Research Fellowships

About the Fellowships

The Mind Association is pleased to invite applications for two 6-month research fellowships in Philosophy, to be held in the academic year 2018–19. The deadline for applications is February 2, 2018.

The fellowships are intended for early and mid-career academics in post, part-time or full-time, in an institution of higher education in the UK or Republic of Ireland who are engaged in research in any area of philosophy. For the purposes of these awards, ‘early and mid-career’ is understood as staff who are not full professors. If potential applicants wish to discuss their eligibility for these awards, they should contact the Director, Julian Dodd, at MindAssoc@gmail.com.

One of the aims of the fellowships scheme is to support academics who are substantially burdened with teaching or administrative duties. The fellowships may be used to fund research leave for projects at any stage of completion, including initial stages of research, however the Committee strongly advise applicants to include a timetable of work indicating clearly what the outcome of the research leave is intended to be. The grants will be paid to the universities at which the scholars are employed, and each grant will exactly cover the cost of a six-month lectureship at the lowest spinal point of the Lecturer A scale or equivalent as specified by the rules of the institution, plus on costs (National Insurance, pension, and London Allowance where appropriate). Or, in the case of a part-time award, the grant will be proportional.

An additional benefit available to the holder of a Mind Research Fellowship is Mind Association-funded attendance at, and travel to, the Joint Session of the Aristotelian Society and the Mind Association taking place in the year in which the fellowship is held. In 2019 the Joint Session will be held at The University of Durham (see https://www.aristoteliansociety.org.uk/the-joint-session/). Applicants should state in their covering letter whether they intend to take up this offer if successful.

Applications for the next 12-month fellowship, to be taken up in the academic year 2019-20, will be invited in the autumn of 2018 alongside invitations for two further 6-month fellowships, to be held in the same period.

Conditions of the award

1. Award of a Fellowship is conditional on the university’s agreeing, by way of a letter from the Head of Department, Dean, or other appropriate officer, that the funds will be wholly used to release the scholar from all administrative and teaching duties (with the optional exception of supervising doctoral students) by making a replacement appointment equivalent to a full six-month lectureship (as opposed to a teaching fellowship or teaching focused lectureship). Please note that since the Association intends the replacement teaching post to represent a new employment opportunity, academics whose time would be freed up for the post by taking unpaid leave from another job are not normally eligible.
2. A research fellowship should supplement, rather than be a substitute for, any institutional leave for which successful candidates are eligible.

How to apply

Applications should be sent as soft copy by email to the Director at MindAssoc@gmail.com.

The deadline for applications is February 2, 2018. Results will be available by March 23, 2018.

Applications should consist of:

• A CV (covering the last five years) which includes: the names of two referees (not more than one of which may from the applicant’s home institution); details of administrative and teaching duties; periods of research leave; any non-academic commitments curtailing research time, such as career breaks, maternity or paternity leave, prolonged ill-health, or caring for a sick relative.
• A statement of what institutional leave, if any, the applicant expects to have during the current academic year and the next academic year.
• A statement of the applicant’s entitlement to research leave under his or her institution’s current policy.
• A statement of other sources of financial support for which the applicant intends to apply and which would cover terms/semesters consecutive with the period of research that would be covered by the Mind Fellowship. (The fellowship may be held consecutively with institutional leave, but not with any other funded research fellowship).
• A research proposal of not more than 1200 words saved as a separate document with no name on it and anonymised throughout as far as possible (as per blind review). The review process will be in two stages and in the first stage reviewers will only look at this element of applications, thus these research proposals should be independent documents and should not make reference to material which occurs elsewhere in the application.
• A letter from the scholar’s Head of Department, Dean, or equivalent university officer stating that the funds will be used only to fund a replacement six-month lectureship, with the fellow being wholly released from all teaching and admin duties for the duration of the fellowship (with the optional exception of continuing to supervise no more than their normal number of doctoral students).

Referees
Applicants should supply the names of two potential referees whom the sub-committee may consult if need be. Applicants should seek the referees’ permission for their names to go forward, and should send them the final version of the research proposal for information.

The Executive regrets that it is not possible to offer feedback to applicants.

Selection Process

In any given round the selection procedure is normally as follows: the selection is made by a sub-committee of three members of the Mind Executive Committee possessing a suitable spread of expertise between them (but not the Director or Treasurer); the membership of the sub-committee tends to alter by at least one member from year to year; applicants’ research proposals are read in anonymised form and provisionally ranked prior to other application materials being introduced into the decision process.

