OWRI Fellowships in Languages and Communities

The OWRI Project ‘Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community’

The project consists of four major research programmes, funded by the UK’s Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC).The IMLR’s researchers are part of a consortium, led by Professor Stephen Hutchings (University of Manchester), which has been awarded £3.9 million to develop a large interdisciplinary programme of research entitled ‘Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community’ (CLDRC).The IMLR strand, 'Translingual Communities', will question language’s importance in community formation with a particular focus on translingual practices, translation and non-verbal forms of communication.

The Fellowship will allow a postdoctoral scholar to undertake a period of research based at the Institute of Modern Languages Research, in the area of languages and communities (past or present). Preference will be given to Western European languages (mainstream or minority) in their global contexts, translation and/or translingual practices. This research will feed into the CLDRC project.

Tenure

Fellowships are tenable for any period from one to three months between 1 September 2019 and 30 June 2020. An award of £3,000 for three months is available (pro rata for shorter period of time), as a contribution to temporary living expenses in London. An extension to the original period of the Fellowship may be possible, but without funding.

What the Institute Offers

The Institute can offer office accommodation shared with other Fellows with wifi, internet, email account, photocopying/printing facilities, and access to the University of London’s Senate House Library, where the holdings in Germanic Studies and Latin American Studies are world class. Senate House Library has a substantial collection of books, journals, online resources, theses and archives in all the Modern Languages fields. Fellows can access the libraries of the other Institutes that make up the School of Advanced Study: Advanced Legal Studies, Classical Studies, Commonwealth Studies, Historical Research, Latin-American Studies, and the Warburg. Fellows are offered free access to all the Institute’s events and are expected to participate as much as possible in the intellectual life of the Institute.

What Visiting Fellows Do

Fellows contribute to and enhance the scholarly activity of the Institute and the School of Advanced Study. In addition to presenting current work as a seminar or as part of a larger conference, Fellows are invited to organise an event either during or resulting from their stay, or otherwise contribute to the work of the Institute. Fellows are invited to place a recent, normally unpublished, piece of work in our free open access repository SAS-Space, and to contribute to the IMLR blog, Living Languages. Any research outputs resulting from research conducted during the tenure of the Fellowship must acknowledge the Institute and the OWRI project, ‘Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community’.

Where appropriate, a copy should be deposited in Senate House Library or with the Institute Director. The successful applicant will be encouraged to publish in the Journal of Romance Studies. At the end of the tenure period, Fellows must produce a short report on the activities undertaken at the Institute and progress made in their research. This will be made available on the OWRI CLDRC webpage.

Financial Arrangements

The awards made are intended to contribute to the costs of accommodation during the Fellow’s stay in London. Payment is made direct to the Award Recipient’s bank account at the beginning of the tenure of the Fellowship. Should the Fellow for any reason not take up the Fellowship, the funding must be immediately returned.

The Fellowship agreement does not constitute a contract of employment and accordingly the Award Recipient shall be fully responsible for and shall indemnify the University of London for and in respect of any and all taxes including income tax, national insurance, social security contributions, corporation tax, value added tax and any other liability, deduction, contribution, assessment or claim arising from or made in connection with any payment or benefit received by the Individual in respect of the Award, where such recovery is not prohibited by law. The Award Recipient may wish to take independent personal tax advice on how to treat this income in their own tax returns. The University of London is unable to provide personal advice but payment gross should not be taken to indicate that this income is not taxable in the Award Recipient’s own tax return.

Accommodation

Living accommodation is not provided and Fellows should make their own arrangements. A list of hotels and guest houses is on our Where to Stay page, and the University of London Accommodation office may also be able to assist. We may also be able to put award holders in touch with people offering private accommodation. 

Visas

Fellows that do not have the right to reside and/or study in the UK will require a visa and must ascertain what category of visa is most suitable for them.

The University of London is licensed to issue certificates of sponsorship for Tier 5 Government Authorised Exchange visas. Further details of this category of visa are available on the UKVI website here. If Fellows require entry under a Tier 5 GAE visa, they should make this known in their chosen fellowship application. The Institute can then liaise with the University HR department to make the necessary arrangements – please note that successful applicants will be required to submit a COS application form along with copies of their passport and necessary qualifications in order for the COS application to be made. Once the certificate is granted, the applicant can then use this to apply for their visa application via the relevant local embassy. Further details of visa categories can be found on the UKVI website here

Method of Application

Applicants should submit the application form (below) by the closing date stated together with

• a statement detailing your research project and intended outputs (no longer than 1,500 words)
• a statement outlining the ways in which you would contribute to the work of the Institute and the OWRI project ‘Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community’ (500 words)
• a curriculum vitae (no longer than 2 pp)
• a publications list (not more than 2 pp)

and arrange for two academic references specific to the Fellowship application to be sent by the closing date direct to Cathy Collins, Institute of Modern Languages Research, University of London (email: cathy.collins@sas.ac.uk).

Applicants are not called for interview and will be notified of the result of the competition by the end of May 2019.

Closing Date

The closing date for receipt of applications and references is 30 April 2019. 

Application Form

Further particulars and application form [PDF].

The application form is also available in MS-Word format from cathy.collins@sas.ac.uk.