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Level

This Fellowship is aimed at those who have been engaged in full‐time research long enough to be able to demonstrate their exceptional talent: usually, therefore, those who are in the second, third year or later year of their full‐time doctoral research or, in some cases, already have a PhD. Research Fellows normally obtain their doctorates during the early stage of their Research Fellowship, and move on to pursue post‐doctoral research. This Fellowship does not, therefore, require a doctorate to be obtained before taking up the position. It is not, however, intended as a studentship for commencing research for a PhD degree. A Research Fellow who is registered for the PhD degree is encouraged to complete the requirements of the degree as soon as possible after election.

Key Dates

Please note that all deadlines are at 12:00 (noon) UK time

Deadline for applications, including a sample of work and three letters of recommendation	12:00 (noon) UK time on Thursday 27 August 2026
Notification to short-listed candidates	Week commencing 5 October 2026
Deadline for submission of dissertation and 2000-word summary by short-listed candidates	12:00 (noon) UK time on Thursday 29 October 2026
Confirmation of status and laboratory requirements by candidates	Mid-December
Final Meeting of Electors	Monday 18 January 2027
Admission and welcome dinner	Tuesday 5 October 2027

Eligibility

To be eligible to apply, an applicant must be on a PhD course or its equivalent, or have submitted a PhD thesis or its equivalent, no earlier than 1 November 2025.

When applying, candidates will be asked to confirm their eligibility by selecting either

• I am a doctoral research student, or
• I have submitted my doctoral dissertation on 1 November 2025 or later. (NB Submission is the date when the dissertation was given in to be examined, not the date of the viva.)

If your course is not for a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), you must give the date when the Secretary of the Electors gave approval of the equivalence of your course.

Procedure

Our competition proceeds in two steps: the initial stage of assessment is conducted based on the sample of research and testimonials submitted by applicants. From this field, a small number of applicants will be placed on a short-list of candidates who will be invited to submit a more substantial piece of work which will be sent out to experts in the field for assessment. From the short-listed candidates, the Electors will elect up to eight Junior Research Fellows.

Material Required

1. For the initial stage for shortlisting, applicants must submit:

• a piece of work (c. 10,000 words); and
• three letters of recommendation

The piece of work should enable referees to gauge so far as possible the importance of the research which, if shortlisted, you will present in the dissertation. You should therefore avoid submitting a piece which, although highly polished, is very narrow in scope.

Candidates who have had an article published often decide to submit it, whereas some other, unpublished piece of work might have given a better impression of the range and ambition of their work and would have been more likely to secure them a place on the shortlist.

2. If shortlisted, applicants must submit:

• a complete or near‐complete dissertation; and
• a 2,000-word summary

Most candidates who have not yet submitted their PhD theses submit drafts of them as fellowship dissertations, but if you are in this position, you are free to submit whatever work you wish. Similarly, if you have already submitted your PhD, but began your PhD course after 31 August 2022, you may submit your PhD thesis, or a revised version of it, or something else.

If, however, you have submitted your PhD and began your PhD course before 31 August 2022 you must submit as your fellowship dissertation your PhD thesis ‐ either that submitted for examination or that officially accepted, after correction ‐ as the approved doctoral thesis.

Please note: Candidates are considered to have begun a PhD course (or its equivalent) when they begin the course which will in fact, if successfully followed, lead to the award of a PhD (or its equivalent), even if they were not registered for a PhD (or its equivalent) at that point.

Your application and the work submitted for shortlisting must be in English. Normally, your fellowship dissertations should also be in English, or, if you are obliged to submit your PhD thesis, which is written in a different language, it should be accompanied by an English translation. You may, however, request to be allowed to submit a dissertation in a foreign language without translation. Your request will normally be granted if the language in question is one which is generally known by scholars competent in the subject of the dissertation, and practicable arrangements can be made for the fair treatment of the dissertation in the selection process. You must make such a request to the Secretary to the Electors before applying or at the time of application.

There is no formal word limit for fellowship dissertations, but in most cases candidates are unlikely to help their case by submitting a very long piece (over about 100,000 words). Where a dissertation – whether or not it is identical to a PhD or equivalent thesis – is substantially over 100,000 words, candidates will be required to indicate which sections, amounting in total to fewer than 100,000 words, a referee should out of preference read. We shall require referees to read only the designated portions, although the whole dissertation will be made available to them.

Candidates submitting only draft chapters, rather than a complete thesis, should also include a clear explanation of the structure of the future complete thesis and its general conclusions.

Confirmation of status

In December, short-listed candidates will be asked to confirm in writing

• that they are still eligible for the competition (e.g. they have not accepted an offer of a similar post at another Cambridge college)
• that they wish to remain in the competition
• a letter/message from the head of the laboratory at which they hope to undertake research confirming that there is research space for them, where applicable
• contact details on the day of the final meeting.

If any candidate at any time finds that they must for any reason withdraw from the competition for a Fellowship at Trinity, it is important that the Secretary to the Electors is informed at once.

Confidentiality and Intellectual Property Rights

It is the intention and practice of the College that the dissertations submitted by short-listed candidates in the Election are treated as confidential. They are made available only to those Electors and referees who need to see them for the purpose of the Election. But those responsible for deciding which candidates are short-listed may need to consult quite widely within the University and elsewhere, and to show some of the material submitted with the application form to several people outside the College.

Intending candidates are therefore advised to take steps to protect their rights in the submitted material, where that seems appropriate. Anyone who in consequence finds difficulty in making the strongest possible case for election should consult the Secretary to the Electors.

Information about how to apply and further details about the process, including the timetable for submitting applications, can be found in these further sections:

Further Particulars

How to Apply

Shortlisting and Election

Frequently Asked Questions