Post-award reporting

A report on the work supported by the fellowship should be sent as soft copy to the Director, Prof Julian Dodd, at MindAssoc@gmail.com no more than three months after the term of the fellowship. This report should have two elements:

• Confirmation from the Dean, Head of Department, or appropriate officer of how the money was spent, and giving the name of the replacement lecturer appointed.
• A summary of the research done during the fellowship.

Current Fellows

Mind Association Research Fellows, 2017-18

The Mind Association is delighted to announce its three research fellows for 2017-18. The Senior (12-month) Fellowship has been awarded to Professor Jessica Brown (St. Andrews) for her project, Blame: Epistemic and Moral. Six-Month Fellowships have been awarded to Dr Stephanie Collins (Manchester), for her project, Modelling Collective Obligations, and to Dr Mark Jago (Nottingham), for his project, Developing Truthmaker Semantics. Abstracts are set out below.

Stephanie Collins (Manchester): Modelling Collective Obligations

Moral obligations are regularly attributed to collectives: states are obliged to defend human rights; the affluent are obliged to alleviate global poverty; humanity is obliged to curb carbon emissions. Are such attributions philosophically defensible or mere political rhetoric? To answer this, we need a model that can take in details about the collectives involved in real world political problems and produce conclusions about (i) which of these collectives can have obligations and (ii) what this implies for each collective’s members. We currently lack such a model. During the six-month fellowship, I will work on a monograph that develops and defends such a model. This will be the tripartite model of collective obligation.

Mark Jago (Nottingham): Developing Truthmaker Semantics

Truthmaker Semantics is a new philosophical approach to questions about meaning. It promises to be highly significant in areas of philosophy that use logical techniques, particularly metaphysics and philosophy of language. At present, the approach is in its infancy, and requires a good deal of mathematical development.  This project will use abstract mathematical techniques, combined with philosophical theorising, to develop Truthmaker Semantics. The approach will allow me to prove a number of technical results, which together will clarify how Truthmaker Semantics works. This involves going far beyond currently existing work.

The Mind executive congratulates Professor Brown, Dr Collins and Dr Jago, and also thanks all applicants for submitting their proposals. The field was extremely strong and speaks very well for the health of philosophy in the UK.

Previous Fellows

2016-17 Gerald Lang (Leeds): Strokes of Luck; and Lubomira Radoilska (Kent): Knowledge in Action
2015/16 Matthew Tugby (Durham)
2014/15 Anastasia Scrutton (Leeds), and Stephen Barker (Nottingham)
2013/14 Elizabeth Barnes (Leeds)
2012/13 Fiona Leigh (UCL) and Jason Turner (Leeds)

Other recipients include Simon Kirchin (Kent), Penelope Mackie (Nottingham), Sarah Patterson (Birkbeck), Cynthia Macdonald (Queen’s, Belfast) Murali Ramachandran (Sussex), Komarine Romdenh-Romluk (Nottingham).

Applications for 2017-18 are now closed.

Applications for the next 12-month fellowship, to be taken up in the academic year 2019-20, will be invited in the autumn of 2018.

Mind Association Research Fellows, 2017-18

The Mind Association is delighted to announce its three research fellows for 2017-18. The Senior (12-month) Fellowship has been awarded to Professor Jessica Brown (St. Andrews) for her project, Blame: Epistemic and Moral. Six-Month Fellowships have been awarded to Dr Stephanie Collins (Manchester), for her project, Modelling Collective Obligations, and to Dr Mark Jago (Nottingham), for his project, Developing Truthmaker Semantics.

Jessica Brown (St. Andrews): Blame: Epistemic and Moral

The project focuses on the way in which we can be blamed for failing to follow epistemic standards or norms governing belief or action. For instance, if someone dogmatically believes a falsehood against the evidence, then we might blame her. However, it’s not obvious that the relevant blame is either moral or prudential. So what kind of blame is it, and under what conditions is one blameworthy for violating an epistemic norm? While many contemporary epistemologists appeal to the notion of being blameworthy for violating an epistemic norm, the relevant notion of blame is under theorised and existing accounts of moral blame are not obviously applicable. The project aims to examine the nature of this kind of blame and how it differs from moral blame, by bringing together two distinct literatures – the literature in epistemology on epistemic norms and the literature in ethics on blame and blameworthiness.

