Examination Fellowships
The Examination Fellowships are seven-year fellowships open to men and women who have recently completed an Oxford BA or have recently enrolled as a graduate student at Oxford. The 2017 Fellowship Examination will be held on 28-29 September 2017 (and 30 September for some candidates). Applications can be made by following the link to the application system on the left of this page. The closing date for applications is 4pm (UK time), Monday 4 September 2017.
Examination Fellowships: General Information
What is the Examination Fellowship?
Every autumn, All Souls College seeks to elect Examination Fellows, also known as Prize Fellows. The College normally elects two from a field of fifty or more candidates. The Fellowships last seven years and cannot be renewed.
Examination Fellows are full members of the College's governing body, with a vote, a stipend or scholarship allowance if eligible for scholarship status, free board and single accommodation in College, and various other benefits. The College normally pays the University fees of Examination Fellows who are studying for degrees at Oxford. The level of the stipend or scholarship allowance and other benefits are described in the further particulars for each competition.
What do Examination Fellows do?
Most Examination Fellows follow an academic career. You get seven years of research in ideal conditions, in regular contact with leading scholars in your field, and free from many of the pressures, financial and otherwise, which can afflict graduate students. In seven years you might, for example, be able to complete a doctorate, turn it into a book, and then get started on another project. The College also encourages Fellows to get involved in University teaching. So, if you aim for an academic career, the College helps you get experience of tutorial teaching, and if you give lectures your salary is increased.
Some Examination Fellows pursue careers outside academia in law, finance, journalism, the arts, the Civil Service and so on. If you chose not to do full-time academic work, you would receive a smaller stipend or salary (after the first two years) but keep your status as a Fellow, with a room in College and most of the benefits. If you were working outside academia you would have to maintain active academic interests, albeit in a very part-time fashion. During the first two years of the Fellowship, you would need to pursue a 'course of study or training' approved by the College: you could fulfil this requirement by undertaking a structured programme of independent study or by enrolling on an academic course (a vocational course would not itself be sufficient). In the remaining five years of the Fellowship, you would be expected to make some definite contribution to academic activity or links between academia and public life (interpreted broadly to include the arts as well as, for example, law and public policy). You could fulfil this obligation in many ways: possibilities include undertaking a research project part-time, organising seminars or promoting the dissemination of academic work to a wider audience. You are not expected to have a specific project planned at the time of election, but you would need to submit a proposal for College approval – and support – within eighteen months of entering Fellowship. Your 'course of study or training' in the first two years could be directed at the formulation of a workable proposal and the acquisition of any new skills (e.g. languages or statistical methods) that you would need to implement it.
Fellows are expected to take an active part in College life. Again, this can take various forms. In particular, in the first year of Fellowship we hope that you would dine in College at least twenty-eight times each term ('term' being defined to include part of the vacation before and after full term). This helps foster fruitful interactions: you get to know other Fellows and they get to know you. Fellows pursuing non-academic careers can comply with this convention by, for example, working in London or elsewhere during the week and coming to Oxford at term-time weekends.
Who can apply?
The College welcomes applications from men and women of diverse backgrounds. Academic merit in the examination is the sole criterion for assessing candidates.
You are eligible to apply if:
(i) you have matriculated at the University of Oxford or will have registered for a higher degree at the University, and
(ii) you have completed all the examinations necessary for a first BA or equivalent degree in any subject whether at the University of Oxford or elsewhere; and,
(iii) normally, you have successfully completed your first degree not more than ten terms before the relevant election.
If you are over the term limits for exceptional reasons (e.g. prolonged illness), you should write to the Warden saying why you think he should allow you to be a candidate.
For more information please click "Further Official Information" below.
This opportunity has expired. It was originally published here:
https://www.asc.ox.ac.uk/examination-fellowships