenced by admissions data and the lack of diversity among academic staff – the Stuart Hall Foundation is working in partnership with universities in the UK and internationally to continue Professor Stuart Hall’s life-long commitment to teaching.

Learn more about the Stuart Hall Foundation here: www.stuarthallfoundation.org

Learn more about Professor Stuart Hall here: www.stuarthallfoundation.org/stuart-hall

IASH provides an enviable location in one of the world’s most intellectually inspiring cities, together with a dynamic network of international connections.

Home to the Scottish Enlightenment, Edinburgh has a rich cultural heritage of scholarship and creativity that continues to the present day. In this haven of libraries and archives, galleries and music venues – all set amid iconic architecture – IASH takes the humanities beyond campus to engage the public and work with organisations in a variety of different sectors.

The Institute welcomes visiting researchers from across the world. Since 1970, over 1,500 Fellows have stepped through our doors. Up to 30 researchers are in residence at any one time in our amazing – and eclectic – nineteenth-century building just on the edge of the University’s central campus, boasting views of the Meadows.

From upwards of 65 countries, IASH Fellows form a global alumni community, and many career-long connections begin at the Institute.

We warmly welcome applications from postdoctoral scholars from around the world. Selection will be subject to the immigration rules governing the UK.  Applicants must have a suitable project or study to undertake which engages meaningfully with the works of Stuart Hall, although it does not need to focus solely on Hall’s ideas - for 2025-26, we especially welcome applications that contribute to our 2025-26 theme, Making A Nation, by focusing on post-imperial national identities.

Applicants must have been awarded a doctorate at the time of application, and normally within the last seven years (you must be able to produce a transcript, testamur, or a letter of completion/eligibility to graduate as part of your application), or to have published work of doctoral character and quality. You should not have held a previous Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities. Those who have held temporary and/or short-term appointments are eligible to apply.

The online portal will open in January 2025.

Any additional supporting documents connected with an application should be emailed to iash@ed.ac.uk.

The closing date for the receipt of the next round of applications (for visits from August 2025 to July 2026) is 17:00 GMT on 25 April 2025. Applications received after that date will not be considered. Decisions will be communicated in July. Please ensure that you supply a valid email address so that you can be contacted quickly after decisions are made.

• In addition to the application form, a minimum of two and a maximum of three confidential references are required.
• Applicants should ask their referees to email their reference to the Director at iash@ed.ac.uk by 25 April 2025.
• Referees should comment on the nature and quality of the research proposal, as well as on the qualifications of the applicant. One referee should certify the successful viva (defence) and final examination of the candidate’s PhD thesis.

• Consideration will be given to the academic record and the publications of all applicants and their capacity to disseminate their views among a community of like-minded people. Candidates must give evidence of any contact they have made with researchers at the University of Edinburgh, are required to make such contact before submitting their applications, and those who can evidence the relevance of their proposed project to the University of Edinburgh research community will be regarded favourably.  Particular weight will be placed on the quality and timeliness of the project proposed, and we encourage innovative and interdisciplinary topics and approaches.
• Fellows are expected to participate in RACE.ED’s activities (such as delivering a workshop or seminars on their chosen topic).
• Fellows are expected to become involved in RACE.ED and to commit to agreed objectives such as contributing to contextual description of collections, a workshop and seminar on the nature of such work and challenges around it, or a series of blog posts. Events could include curating a virtual pop up exhibition. This will form part of the evaluation of candidates.
• Only fully completed formal applications will be considered. It is the responsibility of each applicant to ensure that all documentation is complete, and that referees submit their reports to IASH by the closing date. 
• Fellows must make the Institute their main place of work for the duration of the Fellowship.  It is expected that Fellows will be in residence throughout the tenure of their Fellowship and will contribute fully to the life of the Institute during that time. Fellows give at least one seminar presentation during their tenure, and submit a report on their research at the end of their Fellowship. No regular teaching is required.
• For information about the scope of work undertaken at the University of Edinburgh, see Edinburgh Research Explorer, or browse through the staff pages of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences.