Applications are invited for Commonwealth academic fellowships available for early-career academics from developing Commonwealth countries. These fellowships enable fellows to spend three months to network and update knowledge and skills related to their academic subject and responsibilities at any approved UK university or higher education institution. The CSC also invites alumni who held Commonwealth Scholarships for PhD to apply directly to the CSC for a Commonwealth Academic Fellowship. All eligible alumni will be sent a letter with details of how to apply. All applications must be made through your nominating university/university body in applicants' home country. The deadline for applications is 19 November 2015.
Study Subject(s): Fellowships provide early career academics with the opportunity to plan, conduct, or write research, to encourage applications from universities where capacity building is a priority, and to enhance knowledge, skills and contacts in Fellows' given disciplines.
Course Level: Fellowships are awarded for early career academics to spend three months undertaking research and updating their skills at any approved UK university or higher education institution.
Scholarship Provider: UK Department for International Development (DFID)
Scholarship can be taken at: UK
Eligibility: To apply for a Commonwealth Academic Fellowship, candidates should:
- Be Commonwealth citizens, refugees, or British protected persons
- Be permanently resident in a developing Commonwealth country
- Be employed by a university in a developing Commonwealth country
- Be available to commence their Fellowship in the United Kingdom on 1 October 2016. Any other start date will only be permitted in exceptional circumstances
- Have been awarded your PhD between two and ten years prior to October 2016
- Not have previously held a Commonwealth Academic Fellowship within five years
- Have been awarded your PhD by a UK university while on a Commonwealth Scholarship
- Be in the employment of your nominating university
Scholarship Open for Students of Following Countries: Citizens of developing Commonwealth country (Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, Botswana, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Falkland Islands, Gambia, Ghana, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guyana, India, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritius, Montserrat, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nigeria, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, St Helena, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia, St Vincent and The Grenadines, Samoa, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Tanzania, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Vanuatu, Virgin Islands (British) and Zambia) can apply for these Commonwealth academic fellowships.
Scholarship Description: Commonwealth Academic Fellowships are offered to early career academics from developing Commonwealth countries, to enable them to spend between three and ten months undertaking research and updating their skills at a UK university. These fellowships are funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID). The purpose of Commonwealth Academic Fellowships is to provide an opportunity for Fellows to undertake a period of research, network, and update knowledge and skills related to their academic subject and responsibilities. Awards are tenable at any approved UK university or higher education institution, for between three and ten months. Justification must be given within the application for the length of award requested. All applications require an email or letter of support from an academic at the proposed host university in the UK. Any application without such support will be deemed ineligible.
Duration of award(s): Awards are tenable at any approved UK university or higher education institution, for between three and ten months. Justification must be given within the application for the length of award requested.
What does it cover? Each fellowship provides:
- Approved airfare from your home country to the UK and return at the end of your award (the CSC will not reimburse the cost of fares for dependants, nor usually the cost of journeys made before your award is finally confirmed)
- Research support grant, at a fixed rate according to your subject, payable to your host university
- Stipend (living allowance) at the rate of £1,580 per month, or £1,959 per month for those at universities in the London metropolitan area (rates quoted at 2015-2016 levels)
- Grant towards the cost of preparing reports and other written work
- Arrival allowance
- Study travel grant towards the costs of approved travel within the UK or overseas
- If you are widowed, divorced, or a single parent, child allowance of £444 per month for the first child, and £109 per month for the second and third child under the age of 16, if you are accompanied by your children and solely legally responsible for them. The level of financial support provided through family allowances is under review and subject to change in both eligibility and rate
Selection Criteria: Once received by the CSC, each candidate's application is first considered by a member of the CSC's panel of advisers with expertise in the subject area concerned, and then by the CSC's selection committee in competition with other candidates. Applications are considered according to the following selection criteria:
- Academic merit of the candidate
- The quality of the proposal
- Potential impact of the work on the development of the candidate's home country
Notification: If your application is successful, the CSC will notify you that you have been provisionally selected (selected for an award subject to the CSC agreeing your terms of admission to the university).
How to Apply: If you have previously held a Commonwealth PhD Scholarship funded by the CSC and meet the eligibility criteria for these fellowships, you can apply directly to the CSC. Selected universities are also invited to nominate their own academic staff. If you are employed by one of these universities, you must apply via that institution in the first instance. You must check with your nominating university for their specific advice and rules for applying, and for their own closing date for applications. Applications must be submitted using the Commission's Electronic Application System (EAS). Your application must be endorsed by the Vice-Chancellor or Executive Head of the university that employs you. Unless you previously held a Commonwealth PhD Scholarship funded by the CSC, the CSC will not accept any applications that are not submitted via a nominating university. The CSC cannot accept nominations for these fellowships from other organisations, or applications directly from individuals (other than those who have previously held a Commonwealth PhD Scholarship funded by the CSC); such applications will not be acknowledged.
Scholarship Application Deadline: All applications must be submitted via the EAS by 19 November 2015 at the latest. The deadline for nominating universities to submit nominations to the CSC is 17 December 2015.