Fellowships for Independent Social Sciences Scholars Open to Application

Applications invited for 2022 round of the Independent Social Research Foundation Independent Scholar Fellowships.

The Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) provides several grants, fellowships and prizes to encourage independent-minded researchers to explore and present original research ideas which take new approaches and suggest new solutions to real world social problems.

Proposals are invited for round nine of the ISRF Independent Scholar Fellowships (ISF9) which offer a stipend of up to €33,500 (£28,750) for independent scholars from Europe (ie those who do not hold a contract of employment at an institute of higher education or research organisation) to take time out from non-academic duties – including relief from domestic care or full buy-out from an employer for up to one year – in order to undertake original social research.

Projects in any social scientific discipline or interdisciplinary research fields are welcome, including relevant applications from scholars working within the humanities.

Applicants should fulfil the following:

• Be resident in Europe.
• Hold a PhD, or have equivalent academic or professional qualifications, with publications usually in peer-reviewed academic journals, edited collections and monographs, as well as pieces for professional journals and the popular media.
• Not hold an appointment – full-time or part-time, temporary or permanent – at an institution of higher education and research.
• Be engaged in intellectual work of a nature and standard comparable to that of a professional academic.

Awards will be conditional on the establishment of an institutional affiliation to cover the duration of the proposed research project. Applicants may be in non-academic employment, including in the arts, full- or part-time, or in an unpaid occupation. There is no limit on nationality.

Proposed work should be innovative research that breaks with existing explanatory frameworks so as to address afresh empirical problems with no currently adequate theory or investigative methodology or pose a critical challenge to incumbent theories. The research proposed may include, but is not confined to: initiation of a project or of research-level work intended to draw on or contribute to one of the professions, completion of a project, or preparation of an article or monograph for publication, based on existing work.

Applications for ISF9 should be submitted via the ISRF’s online application system by the closing date on 4 March 2022 (5pm GMT).