Early Career Fellowship

A two-year fellowship designed to sustain an early career researcher in undertaking significant art-historical research in the field of British art.

‘Early career’ is defined in this context as individuals who are within five years of receiving their doctorate or of having completed an equivalent form of research training or work experience.

Two payments of £35,000 will be paid to the successful applicant in the September of each year they are an PMC Early Career Fellow.

The Centre can be used by the fellow as a base for their research and writing, and a workspace will be made available if required. The PMC Early Career Fellow will also be invited to participate in the PMC’s academic events programme, and in the Centre’s life more generally. Longer term, they will form part of a network of awardees who, both during and after their period of funding, will be affiliated with the PMC and who will be encouraged to use the Centre as a base to meet and exchange ideas.

To apply for a PMC Early Career Fellowship candidates must:

• Have a doctorate (or equivalent research training or work experience) in the field of British art studies
• Not hold a full-time permanent post or be in receipt of any other early career fellowships
• Have prepared a detailed two-year programme of the research they intend to carry out during the fellowship. Though fixed outcomes are not required, there must be evidence that the research is planned to contribute to one or more substantial outputs, such as books, articles or exhibition projects

The subject of the Fellow’s research is open; the only requirement is that it must be in the field of British art history, understood in its most diverse and international contexts.

In addition to academic background and demonstrated scholarly achievement, PMC Early Career Fellowship awards will take into account such factors as an applicant’s:

• Intent to pursue research, activities or a career pathway that contribute to the reframing of British art history and that challenge the received histories of British art
• Demonstrated interest or involvement in such research and issues in their work, community, academic or educational experience

The successful applicant is expected to begin their fellowship from September 2025. Fellowships cannot run concurrently with an award by another organisation. Although this fellowship is designed to be taken full time, we are happy to discuss the possibility of taking it on a part time basis.

The Early Career Fellowship is offered in our Spring round of funding.

Applications are currently closed, the next round will be Spring 2025 and applications will open on Monday 25 November 2024.

To apply for this PMC Early Career Fellowship applicants must use our online system at grants.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk. Once registered they will be able to fill out the online application form (example of which can be downloaded below) and provide the details of two referees.

Once the application is submitted we will contact the nominated referees with details on how they submit their references which must be completed through our online system and must be no more than 500 words.

If you have any access requirements or experience any issues using our online grants system (or accessing and filling out the application forms) then please do contact the Grants and Fellowships Manager who will be able to assist you.

We advise applicants to read our FAQ & Guidance webpage before starting their application, our Grant Making Policy and Due Diligence Policy can also be found there.

The fellow must complete a 1000-word report on their research activity at the end of their first year, and a final 2500-word report once the fellowship is completed.

The full terms and conditions of grant awards can be read here.