Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships: Three-Year Co-Funded Research Fellowships for Early-Career Academics at UK Universities

Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships: Three-Year Co-Funded Research Fellowships for Early-Career Academics at UK Universities

The Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship is a three-year salaried research appointment for an early-career researcher who has a proven research record but has not yet established a permanent academic career. The award is held at a UK university with research degree awarding powers. It is intended for a substantial, publishable project that moves beyond a doctoral thesis and gives the Fellow protected time to develop an independent programme of work.

The 2026 competition is closed. The Trust’s published closing date was 4pm on 19 February 2026, and the application had to be approved and submitted by the host university. The official scheme page does not publish a confirmed deadline for a 2027 competition. This entry therefore remains a historical reference for the 2026 round, rather than presenting an unannounced future date as if applicants could use it now.

Key details

The salary figures describe the Trust’s contribution, not a guaranteed personal salary. The host university agrees the appointment and salary within its own pay framework and provides the balance required by the scheme. The research-expense allowance is separate from salary and is intended for direct costs that support the approved project.

What the award supports

The Fellowship provides 36 months of employment at the host university. In the first year, the Trust contributes the Fellow’s total salary costs up to its stated maximum. In each of the second and third years, the Trust contributes half of the total salary costs up to its annual maximum, while the university pays the balance. The arrangement gives the host a direct financial commitment to the researcher and requires the department to identify and secure its matching funds before submission.

The Trust also makes up to £6,000 per year available for research expenses. A realistic budget might include research travel, fieldwork, archive or library work, conference attendance, research assistance, laboratory consumables, or other necessary project costs. The application should explain why each cost is needed and how it fits the work plan. The allowance is not a general departmental budget: institutional overheads and unrelated costs should not be presented as Fellowship expenses.

The Fellow is an employee of the host university and is subject to its employment terms. The Trust expects the host department to provide an appropriate research environment, including the facilities and practical support needed to carry out the project. Teaching is not the purpose of the award. Some relevant teaching experience may be possible with the university, but it must not displace the substantial publishable research that the Fellowship is designed to support.

Who could apply in the 2026 round

The scheme is open across academic disciplines, but “all subjects” does not mean every kind of research is eligible. The Trust’s guidance excludes studies of disease, illness and disability in humans or animals, as well as research intended to inform clinical practice or the development of medical applications. A project should therefore be framed around fundamental research rather than an applied medical intervention. Applicants should read the Trust’s current remit before preparing a future application because the boundary is important and a strong project can still be ineligible if its central purpose falls within an excluded area.

Applicants needed to hold a doctorate, or equivalent research experience, by the time the Fellowship began. Anyone who had ever been registered for a doctorate needed to have submitted the doctoral thesis for viva voce examination by the 2026 closing date. The normal eligibility window was no more than four years from thesis submission to the closing date. The Trust allows adjustments for recognised career breaks, such as parental or family responsibilities, illness, disability, or other exceptional circumstances. Time spent working outside academia is not automatically treated as a career break.

The scheme is for researchers who have not yet held a full-time permanent academic post in a UK university or comparable institution. A permanent post that contains no research is still considered under the Trust’s eligibility rules, and a permanent post cannot be held concurrently with the Fellowship. Applicants holding a stipendiary Fellowship also cannot hold both awards at the same time. In addition, candidates who have already held postdoctoral positions to pursue their own independent research for three years or more in total are not eligible under the published criteria.

There is a UK connection requirement. An applicant must either hold a degree from a UK higher-education institution by the time the Fellowship begins or, at the application deadline, hold an academic position in the UK that started at least four months earlier. Nationality alone does not satisfy this requirement. The proposed place of tenure must be a UK university with research degree awarding powers, and the Fellow is expected to be resident in the UK during the award.

The Trust also encourages movement between institutions during an academic career. Someone applying to remain at the same university should give clear academic or personal reasons, such as access to specialist equipment, a distinctive research group, or another resource that is necessary for the proposed work. This is not a substitute for eligibility, but it is a relevant part of preparing a persuasive application.

