British Academy International Fellowships 2026

Page 1

British Academy International Fellowships 2026

Internal selection process & guidance for applicants Research Strategy & Performance Team Dec 2025

Please note: this guidance and the internal deadline apply only to prospective candidates from the Arts & Sciences Faculties (Arts & Humanities; Dickson Poon School of Law; King’s Business School; Natural, Mathematical & Engineering Sciences; Social Science & Public Policy). If you wish to apply via one of King’s other Faculties, please contact the relevant Research Development Manager (RDM)

Overview The BA International Fellowships Programme provides support for outstanding early career researchers to make a first step towards developing an independent research career through gaining experience across international borders. Each award is expected to involve a specific and protected research focus with the award-holder undertaking high-quality, original research, with opportunities to acquire and transfer new skills and knowledge through training and career development.

The BA has made some changes to the 2026 round and full details can be found via the FAQs on their website. In brief, the changes are: • Applicants should have up to 5 years post PhD, rather than the previous 7 years. • Applicants must hold a PhD from a non-UK institution. • Each sponsor (i.e. UK host academic) is now only able to support one application per round. • Applicants no longer require a statement from a nominated referee.

Applicant eligibility The applicant must:

Page 2

• Have a PhD, or applicants in the final stages of their PhD will be accepted provided that the PhD will be completed (including viva) before the Final Awards Committee meets on 1st June 2026. • Applicants should have no more than 5 years of active full time postdoctoral experience at the time of application (discounting career breaks but including teaching experience and/or time spent in industry). • Be working outside the UK. • Not hold UK citizenship. • Be competent in oral and written English. • Have a clearly defined and mutually-beneficial research proposal agreed with a UK host researcher.

Applicants must ensure that they meet all the eligibility requirements. Details can be found on pages 8-10 of the BA guidance: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/schemes/international- fellowships/guidance-notes/

Finances The International Fellowships offer support for two years and the award is offered at 80% FEC. Applicants may apply for research expenses of up to £12,000 and relocation costs of up to £8,000. Applicants will need to justify the level of research expenses and relocation costs requested in their application.

Applicants may also be eligible to receive follow on alumni funding following the tenure of their Fellowship to support networking activities with UK-based or international researchers.

You should contact your local research support colleagues for advice on the technicalities of this scheme, including eligibility. A list of contacts can be found at the end of this guidance document.

Internal selection process timeline The timeline for the application process is set out below. If you’d like to check any element of this process, please contact Susie via email at susanna.cornick-willis@kcl.ac.uk, who will either advise or put you in touch with the right person to assist.

Please do discuss with your local research support colleagues, as advised above. The list of helpful contacts is at the bottom of the document.

Page 3

All documents should be written in Arial, font size 11.

Page 4

Date Action Notes By Thursday 29th January 2026 Ensure HoD approval Please discuss your potential application with your Head of Department (HoD) or Head of School (HoS) and obtain written confirmation that they approve of your submission. As part of this, you should discuss how the host department will be able to support your career development plans.

Thursday 29th January 2026, 4pm

Please note that this deadline is final and non- negotiable

Deadline for applicants to send intention to apply to the Research Strategy & Development Team Please ensure that you discuss all eligibility criteria and salary negotiations with your Faculty Research Support teams.

Please submit: • Confirmation that you:

out on their website: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/international- fellowships/

ensure support statements are in place (from your HoD and sponsor)

support statements) to meet the King’s deadline for institutional checks and approvals

• Email confirmation from your HoD that they: support your application; are willing to write one of the support statements; and that a training and development programme will be provided. • Email confirmation from the UK sponsor confirming support and that they are willing to write a support statement • CV (max. 2 pages of A4 inclusive of publication list) • A summary of your research proposal and why it’s important, plus identification of sponsor and host department (max. 1 page A4) • Draft personal statement detailing how you fit the BA scheme and requirements. Outline why you want to come to King’s; required training and development during the Fellowship; benefits of the Fellowship for your career trajectory (max. 1 page A4)

Send to: susanna.cornick-willis@kcl.ac.uk

VDR confirms final decisions on the selection of applications which will be developed for submission to British Academy. By 5th Feb 2026 Agreement of King’s support from VDR RDMs to consult with HoDs and VDRs to review and agree the range of candidates King’s will support for development and submission By 6th Feb 2026 Candidates informed of selection decisions All applicants informed of selection decisions

• meet British Academy’s eligibility criteria for the scheme set
• understand that you must liaise with relevant people to
• are able to finalise your application by 11th March (including
• can identify a UK sponsor

Page 5

6th Feb – 4th March 2026

(with drafts to RDMs by 13th Feb, latest) Application development; standard costings & Workrtibe process Please contact your local research support colleagues for assistance with costings and Worktribe processes. Local contact details are at the bottom of this guidance document.

During this period you should also work with your Research Development Manager on the academic content of your application (see box below for more detail)

By 13th Feb 2026 (latest) Send draft application to Research Development Manager (RDM) for review

Please send a PDF download of the entire application form from the BA portal and submit to RDM for their review; they will read your draft and provide constructive feedback by 25th Feb.

• Arts & Humanities RDM – emma.jay@kcl.ac.uk • King’s Business School RDM – sarah.l.evans@kcl.ac.uk • Law RDM - gilad.toffell@kcl.ac.uk • Social Science & Public Policy RDM – gilad.toffell@kcl.ac.uk

Wednesday 4th March 2026

Please note that this deadline is final and non- negotiable

King’s internal submission deadline for applicants Please contact your local Pre-Award colleagues for support with your final submission. Wednesday 11th March 2026, 5:00pm British Academy final external deadline Pre-Award team make final checks of the application and submit on behalf of the institution to BA.

Contact details Please contact Susie Cornick-Willis via email at susanna.cornick-willis@kcl.ac.uk with any queries about the process above

Faculty key contacts

Faculty of Social Science & Public Policy School of Education, Communication and Society Fatimah Awan, School Research Manager

School of Global Affairs Viorica Macovei; Juliette Boyd

research-ecs@kcl.ac.uk Fatimah.awan@kcl.ac.uk

sga-research@kcl.ac.uk

Page 6

School of Politics & Economics Anthony Senior, School Research Manager

School of Security Studies John Fogarty, School Research Manager; Jess Carden

Policy Institute Samantha Oxford, School Research Manager

anthony.senior@kcl.ac.uk

john.fogarty@kcl.ac.uk Jessica.carden@kcl.ac.uk

Samantha.oxford@kcl.ac.uk

The Dickson Poon School of Law Research Support Office lawresearch@kcl.ac.uk

King’s Business School Research Support Office kbsresearch@kcl.ac.uk

Faculty of Arts & Humanities A&H Research Grants Team

Ahresearchgrants@kcl.ac.uk

Research areas