The aim of the British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship awards is to offer opportunities for outstanding early career researchers to strengthen their experience of research and teaching in a university environment which will develop their curriculum vitae and improve their prospects of obtaining permanent lecturing posts by the end of the Fellowship.
To help enable our Postdoctoral Fellows in achieving this task, the Academy is happy to offer support during the award period to help manage or amend each Fellowship where needed.
Suspension of your Postdoctoral Fellowship
The British Academy is keen to be as flexible as possible in allowing the suspension of any Postdoctoral Fellowship award for a period of up to 12 months. The most common grounds for requesting a suspension of a Postdoctoral Fellowship are:
- Maternity/Paternity/Adoption Leave,
- Ill health,
- The need to care for a family member or loved one, or
- A career development opportunity.
For any suspension of an award due to Maternity/Paternity/Adoption Leave, ill health or the need to care for a family member or loved one, it is not normally necessary for the Academy to be provided with the related supporting/medical documentation, however we would expect that award holders would have provided such documentation to their host institution, who are the formal employer. To request such a suspension please simply contact us with the details of your request.
For career development opportunities the Academy must be assured that the opportunity will indeed benefit you, your research project and your long-term career prospects. The opportunity can be based in the UK or Internationally but must only be for a fixed term of up to 12 months in duration. In order to request such a suspension, award holders much contact the Academy well in advance of the start date of the opportunity and outline in detail the case for the amendment of the award. Only one suspension for a career development opportunity will be permitted during a Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Please note that under no circumstances will the Academy agree to any one suspension of an award exceeding the maximum permitted 12 months. During any suspension of your Fellowship the payments made by the Academy to your host institution with respect to your award will cease.
Extension of your Postdoctoral Fellowship
Other than an amendment of your award end date to take into account a suspension of your Fellowship (see above) we are unable to apply any additional extension to the period of your award.
All British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships are awarded for a period of 36 Months (at 100% FTE). Under no circumstances will the British Academy entertain a request to extend the active period of an award.
Transferring your Postdoctoral Fellowship
In order to investigate whether the British Academy will agree to a transfer of your Postdoctoral Fellowship to another UK host institution you will first need to contact us via email, outlining your case for the transfer and how it would benefit you and your research project.
You will also need to provide:
- Written confirmation from your current host institution/department confirming that they are aware of your request to transfer.
- Written confirmation from the Head of Department at your proposed new host institution confirming their ability and willingness to support you during the remainder of your Fellowship in line with the original Terms and Conditions on which the award was made.
- The contact information of the individual(s) responsible for the financial management of your award at your current institution.
Please note that we will not normally agree to the transfer of a Postdoctoral Fellowship within the last 6 months of an award.
Change to / from part-time basis
The British Academy is happy to receive requests from Postdoctoral Fellowship Holders to request the amendment of their award to or from a part Time basis for the following:
- Maternity/Paternity/Adoption Leave,
- Ill Health or
- The need to care for a family member or loved one.
Please note that the Academy will not agree to a change to/from a Part Time basis in order for an award holder to take up a career development opportunity.
The Academy will only consider requests for Fellowship to be held between 0.5 and 1.0 FTE. We are not able to allow a Fellowship to be held on a basis less than 0.5 FTE.
To request a change to/from a part time basis please contact us directly via email to make a case for this request.