About the Fellowships

The 12-month fellowship is intended for senior academics (Senior Lecturer, Reader, Professor) who are in post part-time or full-time in an institution of higher education in the UK or Republic of Ireland, and who have a proven track record of high quality research in any area of Philosophy. The grant will be paid to the university at which the scholar is employed, and will exactly cover the cost of a one year lectureship on the lowest spinal point of the Lecturer A scale or equivalent as specified by the rules of the institution, plus on costs (National Insurance, pension, and London Allowance where appropriate). Or, in the case of a part-time award, the grant will be proportional.

One of the aims of the senior fellowship scheme is to support sustained research by academics who are substantially burdened with teaching or administrative duties. It will be awarded, however, in recognition of the distinction of the applicant’s work, and above all of the exceptional interest and importance of the project proposed. While there are no restrictions set as to what stage of completion the research should be at by either the start or finish of the fellowship, or what form of publication is envisaged, the proposed project must be such as to clearly require a year long period of sustained work. An additional benefit available to the holder of a Mind Research Fellowship is Mind Association-funded attendance at, and travel to, the Joint Session taking place in the year in which the fellowship is held. Applicants should say whether they intend to take up this offer.

Conditions of the award

1. Award of the Fellowship is conditional on the university’s agreeing by way of a letter from the Head of Department, Dean, or other appropriate university officer that the funds will be wholly used to release the scholar from all administrative and teaching duties (with the optional exception of continuing to supervise no more than their normal number of doctoral students) by recruiting to a replacement one-year full lectureship (as opposed to a teaching fellowship or teaching-focused lectureship). Please note that since the Association intends the replacement teaching post to represent a new employment opportunity, academics whose time would be freed up for the post by taking unpaid leave from another job are not normally eligible.
2. The research fellowship will supplement, rather than be a substitute for, any institutional leave for which the successful candidate is eligible.
3. Normally, the fellow’s home institution will arrange and host the Mind Senior Research Fellow Lecture, a public lecture to be given by the fellow some time during the academic year following the tenure of the fellowship.

How to apply

Applications should be sent as soft copy by email to the Director, Prof Julian Dodd, at MindAssoc@gmail.com.

The deadline for applications is 27^th January 2017. Results will be available on 17^th March 2017.

Applications should consist of:

• A CV, including the names of two referees (not more than one of which may from the applicant’s home institution).
• A research proposal of not more than 2000 words saved as a separate document with no name on it and anonymised throughout as far as possible (as per blind review).
• Details (covering the last five years) of administrative and teaching duties, periods of research leave, and any non-academic commitments curtailing research time, such as career breaks, maternity or paternity leave, prolonged ill-health, or caring for a sick relative.
• A statement of the applicant’s entitlement to research leave under his or her institution’s current policy.
• A statement of what institutional leave, if any, the applicant expects to have during the current academic year and the next academic year.
• A statement of other sources of financial support for which the applicant intends to apply and which would cover terms/semesters consecutive with the period of research that would be covered by the Mind Senior Research Fellowship. (The fellowship may be held consecutively with institutional leave, but not with any other funded research fellowship).
• A letter from the scholar’s Head of Department, Dean, or equivalent university officer stating that the funds will be used only to fund a replacement one-year lectureship, with the fellow being wholly released from all teaching and admin duties for the duration of the fellowship (with the optional exception of continuing to supervise no more than their normal number of doctoral students).

Selection Process

In any given round the selection procedure is normally as follows: the selection is made by a sub-committee of three members of the Mind Executive Committee possessing a suitable spread of expertise between them (but not the Director or Treasurer); the membership of the sub-committee tends to alter by at least one member from year to year; applicants’ research proposals are read in anonymised form and provisionally ranked prior to other application materials being introduced into the decision process.

Post-award reporting

A report on the work supported by the fellowship should be sent as soft copy to the Director, Prof Julian Dodd, at MindAssoc@gmail.com no more than three months after the term of the fellowship. This report should have two elements:

• Confirmation from the Dean, Head of Department, or appropriate officer of how the money was spent, and giving the name of the replacement lecturer appointed.
• A summary of the research done during the fellowship.

Current Fellows

Previous Fellows

2015/16 Rae Langton (Cambridge): Accommodating Injustice

Alexander Bird (Bristol), Alex Oliver (Cambridge), and Quassim Cassam (Warwick).