How the 2026 application worked

This was not an individual grant application that a researcher could submit without institutional backing. The first practical step was to identify a suitable UK department and a potential mentor. The mentor needed to understand the project, help assess its fit with the department, and support the development of the application. The applicant also needed to confirm that the department and university were willing to host the post and meet the matching salary commitment.

Universities commonly ran an internal expression-of-interest or selection process before the Trust’s closing date. Those internal dates were set by each university and could fall months earlier. A prospective applicant therefore needed to contact likely mentors and the relevant research office early, ask about the institution’s cap on applications, and learn what local documents and approvals were required. An internal endorsement did not itself create a Fellowship; it allowed the institution to prepare and submit a final application to the Trust.

For the 2026 round, the host university submitted the application through the Trust’s Grants Management System by 4pm on 19 February 2026. The submission required institutional approval from the head of the host department and an administrative officer acting for the university. The host had to have secured the matching funds for the particular applicant by the closing date. The matching contribution could not simply be counted from another grant held by the university.

The applicant prepared the research case and supporting information with the host. The proposal needed to explain the research question, its contribution, the methods, the timetable, the outputs, and why the work was feasible in three years. It also needed to show that the project was more than a reworking or straightforward extension of the doctoral research. Nominated referees supplied references through the online system, so applicants had to approach referees early and give them enough information to write specific assessments.

Materials and preparation

A future applicant should assemble a concise research plan, a current CV, a publications or research-output list, and a clear explanation of the proposed host environment. The research plan should identify the main question, the stages of work, the evidence or materials to be examined, the risks, and the outputs that can realistically be completed during the award. The case should be understandable to an academic reader outside the narrowest subfield because the Trust considers applications across disciplines.

The host statement is particularly important. It should confirm the department’s intellectual fit, the mentor’s role, the facilities available, the employment arrangements, and the university’s ability to provide the matching salary contribution. A generic welcome letter does not demonstrate that the institution has taken responsibility for the appointment. Ask the research office what wording and approvals it requires rather than assuming that a supervisor’s informal agreement is enough.

Applicants should also prepare the career-break explanation, if relevant, before the application is entered into the system. State the period and reason plainly, then explain how it affects the four-year thesis-submission calculation. Keep the evidence consistent across the application, CV, and any institutional eligibility statement. If the timing is borderline, ask the host research office to confirm the calculation before spending time on a full proposal.

Status and next steps

The 2026 round has ended, so a reader cannot apply against the deadline shown in this entry. The programme itself is a recurring Leverhulme Trust scheme, but the next competition date has not been announced on the official scheme page. Researchers interested in a future round can still usefully contact potential hosts, check their thesis-submission and employment history against the rules, and develop a project that is distinct from their doctorate. They should then recheck the official guidance when a new round is published, because the closing date, award values, exclusions, and application instructions may change.

Do not treat a university’s expected internal timetable as a confirmed Trust deadline. Host departments may publish their own expression-of-interest dates before the national competition opens, and those local requirements determine whether a university will support an application. The correct route is to ask the prospective host about its process, then use the Trust’s official scheme page and guidance for the final eligibility and submission rules.

Frequently asked questions

Can I apply directly to the Trust? No. The 2026 process required a UK host university to approve and submit the application through the Grants Management System.

Was the whole salary funded? The Trust contributed 100% of total salary costs up to £56,000 in year one, then 50% up to £28,000 per year in years two and three. The host university paid the balance in the latter years and had to secure that commitment before submission.

Could someone with a permanent academic job apply? No. Applicants could not already have held a full-time permanent academic post in a UK university or comparable institution, and such a post could not be held during the Fellowship.

Is the 2026 deadline still open? No. The 2026 deadline was 4pm on 19 February 2026. This page is marked as a historical reference because no confirmed next-round deadline is published.

Where should I check for a future round? Use the official Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships page: https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/early-career-fellowships