Post-doctoral Research
The Society’s Officer for Employability and Early Career Academics is Dr Serena Laiena (University College Dublin), serena.laiena@ucd.ie. The Society’s Early Career Academics Representatives are Dr Paolo Saporito (University College Cork), psaporito@ucc.ie, and Dr Rebecca Walker (University of Oxford), becky.walker@st-hughs.ox.ac.uk.
Past Events
EC Network Events at SIS Biennial Conference (19-21 June, Royal Holloway London)
1. CV Mentorship Sessions for Early Career Academics
2. Professional Development & Employability Workshop the SIS Early Career Representatives
SIS ECA Meeting (28 April 2023, online).
The forum was designed to give colleagues the opportunities to express thoughts and ideas, concerns and fears about postdoctoral opportunities. At the meeting, we will introduce some of the issues we are aiming to tackle over the next three years.
Postdoc Calling: An Online Workshop (9 June 2023, UCC Graduate Conference and online)
The hour-long session featured presentations by a UCC Research Officer and early-career researchers in Italian Studies with experience in the management of postdoctoral applications and fellowships. The presentations will cover postdoc opportunities available in Europe, the UK and North America. Allen White (UCC College of Arts, Celtic Studies & Social Sciences Research Office); Rebecca Bowen (Pembroke College, Oxford University); Eleonora Lima (Trinity College Dublin) and Valentina Mele (University of Leeds)
Roundtable on Mental Health (8 September 2023, SIS Themed Conference, University of Cambridge)
Mental health and the challenges faced by early-career academics. The six speakers shared their personal and professional experience regarding the role that supervisors and senior colleagues can have in supporting ECAs; the range of services currently available or non-available at institutional level
The SIS Postdoctoral Fellowship
The SIS Networking Scheme
*Accepting applications now for the 2025/26 scheme! See details below, deadline: 5 December 2025.
The SIS Networking Scheme supports early career researchers and academics that are not employed on a permanent contract, encouraging them to establish a new relationship with an academic institution. The Scheme enables researchers to present their research to a new audience, expand their network and create opportunities for future collaborations or fellowships.
The Scheme will result in the organization of a series of research talks at universities or relevant cultural institutions across Ireland and the UK. The talks will be delivered in person, but made available in a hybrid format, so as to give the researchers using the scheme the opportunity to benefit from the advantages of in-person networking and expand the resonance of the initiative across and beyond the SIS community.
Funding and Selection Criteria
The Scheme offers 6 bursaries of up to £250. The bursary can be used to cover travel and accommodation costs. Priority will be given to applicants with no fellowships covering such costs. To benefit from the scheme, applicants must meet the following criteria:
- hold an active SIS membership at the time of application
- must not be employed in permanent salaried academic work
- be either an ECA within 8 years of the PhD being awarded or a PhD student that has already submitted their thesis at the time of the application
- choose a host institution located in either Ireland or the UK
- not have any prior institutional connection with the chosen host university or cultural institution. By institutional connection, we mean registration in undergraduate or postgraduate programmes, postdoctoral projects, collaboration on the organization of events (i.e. conferences) or teaching contracts. Informal contacts such as email exchanges or collaboration on the writing of a grant proposal do not count as institutional connection.
- identify and nominate an academic or a representative in the host institution that will act as chair/respondent/co-organiser (the academic/representative must also hold an active SIS membership at the time of application). Please note that the nominated academic or representative can only support one application to the scheme per year.
Application Details
Applicants are invited to submit an application form including the following information (see templates available at the links below):
- The title of the research talk and an abstract of up to 100 words.
- A short bio, including name and affiliation (if any).
- Details of their contract status.
- The name of the host institution and department/research centre/cluster/group.
- A provisionally agreed date (scheduled between April and December 2026), time and location of the talk.
- The name of the academic/representative from the host institution who could act as chair/respondent/co-organiser. The applicant will need to secure the agreement and commitment of the latter in advance of the submission. Please note that the nominated academic or representative can only support one application to the scheme per year.
- A “Host Commitment Form” signed by the academic/representative from the host institution who could act as chair/respondent/co-organiser (see template available below).
- The Applicant’s confirmation that this is a ‘new connection’ and that the Applicant has no research, teaching or studying history at the host institution.
- A short paragraph (max 100 words) outlining the reasons why this new connection is significant for the Applicant’s career.
- Evidence of the Applicant’s SIS membership (i.e. copy of emails, screenshots).
- If the Applicant’s PhD has not been awarded at the time of application, evidence of their PhD thesis submission.
The talk should primarily showcase the ECA’s own research and should be delivered in a hybrid format. All the required arrangements for the online delivery of the talk must be made well in advance of the event. Seminars, including details regarding online access to the events, will have to be promoted by the applicant through the Society’s communication channels.
Application Submission and Assessment Process
The deadline for submission of applications is Friday, 5th December 2025. The ECA Reps Paolo Saporito (psaporito@ucc.ie) and Rebecca Walker (becky.walker@st-hughs.ox.ac.uk) are available to answer queries regarding the Scheme. Please submit your application to the ECA Reps at the email addresses provided. Submitted applications will be assessed by five members of the SIS Executive Committee. Successful applications will be announced in January 2026.
Application forms:
Previous Awardees
2024-25: Valentina Mele (University of Leeds), Jessica Hampton (University of Liverpool), Victoria Witkowski (German Historical Institute, DHI, Rome), Simona Di Martino (University of Toronto), Luigi Pinton (University of Cambridge), George Rayson (University College Cork), Aurora Moxon (University College Cork), Frey Kalus (Freie Universität Berlin).
2023-2024: Elisa Russian (University of Zurich), Maria Morelli (ILCS London), Veronica Frigeni (Amsterdam SCA), Aistė Kiltinavičiūtė (University College Cork), Elena Anna Spagnuolo (Aberystwyth University), David Ragazzoni (Columbia University).
SIS Networking Scheme Recorded Talks
George Rayson, ‘Choose Wisely: Why Language Matters in Dante’s Commedia’, 18 November 2025, University of Bristol
Aurora Moxon, ‘Goatherding in the Aspromonte: An Environmental Humanities Approach to Questions of Modernity and Backwardness’, 20 November 2025, University of Edinburgh
Post-Doctoral Funding Opportunities
UK and Ireland
Arts and Humanities Research Council Leadership Fellowships
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowships
British Academy Newton International Fellowships
The Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowships
Society for Renaissance Studies Post-Doctoral Fellowships
Government of Ireland Postdoctoral Fellowship (Irish Research Council)
National University of Ireland Post-Doctoral Fellowship in the Humanities
Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities at the University of Edinburgh
Junior Research Fellowships – University of Oxford
Italy
Villa I Tatti – The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies
British School at Rome Fellowships and Scholarships
Rest of Europe
Humboldt Research Fellowship for Postdoctoral Researchers
Netherlands Institute for Advanced Studies
The Dutch Research Council (NWO) – Talent Programme
The Research Foundation – Flanders (FWO)
ICI Berlin – Institute for Cultural Inquiry
Swiss Government Excellence Scholarships for Foreign Scholars and Artists
Anywhere in Europe
Survey of Early-Career Researchers in Italian Studies
This survey comprises 2 sections and will take approximately 2 minutes to complete.
Your responses will be kept private and will be used by the SIS to design the best strategies to support Early Career Academics (ECAs).
Please complete this survey if:
you received your PhD (in Italian Studies) from a UK or Irish university;
ORyou have held a position at a UK or Irish university (in Italian Studies) at any stage of your post-PhD career (regardless of where you obtained your PhD).
If you have any comments, questions or feedback, please email sispostdoc@gmail.com