Postdoctoral Fellowship: terms and conditions of award

Please refer to Part 1 of Terms & Conditions of Award.

Title of award

1. The Academy will confer on the successful applicant the title of British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow (BA PDF).

Variation of programme of research

2. The award of a BA PDF is made to support the research project described in the application. It is unlikely that the Academy will agree to any significant variation of the proposed project or programme, and if it is proposed to make any such variation it is essential that prior approval is sought from the British Academy.

Starting date and period of award

3. British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships must begin between 1 September and 1 January following of the year in which the award is offered. No later starting date is permitted under any circumstances. The award is for 36 months, FTE, but requests may be made to hold an award part-time for the equivalent length of award, up to and including a maximum of 72 months at 0.5 FTE.

Full-time research, interruption of research and part-time working

4. Award-holders will be required to give an undertaking that they will devote themselves full-time to the research for which they have been given the award, with responsibility for teaching and other commitments limited to the agreed levels approved by the Academy. Requests to work at less than full-time but devoting 100% of an award-holder’s research effort to the research for which the award has been given, will be received sympathetically, and may be agreed where there are good reasons for this – the most usual case for this will be on grounds of family commitments. When an award-holder is offered an opportunity that would involve not committing 100% of their time to the Postdoctoral Fellowship, an application may be made to the Academy for an interruption of the Fellowship. The Academy would expect to treat such requests sympathetically, when there is a clear case for career development reasons to take up another appointment. No interruption of longer than 12 months will be permitted. Institutions should be aware that the agreed full economic costs of the award will not be recalculated in the event of any interruption to an award.

5. Requests for the interruption of an award for maternity or paternity leave will also be received sympathetically by the Academy and may expect to be agreed as a matter of course, in accordance with the general principles of the treatment of fixed-term contract staff in the host institution. In addition to paying a contribution toward the costs of maternity/paternity pay calculated as 10% of the total FEC contribution that would otherwise have been made for that period, the Academy will continue to offer, as standard, extensions to the three-year award to enable the award-holder to have the full- time equivalent of three years devoted to research. As indicated above, return to normal duties on a part-time basis will be considered as appropriate, concomitant with the aim of career development.

6. Requests to hold the BA Postdoctoral Fellowship part-time at the same time as another award, or any other form of employment, will not be considered by the Academy.

Transfer to another institution

7. The award of a Postdoctoral Fellowship is made to the individual for his or her own personal research merit and is not an award to the host institution to fill a gap in its research profile. Accordingly, requests to transfer to a different host institution will be received sympathetically by the Academy and may be agreed when there is a sound academic case for transfer. Only in exceptional circumstances, however, such as, for example, the transfer of the proposed mentor to a new institution or the emergence of plans to close or otherwise significantly alter the focus of the proposed Department or Institute, will the Academy agree to transfer prior to the start of an award. Subsequent requests for transfer during the Fellowship will be considered on a case-by-case basis by the Academy, and may be agreed in certain circumstances, such as the promise of a permanent appointment to follow the end of the Fellowship, or other career development reasons. Alternatively, the Academy may agree to the BA PDF undertaking teaching duties for a new institution, while remaining formally attached to their original employing institution, with the consent of all parties involved. Institutions should be aware, however, that no supplementation of the agreed full economic cost of an award will be possible.

Employment contract

8. The BA Postdoctoral Fellow will become an employee of the host institution, subject to their normal terms and conditions of employment. The salary will be expected to be commensurate with the early career stage of the applicant, normally equivalent to posts with similar duties and levels of responsibility, as calculated with reference to the host institution’s local pay framework. The award also covers the employers’ contributions to National Insurance and superannuation, as well as the Directly Allocated and Indirect Costs associated with the award. Limited Directly Incurred research expenses will also be payable to the Postdoctoral Fellow as part of the full economic costing of the programme.

Teaching commitment

9. There is a balance to be struck between the varying demands on the time of a BA Postdoctoral Fellow during the term of their award. The Fellowship is primarily a research award, and the employing institution may expect to benefit from the research profile that a BA PDF will develop during the award. But there is also a need for teaching experience to be developed. BA PDFs and their employing institutions should keep in mind that the Academy’s expectation is that suitable opportunities will be made available for PDFs to gain teaching experience in relevant subjects up to a maximum of five hours per week (i.e. five contact hours) during the teaching year. It may be necessary, however, when undertaking a course for the first time, for preparation to take considerably longer than this. Also, it may be that the departmental teaching profile might mean that demand is spread unevenly through the teaching year, and the number of hours may therefore be averaged across the teaching year. The Academy will arbitrate in any disputes over teaching experience, but expects, when possible, that this will be agreed internally between the PDF and the employing institution.

10. Supervision of graduate or undergraduate students is not required to form part of the Postdoctoral Fellowship. However, if a Fellow and their institution agree that supervision would be appropriate, it is expected to be counted towards the five hour per week maximum for teaching.

Institutional Approval

11. In giving approval to the application and accepting the award, the institution is committing itself:

• a) To offer a contract of employment to the award-holder as a British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow for a period of three years
• b) To make arrangements for the payment of the BA Postdoctoral Fellow through their normal payroll system, reclaiming the agreed full economic costs from the British Academy
• c) To provide the BA Postdoctoral Fellow with working accommodation, access to libraries and collections, and normal social facilities, and generally to treat the award-holder as a full member of the institution’s academic staff.
• d) To appoint a mentor for the BA Postdoctoral Fellow, whose role is to help the award- holder to integrate fully into the working life of the relevant department/faculty/school etc.

