The next round of Leverhulme’s Research Leadership Awards is now open with a deadline of 30 May 2025.
The scheme aims to support talented early career scholars to develop and demonstrate research leadership by supporting the career development and the project management of a modest team or group and through the development of their own intellectual leadership, leading to research that may significantly change the established landscape in a particular field of inquiry.
The awards are for up to £1 million to cover staff salaries and associated costs. Each grant will run for a period of 4 or 5 years.
To be eligible to apply for the Research Leadership Awards, candidates must at the time of application:
- Have at least 2 years full-time or equivalent experience in a research and/or teaching post in a university after the date of their PhD award
- Already hold a permanent academic appointment at lecturer level or equivalent; or have an employment contract that extends beyond the end of the grant award; employing faculties and departments will need commit to offering a permanent role before the end of the award
- Be at an early stage of their academic career such that the trajectory of their research contribution has not become firmly established. Candidates must not:
- Have held an equivalent award or fellowship that provided funds to establish an independent research group
- Have held project grant funding in excess of £100k in a single award
- Have led a team of research staff, or managed PDRA staff.
Candidates at Senior Lecturer, Reader or Professor level or equivalent are not eligible to apply.
On their webpage, Leverhulme state that candidates at Associate Professor level are also ineligible for this funding. However, in response to a query from Oxford, Leverhulme has advised that certain candidates at Associate Professor level may be eligible, if they are early career and meet all other eligibility criteria
More details about eligibility and eligible costs can be found on the Leverhulme website
Each university is permitted to make only one bid per round. Therefore, Oxford will run an internal selection process to choose the application that will be put forward.
Oxford's internal selection process
Oxford's internal process is being coordinated by the Strategic Research Development Team in Research Services. To apply for Oxford's internal process, please send the following documents to srd.team@admin.ox.ac.uk by 4pm on Monday 24 March 2025:
- A statement of eligibility for the funding: please explain, in up to 300 words, why you are eligible to apply to this scheme as an early career scholar. Please confirm your current role, previous grant/fellowship funding and whether you have managed research staff, including postdoctoral research assistants
- Candidate’s CV
- Description of research including (up to 3 pages);
- main aims of the research and the proposed methodology
- how the proposed work will reshape the disciplinary landscape
- the structure and activities of the research team
- A statement from the Head of Department, providing a reference for the candidate and explaining how the research subject area is strategically important to the university. The statement will also confirm that the department/faculty will adhere to Leverhulme’s post-grant requirements if the candidate is selected (1 page)
Candidates will be notified of the outcome of the internal selection process in April. Please contact the Strategic Research Development team, srd.team@admin.ox.ac.uk if you have questions about Oxford’s internal selection process.
Resources:
Funding webpage: Research Leadership Awards | The Leverhulme Trust
Leverhulme's application notes for the award: 2025RLAHelp.pdf
