Academic Career Development Fellowship Programme

Frequencyonce per year
Upcoming deadline20 February 2026, 5pm
Funding Amount40% of total salary costs per annum*
Funding Durationup to 3 years

*starting salary must not exceed spine point 44

INT Academic Career Development Fellowships offer the opportunity for exceptional scholars in selected subjects in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences to contribute to both research and teaching within a Faculty and College environment, offering excellent preparation for subsequent academic appointments at Cambridge or elsewhere.  

INT Academic Career Development Fellows will have an opportunity to:

  • Enjoy protected research time to pursue an independent project
  • Be embedded in a Faculty research and teaching culture
  • Teach in College in small groups (in some cases, to act as a College Director of Studies)
  • Teach undergraduate and/or Masters students in a Faculty setting
  • Be mentored by Faculty members in academic skills (teaching, research, publication, grant applications, academic administration)
  • Become a member of the INT’s Fellowship community

Eligible candidates will be at an early stage of their career typically with less than three years’ experience post-PhD/equivalent, exclusive of any career breaks.  They will either already hold a PhD, or have an equivalent qualification, or will have submitted their doctoral dissertation by the Fellowship application deadline.  

  • All Colleges are potentially eligible providing they have a Department/Faculty partner,
  • INT provides financial support for the research element of the Fellowship (40% of total salary costs)
  • A Faculty/Department provides for Faculty teaching (30% of total salary costs)
  • A College (or possibly two Colleges together) will provide 30% for up to 80 hours teaching (30% of total salary costs)
  • For certain Colleges (those eligible for an INT JRF), INT may offer supplementary fundsto help cover the College’s 30% salary contribution

Detailed information about the ACDF programme is available here.

Eligibility for this is programme is limited to those Colleges which have been assessed as exempt from making a Contribution to the University under Statute G, Chapter II. This list is updated annually and currently comprises the Colleges listed below:

  • Clare Hall
  • Darwin College
  • Downing College
  • Fitzwilliam College 
  • Hughes Hall 
  • Lucy Cavendish College
  • Murray Edwards College
  • Robinson College 
  • St Edmund's College 
  • Selwyn College
  • Wolfson College
Michaelmas Term

INT writes to all Colleges in early Michaelmas Term inviting Colleges to consider whether they wish to make partnerships with a Faculty or Departments in the Art, Humanities or Social Sciences (interpreted broadly, for example, to include Human Geography).

At the same time, INT writes to the Schools of Arts & Humanities (SAH) and Humanities & Social Sciences (SHSS) and asks them to invite interest from their Faculties and Departments.  SHSS may decide at that stage to support one or more subject with the required 30% contribution; other subjects may need to rely on trust funds or fund-raising to find the required contribution.

Colleges and subjects interested in making partnerships should contact the Director at the earliest opportunity.

Lent Term

Partnerships should be agreed as soon as possible in order for applications to be made no later than 20 February 2026 for consideration by the Trustees at their meeting in early March. Applications should comprise a letter (two pages of A4 at a maximum) signed off by the Head of Institution and College(s) concerned.  In the event that more partnerships are proposed than there is funding available, the Trustees will decide which to prioritise. Approved partnerships will then proceed to draw up an MOU.

Please send applications to the Director.

Easter Term

Partners agree on the procedure and timetable for recruitment for appointments to begin in September or October of that year.

In addition to the INT’s own contribution to the ACDF, the Trustees will consider providing a supplementary award to cover all or part of the eligible college’s 30% contribution less the cost of 80 supervisions per annum, if a suitable case for extra support is made.

Stipendiary INT JRFs and ACDF supplements are alternative ways of supporting AHSS subjects in eligible colleges. 

Please note that an eligible college may have an ACDF, but not with an ACDF supplement, while it also has a Stipendiary INT JRF in post. 

Colleges with stipendiary INT JRFs in post cannot apply for an ACDF with an ACDF supplement until the Lent Term of the INT JRF's final year.