ISRF: Mid-Career Fellowships Grant

ISRF: Mid-Career Fellowships Grant

Status: ACTIVE
Funder: Independent Social Research Foundation
Amount: Up to €75,000
Last Updated: February 18, 2026

Summary

The Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) offers Mid-Career Fellowships to scholars in Europe, aimed at fostering innovative research that challenges existing frameworks. Candidates should typically be 10 years post-PhD, although exceptions may apply. Awards, up to £75,000, provide relief from teaching duties for up to one year, enabling researchers to focus on groundbreaking interdisciplinary projects across social sciences and humanities. The ISRF encourages diverse applications, including from the humanities and natural sciences.

Overview

NOTE: The deadline for applications is 5 pm GMT on the deadline. About The Independent Social Research Foundation is a public benefit foundation funded by a group of private philanthropists with interests in academia and social science, founded in 2008. The ISRF is dedicated to advancing the social sciences through the promotion of new modes of inquiry and the development of interdisciplinary expertise and methods, and through better understanding of social entities and processes. What We Do 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. Mid-Career Fellowships Scholars from within Europe are eligible to apply. Applicants will normally hold a salaried position at an Institution of Higher Education and Research. Candidates should be 10 years or more from the year of their PhD award. However, a shorter time from PhD award may exceptionally be considered, if the candidate has other qualifications to be considered as mid-career (these might include: length of appointment to permanent post, seniority, teaching responsibilities). 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; applications may be made by those whose sole or principal post is a part-time equivalent. Funding 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 £75,000 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.

Eligibility

You can learn more about this opportunity by visiting the funder's website. Scholars from within Europe are eligible to apply. Applicants will normally hold a salaried position at an Institution of Higher Education and Research. Candidates should be 10 years or more from the year of their PhD award.