Information for Prospective Host Institutions

This information sheet explains the commitments that the Academy expects the host institution to be willing to make to British Academy Postdoctoral Fellows (BA PDFs). The Academy recognises that the host institution will be able to give no more than provisional acceptance of these commitments at the beginning of each competition (when many applicants may be interested in applying), but the institution will be expected to honour its undertakings for those (probably smaller numbers) who are successful.

The Scheme

The British Academy offers approximately 55 three-year postdoctoral fellowships to outstanding recently postdoctoral scholars to enable them to pursue independent research with a view to completing a significant piece of publishable work and to gain experience of teaching in the University environment. In the 2020-21 competition, awards are expected to be announced in June after a stringent selection process has reduced the field from an annual total now usually more than 600.

Acting as Employer

Fellows become employees of the institution at which they hold their award, subject to that institution’s normal terms and conditions of employment. The Academy will reimburse the institution for 80% of the full economic costs of the Fellowship, including directly incurred salary costs of the PDF (basic, NI and USS), directly incurred research expenses (limited contribution), directly allocated Estates costs, other directly allocated costs for the time of the mentor and Indirect Costs.

The Formal Commitment

By giving formal agreement to accept the PDF, the host institution is committing itself to provide a certain standard of treatment for that PDF. This statement sets out what the Academy regards as a minimum provision.

Provision of Facilities

The Academy’s expectation is that its PDFs will be treated in the same way as full-time members of the academic staff and enjoy comparable working conditions and social facilities. The minimum provision is therefore to be taken to include access to office space, libraries and computer facilities, the use of a telephone, fax and such free photocopying as is normally available to permanent staff. The PDF would also be recognised as a full member of the Faculty/sub-Faculty/School/Department and be allowed to participate in departmental meetings and social events.

Mentors

The institution may already operate a formal scheme of mentoring for new members of staff and, if so, the PDF will be expected to be covered by the scheme. If no such scheme is already operational, the Academy has adopted a set of guidelines indicating what such a scheme is expected to involve.

The mentor should be an established and experienced member of staff, if possible in an academic field close to that of the PDF, whose role is intended primarily to provide moral and practical support and advice. It is not suggested that the mentor should act in a supervisory capacity (PDFs are expected to have reached a stage in their academic career when they are capable of pursuing fully independent research). Rather, mentors should be asked to take a interest in the PDF, showing concern for his or her welfare, and making themselves available for consultation on such matters as personal and career development, research and teaching opportunities, approaches to potential publishers and the presentation of work for publication. Mentors would only be expected to read material to be submitted for publication if specifically asked to do so. They should also be prepared to give advice about job applications, drawing the attention of the PDF to suitable opportunities which may present themselves.

The expectation should be that the mentor will have a formal meeting with the PDF at the beginning of the term of appointment, to provide a welcome to the institution and to make clear the PDF’s new role in it. Thereafter, the mentor should be ready to offer such encouragement as may be called for and should be available for consultation as necessary. At least one further formal meeting should take place at the end of each academic year to review arrangements, evaluate progress, and look ahead to the coming year. The Academy expects that the mentor should not need to devote more than the equivalent of one hour per month to these tasks, and that is the limit of the Academy’s contribution to the costs of mentoring.

The Academy also expects the Postdoctoral Fellow to be given access to appropriate training opportunities within the host institution’s normal provisions for early career stage researchers as part of the normal career development planning to develop their skills and experience.

Teaching Opportunities

The British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship is principally, but not solely, a research award. PDFs are expected to gain experience of teaching up to 5 hours per week (averaged over the academic year) as part of their award. The Academy expects the Faculty/Department to make arrangements for the PDF to obtain teaching opportunities (e.g. provision of a course of lectures). The costs of this teaching will be expected to have been covered in the salary costs submitted as part of the Full Economic Costing, through appointment from an appropriate starting salary level, taking account of the research and teaching duties expected to be offered. The Academy believes that there will be a return for the Faculty/Department both in terms of teaching done by the PDF and in research output for the facilities which are made available. PDFs should be helped to balance teaching, research and other commitments, and should not be burdened with excessive or inappropriate teaching or administrative duties.

For Applicants Applying to Oxford and Cambridge:

Facilities are expected to be made available to the PDF by their host Faculty or Department and/or by a College. The Academy expects the PDF to be fully integrated into the academic life of the institution, and for access to opportunities for teaching to be provided. In addition, the Academy expects the PDF to be treated similarly to a newly- appointed full-time member of staff, having access to computing, library and research facilities, and travel and other internal research funds as appropriate.

In a collegiate University, the Academy recognises that a number of these facilities, especially those related to the social aspects of University life, may be provided more readily through affiliation to a College. The Academy asks that the University authorities, or through them, the Faculty Chairman/Head of Department, will take steps to ensure that each PDF (who wishes to do so) becomes associated with a College. The College is not expected to provide residence for the fellow, but should, as a minimum, give them rights of full ‘membership’ of the Senior Common Room (or equivalent). (There is no obligation to make them non-stipendiary Fellows, though it is probable that many may wish to do so.) It is expected that this ‘membership’ would entitle the PDF to meals at all times (not necessarily free) and to full integration into College life. It is expected that the College will generally treat the PDF in the same way as scholars holding similar posts appointed through their own or other schemes, giving them access to research funds and other facilities on an equal basis.

Any Questions?

You may consult our FAQ. Alternatively, Deans, Heads of Department, Heads of Colleges etc are advised to contact the Research Funding Office at the British Academy if there are any questions about the scheme or about the Academy’s expectations of host institution.

Email: [email protected]