2025 Competition
The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is pleased to announce the 2025 call for applications to its Postdoctoral Fellowship (PDF) Scheme – aimed at providing a career development opportunity for those in the immediately postdoctoral stage of their career, and the opportunity to consolidate their PhD through developing publications, their networks, and their research and professional skills.
The posts may be based at any of the White Rose DTP partner universities, and will be fixed term positions on either a one-year full-time or two year part-time contract. The Fellowship will include salary costs, and additional funds may be applied for to support research activities including travel, conference attendance, training and fieldwork.
4 x fellowships are available to start 1 October 2025.
The fellows must be located on an accredited WRDTP pathway and have completed their PhD at a research organisation in the UK. Applicants are not required to have previously held an ESRC-funded studentship in order to be eligible to apply.
To be eligible applicants must:
- Have been awarded a PhD or have passed their viva voce with minor amendments by the application deadline of 25 March 2025 and have been awarded their PhD by the fellowship start date of 1 October 2025
- Have no more than 12 months of active postdoctoral experience. This is measured from the applicant’s viva voce pass date to the application deadline of 25 March 2025
- Plan to base their fellowship in an ESRC WRDTP accredited department or school
Applicants who have passed their viva voce with major corrections will be able to apply to the following year’s call when their PhD has been awarded. This is to ensure that all fellows are able to commence by the annual start date of 1 October 2025.
Permanent members of staff in an academic position with a research component are not eligible for this scheme. If a candidate has previously been employed on a part-time basis, that employment can be calculated on a pro-rata basis.
Please see the ESRC PDF FAQs document that supports this call for further information on eligibility.
Through being embedded within a high-quality environment for research and training, the fellows will have the opportunity to undertake a varied programme of activities supporting their continued development for careers both within and outside of academia.
Proposals are welcome from both single disciplines and combinations of disciplines but the fellowship activities must be based at least 50% within the social sciences.
Key information
Expressions of interest
Shortlisted candidates
The Application Process
The White Rose DTP is running a two stage process:
Stage 1 – Expression of Interest
Requires all potential applicants to email the following documents, using the specific nomenclature provided, to fellowships@wrdtp.ac.uk using SURNAME_FIRST NAME_PDF_EOI as the subject line
- WRDTP ESRC PDF EOI Form – A PDF copy of your form entry will be emailed to you upon submission, please forward this to us via email (using the following nomenclature to name your file – SURNAME_FIRST NAME_PDF_EOI)
- Please be aware that the form must be completed in one sitting. You can preview the form questions here.
- Short CV (using the following nomenclature to name your file – SURNAME_FIRST NAME_CV)
In addition to emailing your expression of interest and CV to the WRDTP, you must also complete the following EDI Monitoring Form:
- EDI Monitoring Form – Please note that responses to this form will be collected automatically so you do not need to email us a copy of your submission.
The deadline is 5pm, Thursday 16 January 2025.
Applicants will be notified of the outcome of their EOI by mid February 2025. Those applicants submitting full proposals will receive support from the institution to which they intend to undertake their fellowship.
Stage 2 – Full Application
Shortlisted candidates will be required to complete the following:
The deadline for full applications (from shortlisted candidates only) is 4pm, Tuesday 25 March 2025.
