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The 2025 UCL RIC Fellowship in Special Collections offers an opportunity to visit UCL to conduct research on a topic centred on the UCL holdings of archives, rare books, and records.
About the Fellowship
The UCL Research Institute for Collections was founded in 2021 to foster research synergies centred on the library, museum, gallery and departmental collections held in UCL by bringing together curatorial and academic expertise. The Institute is offering a Visiting Fellowship in Special Collections for a scholar in any field of study to visit UCL to conduct research on a topic focused on the UCL Special Collections holdings.
The successful candidate will spend up to six weeks, or the part-time equivalent, at UCL researching the collections. Projects can start from July 2025 onwards. Fellows should aim to finish their project by the end of 2025.
The aims of the Fellowship are to facilitate new research into UCL Special Collections and to raise awareness of the collections amongst the research community and the general public. The Fellow will be expected to engage with the curatorial and research community at UCL, and to disseminate the research outcomes to academic and non-academic audiences.
Fellows will have the option of having their work considered for publication by UCL Press.
We encourage research that will approach our collections from different perspectives and through disruptive mechanisms by finding new ways of exploring our diverse holdings and/or by focusing on under-researched perspectives contained within them.
The Visiting Fellow will receive:
- A grant of £5,000
- Workspace on the UCL Bloomsbury campus
- Mediated access to the collections
- Access to staff with specialist knowledge of the collection(s) in question when available
The Fellow will be required to provide, as a minimum:
- A research output in the form of a recorded lecture, a conference paper, a publication or a scholarly digital resource
- A live public output during or after the Fellowship period, such as a talk, a family event or a pop-up display
- A blog post, an event recording, a podcast or another digital output that outlines the research project for the RIC website.
- Acknowledgement of the grant in any resulting publications.
UCL Special Collections
UCL Special Collections holds one of the foremost university collections of manuscripts, archives and rare books in the UK. They include extensive collections of medieval manuscripts and early printed books as well as highly important 19th and 20th century collections of personal papers, archival material, and literature, covering a vast range of subject areas.
The core subject strengths of the collections are:
- Language, literature and poetry from the 15th to the 21st centuries, particularly in English and Italian
- 20th and 21st century small-press publishing
- Politics and social policy, especially 19th and 20th century reform movements
- History of Science, especially Medical Sciences and Genetics
- Mathematics
- Early modern printed books
- Latin American history and economics, particularly 19th and 20th century
- Hebraica and Judaica
- History of Education, especially 20th century
- History of London, especially 19th and 20th century
- University College London (UCL), including predecessors and affiliated bodies
For details of our collections, please see:
- The UCL Special Collections webpages
- Treasures from UCL by Gillian Furlong (London: UCL Press, 2015), which is freely available online
- Our subject guides, which list relevant collections in selected key subject areas
Please note that only collections managed by UCL Special Collections and listed on these webpages are in scope. If you are uncertain whether your project is eligible, please contact us to check before applying.
Eligibility and Selection Criteria
The Fellowship is open to applicants of any nationality or career stage; from registered doctoral candidates to senior scholars, artists, collection professionals and independent researchers. Groups and communities of interest will also be considered.
Fellows need to ensure that they are eligible to work in the UK before making arrangements. UCL will undertake Right to Work checks for successful candidates. Please use the UK government website to check what documentation you need. UCL is unable to support visa applications.
The Selection Committee will consider applications according to the following criteria:
Suitability and availability of selected materials held in UCL Special Collections and the demonstrated need to consult them
The potential of the project to increase public understanding of the collections consulted, and the suitability and feasibility of any proposed public activities.
The potential of the project to make an original contribution to research and/or to develop innovative research methods for the study of these materials
The feasibility of the research objectives
How to apply and deadlines
Applicants are strongly encouraged to contact UCL Special Collections before submitting a formal application, to discuss the level of access to the collections that their proposed research project would require. Email Rebekah Seymour, RIC Support Officer. Collection curators will be able to confirm availability for consultation, extent and suitability of collections for the project if not apparent from catalogue descriptions, the capacity and resources required to support potential outputs, and any apposite procedures to be aware of (for example, analysis request applications).
The deadline for applications is 6 January 2025. Applicants should send the following documents to ric-forms@ucl.ac.uk
- A completed
- A curriculum vitae including a list of publications or other research outputs.
- Two letters of support from referees. Applicants should ask the referees to comment on their professional knowledge of the applicant and the contribution the proposed research would make to scholarship. These letters may be attached to the application or submitted separately by the application deadline.
You will receive an automatic receipt on submission. If you do not get this please contact rebekah.seymour@ucl.ac.uk. Please note that, apart from references, we can only accept documentation sent with your application. Any evidence submitted after the closing date will not be reviewed by the panels.
Applications will be shortlisted in March by a panel composed of UCL collection managers. The final selection panel in April will comprise senior academics, service managers and external experts. Notification of the award will be made in early May.
Feedback will be provided to shortlisted candidates. We regret that, due to volume, we cannot usually provide detailed feedback other than this.
We aim to be as flexible as possible around the dates and duration of the Fellowship, however these will need to be agreed in advance with the RIC Support Officer, as will any changes during the term of the Fellowship.