All Souls College intends to elect to two Senior Research Fellowships tenable from 1 October 2022 (or other agreed date), one in Law and one in Political Science (excluding Political Theory).  Applications from within any area of these disciplines are welcome.

A Senior Research Fellowship is of comparable academic standing to a statutory Professorship in the University of Oxford or to a pure-research tenured chair in the U.S.  Applicants are expected to have a correspondingly distinguished record of achievement in research.  Those elected may, in addition, apply within the University for the title of ‘Professor’.

Job Description and Terms of Fellowship

The primary duty of a Senior Research Fellow is to pursue on a full-time basis a programme of academic research in Oxford.  Senior Research Fellows are members of the Governing Body of the College. As such, they are expected to attend and participate in all full meetings of the College and may be asked to serve on College committees, to assist with the annual Prize Fellowship examination and, for a limited period, to hold a part-time College officer-ship. Leave of absence may be granted to allow Fellows to work away from Oxford for up to one term in seven, when this would be beneficial to their programme of research. In exceptional circumstances, the College will entertain applications for further leave.  Senior Research Fellows may take on limited other commitments, subject to discharging the obligations of their Fellowship. 

Senior Research Fellows report every two years on the progress of their research programmes. The College does not regard Fellows as bound indissolubly to the particular programmes they have proposed. Senior Research Fellowships are subject to renewal by the College every seven years. The College will renew the Fellowship on evidence of satisfactory achievement and on presentation of a satisfactory programme of research for the following seven years (or until retirement).  The College has adopted a normal retirement age of 30 September before the 69th birthday.  As the College is a charity of which the Fellows are trustees, the successful applicants must be eligible to be a charity trustee and discharge this responsibility effectively.

Academic Support

All Senior Research Fellows will be assigned a study in College or one of its ancillary buildings. Studies are connected to the University IT network and the College assists with the purchase of computing equipment.  In addition, the College provides an academic allowance of up to £3,825 a year to cover research expenses.  Fellows can apply for additional grants towards research expenses and in support of conferences and seminars they may wish to arrange in College. 

Pay and Allowances

Salary:  The current annual salary^* of Senior Research Fellows, inclusive of the housing allowance payable to eligible Fellows, ranges from £105,693 to £115,487 per annum and is linked to a point on the Oxford University professorial salary scale.  To qualify for the higher rate of pay within this range in any academic year, a Fellow must undertake to give not fewer than sixteen lectures or equivalent in the University in that year.  The pay may be on an intermediate rate if fewer lectures are given. 

Pension: The College is a member of the USS pension scheme in which Senior Research Fellows will be automatically enrolled.  See http://www.uss.co.uk/ for details.  Those who are adversely affected by HMRC rules on pension tax allowances may elect to receive a cash enhancement (currently 12%) to their relevant pay if they opt out of USS altogether, select an enhanced opt out, or set a voluntary cap on their pensionable salary.

Housing Allowances/Housing Finance/Accommodation: A Senior Research Fellow living out of College but within 25 miles of Oxford receives a pensionable housing allowance of £6,661 as part of their salary. 

The College may also be able to help with partial housing finance.  Alternatively, and subject to availability, the College may be able to offer at no charge single residential accommodation in the College or one of its annexes, but this is a taxable benefit and no housing allowance will be paid.

Dining Rights: Fellows are entitled to lunch and dinner at common table without charge.

Relocation Costs: The College will pay all costs associated with the Senior Research Fellows’ office move and in appropriate cases contribute towards other relocation costs, including qualifying expenses up to a limit of £8,000, and also the costs of visas and related NHS charges for themselves and their immediate dependants where applicable.

Medical Insurance: Fellows and their immediate dependants are also eligible for participation in the College’s medical insurance scheme. There is no charge for this but it is a taxable benefit.

^*Subject to any annual University pay award in August.

Application and Election Arrangements

Informal inquiries are welcome and should be made to the Warden (Professor Sir John Vickers), Professor Lucia Zedner (Law) or Professor Stathis Kalyvas (Political Science) directly or via the ‘People’ section of the College website. The Domestic Bursar (Dr Rima Dapous) is also available to discuss the financial implications of a Fellowship at the College with interested candidates.

Candidates for a Senior Research Fellowship should apply online and submit:

• a full curriculum vitae, including a list of published work;
• a research proposal of up to 2,000 words. The proposal should open with a paragraph addressed to a non-specialist audience but the remainder of the proposal should be for a specialist readership;
• the names and addresses of three referees. The referees will need to follow the procedure notified to them by email once the application has been submitted. 

The deadline for applications is 12 noon (UK time), Friday 17 September 2021 and for references, 12 noon (UK time), Friday, 1 October. 

Applications are particularly welcome from women and black and minority ethnic candidates, who are under-represented in academic posts in Oxford.  In order to enable the College to monitor the effectiveness of its equality policy and procedures, all candidates are invited to complete the confidential recruitment monitoring form, which is processed entirely separately from the applications and plays no part in the selection process. 

The College obtains further independent references about short-listed candidates and will tell candidates if they are on the final short-list by Friday 28 January 2022.  Candidates on that list will be invited for interview on Thursday 3 or Friday 4 March 2022 and will have the opportunity to meet informally with the Warden and to dine in College that evening. Appointment is by the election of the Warden and Fellows of All Souls as a whole. The election meeting is on Saturday, 12 March and the result is published that day.

The College would not make an election to a Fellowship if it did not believe that there was a suitable candidate for the vacancy.

The online application system is hosted by the Colleges’ Administrative Software Consortium Fellowship Application System (in Cambridge) and all technical queries should be submitted to fas@casc.ac.uk. All other inquiries about the application process and submitted applications should be made to SRF Administration srf.admin@all-souls.ox.ac.uk. 

PDF of Further Particulars