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LUCAS-LAHRI Virtual Visiting Research Fellowships

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The Leeds University Centre for African Studies (LUCAS), in collaboration with the Leeds Arts and Humanities Research Institute (LAHRI), is delighted to announce the launch of the LUCAS-LAHRI Virtual Visiting Research Fellowships for 2026-27.

Application information

The extended deadline for receipt of applications is 12 noon (UK time) on Tuesday 2 June 2026 (original deadline 20 May).

To apply, please download the full scheme guidance and application here.

To edit the application form, please download and save your own copy, e.g. click File - Create a copy - Download. If you have difficulties accessing the file, please email [email protected] and request a copy.

Please read the guidance carefully before submitting your application.

Scheme details

The Virtual Visiting Research Fellowships are short-term fellowships for academics based at institutions on the African continent, who through these positions have an opportunity to undertake a well-defined piece of research with a view to establishing research partnerships with academics at the University of Leeds.

The theme for this year’s fellowships is once again ‘Africa's Entanglements in a Global World', which aims to examine the continent’s role as an active participant in shaping global dynamics rather than a passive recipient of external influences.

The Visiting Fellowships last 10 months from 1 August 2026 - 31 May 2027. Each Visiting Fellowship comes with an award of £1,000 to be used by the applicant to pursue their planned research.

We invite proposals that engage with, but are not limited to, the following themes:

  • Historical entanglements: Africa’s role in transcontinental trade, colonial networks, and postcolonial globalisation.
  • Political and economic interdependencies: Africa’s engagement with global institutions, trade policies, migration, and development finance.
  • Cultural and technological exchanges: The impact of digital globalisation, media, arts, and popular culture on African societies.
  • Diaspora and transnationalism: African migration, diaspora communities, and global African identities.
  • Environmental and ecological connections: Africa’s position in global climate change debates, resource governance, and sustainability practices.
  • Knowledge production and global epistemologies: Africa’s role in global knowledge economies, indigenous knowledge systems, and decolonial intellectual movements.

The ‘well-defined piece of research’ that the researcher will work on during the Visiting Fellowship will have a tangible output, in the form of a publication (jointly authored with, or otherwise with active input from, a University of Leeds academic) and/or a grant application (jointly prepared with a University of Leeds academic and supported by LAHRI).

 

More about our 2025-26 cohort of Fellows, whose work also focused on this theme, can be found here: People | Leeds Arts and Humanities Research Institute