The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Visiting fellowship scheme is open for applications, for the academic year 2016/17.  We welcome applicants in the field of information/communication law and policy. The deadline for applications is 31 January 2016. Further information at this link, or below.

For information about the visiting fellowship scheme please contact Eliza Boudier at eliza.boudier@sas.ac.uk. For information about information law and policy research at the IALS, please contact Judith Townend at judith.townend@sas.ac.uk.

About the scheme

The Institute of Advanced Legal Studies has over the years welcomed many established scholars, mostly from overseas, to work in its well stocked library. It aims to offer, without charge and without formality, the basic essentials of library research: access to an extensive comparative legal research collection and a private desk at which to read and study together with IALS support services.

Since 1990, the Institute has offered each year a number of Visiting Fellowships. These Fellowships are intended to create close working relationships with scholars from other institutions, from overseas or in the United Kingdom, who are undertaking work within fields covered by or adjacent to its own research programmes, and who would like to base themselves for a period at the Institute. The Fellowships are designed for those already established in their own fields of activity; they are not intended for the support of postgraduate degree work.

The Institute’s Visiting Fellowships are non-stipendiary but the holders will enjoy a variety of benefits in kind which will facilitate their work, along with close association with the relevant research and training activity being pursued at the Institute:

The benefits are as follows:

  • private office or carrel space within the Institute Library
  • borrowing rights in the Library
  • enjoyment (within pre-determined reasonable limits) of free telephone, fax, mail and photocopying facilities at the Institute, and of Library computing facilities
  • publication in Working Paper form of research undertaken while at the Institute
  • associate membership of the University of London Union, permitting full use of its sports and social facilities

The Institute and the Fellows will have a common expectation that the Fellows will play a part in the intellectual life of the Institute and will make such specific or general contributions in a particular area of research as may be agreed with the Director at the time of selection.

Visiting Fellows will be expected to stay for a period of at least three months, and up to a year if they wish. Applicants from non-EU countries may need to make a Tier 5 visa application. Visiting fellows needing to make a Tier 5 visa application will be assigned a Tier 5 Certificate of Sponsorship by the University of London. More information on this process is available from Eliza Boudier (eliza.boudier@sas.ac.uk).

These Fellowships are designed for persons already established in their own areas of activity who are undertaking work within fields covered by or adjacent to the Institute’s own research programmes which are currently in the following areas:

  • legal practice and the legal profession
  • legal education (including legal skills)
  • comparative law
  • legislative studies and legislative drafting
  • European law
  • company and commercial law
  • access to legal information (law reporting, legislative drafting, legal databases, legal bibliography, management of legal information services)
  • Information/data law and policy

While these topics are preferred because work is already going on, the Institute is ready to receive other proposals from persons wishing to be considered as Fellows. Any such proposals should indicate the interest for the Institute of work in the proposed field.

These Fellowships are not confined to academic lawyers, but are equally open to scholars of other disciplines working in the relevant fields, and to practising lawyers or judges with scholarly projects to pursue.

Application details

Applications are accepted annually by 31st January. The application form should be sent to Eliza Boudier at eliza.boudier@sas.ac.uk.

Applications are reviewed by the Institute’s Research Committee, which meets annually in March. Applicants will be informed shortly afterwards as to whether their applications has been successful.

Interdisciplinary fellowships

In addition to the Institute’s own schemes, additional Visiting Fellowships are also offered by the School of Advanced Study, of which the Institute is a member. These Fellowships are intended for scholars wishing to undertake inter-disciplinary research in the humanities and social sciences, especially across the fields of study of the School’s member institutes: Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, Institute of Classical Studies, Institute of Commonwealth Studies, Institute of English Studies, Institute of Historical Research, Institute of Latin American Studies, Institute of Modern Languages Research, Institute of Philosophy, and the Warburg Institute.

Further particulars of these Fellowships can be found on the School’s web site at:
http://www.sas.ac.uk/support-research/fellowships/visiting-fellowships.