Independent Scholar Fellowship Competition for Social Research

The Independent Social Research Foundation (ISRF) supports interdisciplinary research in the social sciences to foster new modes of inquiry to advance new knowledge and to solve contemporary theoretical and practical problems. The Foundation maintains a number of funding opportunities and essay prizes to encourage independently-minded researchers to explore and present original research ideas which take new approaches, and suggest new solutions, to real world social problems.

The ISRF has launched the sixth round of the Independent Scholar Fellowship Competition (ISF6) to enable independent social science scholars resident in Europe to take time out from non-academic duties – including full buy-out from an employer for up to one year – in order to undertake original social research.

The fellowships are available to independent scholars (i.e. those who do not hold an appointment, temporary or permanent, at an institution of higher education and research) who hold a PhD, or have equivalent academic or professional qualifications, with publications usually in peer-reviewed academic journals.

Applications will be considered from those who hold part-time posts within academia and seek support for research carried out outside of their contracted hours.

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. 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.

The maximum fellowship sum is €27,000 or £25,000. Funding is intended as a stipend, although reasonable research expenses will also be considered within that sum.

Applications should be submitted online via the ISRF website by the closing date of 20 September 2019.

More information about this research funding opportunity and the application process is available on the RESEARCHconnect funding information platform. RESEARCHconnect provides up-to-the minute content, insight and analysis on research funding news and policy. To find out more about how RESEARCHconnect can keep you in the know, and subscription fees, contact us today.