Deadline: November 1, 2022.

The Chevening British Library Fellowship is a collaboration between the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office and the British Library, offering international experts a year-long professional project-based placement. Fellows will have the privilege of working with the extensive library’s collections and benefit from the broad range of professional expertise of library staff.

The British Library is the national library of the UK and one of the world’s greatest research libraries. The British Library’s collection encompasses all fields of knowledge in hundreds of languages, covering 3,500 years from some of the earliest written records to the digital collections of the present day, and range over all formats. As a public-facing, culturally-active research institute, Chevening is pleased to partner with the British Library to bring international experts to the UK to pursue a one-of-a-kind opportunity.

For the 2023/2024 academic year, two placements are on offer and will provide fellows with experience in strategic and policy work relevant to a national library. There is one placement per theme.

ELIGIBILITY

To be eligible for a Chevening British Library Fellowship, you must:

• Demonstrate the potential to rise to positions of leadership and influence
• Demonstrate that you possess the personal, intellectual, and interpersonal attributes reflecting this potential.
• Be a citizen of the listed countries, outlined respectively in the fellowship theme pages.
• Return to your country of citizenship at the end of the period of the fellowship.
• Have a postgraduate level qualification (or equivalent professional training or experience in a relevant area) at the time of application.
• Have significant professional and/or academic research experience (at least five years).
• Be currently employed or a currently enrolled PhD candidate (PhD must not be with a UK/EU or USA university).
• Provide evidence of meeting at least the minimum English language abilities for Chevening Awards.
• Not hold British or dual British citizenship.
• Not be an employee, a former employee, or relative* of an employee of Her Majesty’s Government, or have been within the last two years from the opening of Chevening applications (including British embassies/high commissions; the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy; Department for International Trade; the Ministry of Defence; and the Home Office), or a staff member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities.

OTHER ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

To be eligible for the Western Africa Manuscripts Crowdsourcing Fellowship, you must be from one of the following countries:

• Mali
• Niger
• Nigeria
• Senegal

To be eligible for the Shan Collections Fellowship, you must be from one of the following countries:

• Cambodia
• China
• Laos
• Malaysia
• Myanmar
• Thailand

BENEFITS

• 12-month period of project-based activity at the British Library.
• Living expenses for the duration of the fellowship.
• Return economy airfare from your home country to the UK.
• Allowance package for fellowship-related activities.
• Up to £1,000 for approved project-related expenses.
• Access to a programme of cultural events and activities organised by the FCDO and the Chevening Secretariat.

OFFICIAL LINK