ISRF: Early Career Fellowships Grant

The Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) offers Early Career Fellowships aimed at supporting innovative researchers in social sciences. These fellowships provide relief from teaching duties for up to one year, enabling scholars to focus on original research addressing critical social issues. With funding up to €81,500, the ISRF encourages interdisciplinary projects that challenge existing theories, fostering new methodologies and insights across various academic fields. The initiative is open to scholars from Europe, promoting a diverse and inclusive research environment.

To achieve this objective the ISRF provide a series of funding opportunities, enters into partnerships with academic institutions and supports research activities that promote development across the social sciences and humanities.
Funding Philosophy
The ISRF seeks to fund innovative research which breaks with existing explanatory frameworks so as to address afresh empirical problems with no currently adequate theory or investigative methodology.
Innovation may also come from controversial theoretical approaches motivated by critical challenge of incumbent theories. Interdisciplinarity in the generation of new investigative initiatives may be achieved by combining and transforming empirical methods and theoretical insights from the social sciences. Projects ranging across the breadth of the social scientific disciplines and interdisciplinary research fields are welcome, and relevant applications from scholars working within the humanities and the natural sciences are also encouraged.
The Independent Social Research Foundation wishes to support independent-minded researchers to explore and present original research ideas which take new approaches, and suggest new solutions, to real world social problems.
Duration & Timing
The awards are intended as providing full relief from all teaching duties and all associated academic administration for a period of up to one year, and must commence no later than end of January 2026.
Should buy-out funding not be administratively viable or appropriate, non-UK based applicants should contact ISRF to discuss other ways that a Fellowship award could be administered in the context of their local academic/administrative requirements.
Value
The amount of an award depends on the nature of the work proposed and individual circumstances – the ISRF expects applications for grants up to a maximum of €81,500 (or GBP equivalent)[4] to buy-out the cost of all teaching and associated administration in the applicant’s home institution for up to 12 months. Within that sum, reasonable support for research expenses may be considered on a matched-funding basis with the host Institution.
Where home institutions are unable to comply with the matched-funding requirement for research expenses, applications will still be considered – an explanatory note from the relevant Head of School/Head of Department/Research Manager should be submitted as an attachment. Note also that applications without any research expenses component are also accepted.
Applicants based in the UK must apply in GBP (£), up to the limit of £67,500. All other applicants must apply in EUR (€), up to the limit of €81,500. These limits will not be adjusted in the event of GBP/EUR currency fluctuations.
Please see FAQs for additional guidelines.

Eligibility

Scholars from within Europe are eligible to apply.Eligibility for ISRF funding opportunities is unaffected by Brexit. We continue to encourage applications from scholars working within Europe (geographically defined – so, including those at UK institutions).Candidates should be within 10 years of PhD award at the time of application.Career breaks may be taken into account.Applicants will normally hold a full-time or part-time salaried position – which may be permanent or fixed-term – at an Institution of Higher Education and ResearchThere is no limitation on nationality – however, we are unable to consider applications from those whose nominated home institution is not within Europe.We will accept applications for books written in languages other than English.The awards are intended to provide full relief from all teaching duties and all associated academic administration for a period of (up to) one year. However, independent scholars or individuals not currently in an academic role may also apply.Candidates who wish to apply as Independent Scholars will need to identify a potential host institution and may need to apply for a stipendiary award rather than a contract buy-out. Please check our FAQs before contacting a member of ISRF administrative staff with queries on this issue.Eligible ResearchInnovative research which breaks with existing explanatory frameworks so as to address afresh empirical problems with no currently adequate theory or investigative methodology. Innovation may also come from controversial theoretical approaches motivated by critical challenge of incumbent theories.Interdisciplinarity in the generation of new investigative initiatives may be achieved by combining, cross-fertilising, and so transforming empirical methods and theoretical insights from the social sciences. Projects ranging across the breadth of the social scientific disciplines and interdisciplinary research fields are welcome, and relevant applications from scholars working within the humanities are also encouraged.