**Applications for the 2021-2022 round are now closed. Please use the below for guidance only**

For the announcement of the scheme’s first ten fellows and their respective research projects, click here.

RLUK and AHRC are delighted to open applications for the Professional Practice Fellowship Scheme for academic and research libraries. Please see below for further information about the scheme, including how to make an application.

About the Professional Practice Fellowships

Five fellowships of up to £20,000 (80% FEC) are available under this scheme. The fellowships are designed to enable library colleagues to set research agendas, be active participants and leaders of multidisciplinary research, and to provide intellectual leadership in their own disciplines and beyond. 

They will provide a career development opportunity by enabling colleagues to have a transformative impact on their professional practice, discipline, and institution, and also act as advocates for the value and benefits of arts and humanities research to communities beyond academia. The Scheme offers opportunities for library staff to work in partnership with RLUK and the AHRC in strengthening research capacity and capabilities in libraries across the arts and humanities, and within and beyond the RLUK membership.

The Professional Practice Fellowship Scheme will provide time and support for library staff:

  • To develop their capability, capacity, and confidence as research partners and leaders.

  • To enable colleagues to place their work within wider professional or disciplinary frameworks which will have a transformative effect on their ability to act as research partners or leaders.

  • To equip colleagues with the research skills, knowledge, and confidence, to transform their professional practice through research.

  • To result in a tangible outcome that enables the fellowship to bring discernable and lasting benefit to both the individual, and their institution, beyond the fellowship’s duration.

Application period

Applications have now closed. The results of the application process will be announced to applicants in February 2022. Please see the scheme guidance for further details of the scheme’s criteria and assessment process.

General enquiries

General scheme enquiries including regarding the eligibility criteria and application process: Tao Chang at infrastructure@ahrc.ukri.org, inserting RLUK PPF21 in the subject line. 

For specific questions regarding how the scheme can support the work of libraries, archives, special collections, and museums: Matt Greenhall at matthew.greenhall@rluk.ac.uk, inserting RLUK PPF21 in the subject line. 

Application guidance

IMPORTANT: All applicants must read the Application Guidance associated with this scheme before submitting their application. This guidance expands on, and supersedes, the information issued within the scheme’s pre-call announcement. This includes details of the scheme’s eligibility criteria, requirements, and assessment criteria, and applicants should only follow this guidance when developing their application. This scheme is not included within the AHRC Research Funding Guide.

Full application guidance

Application advisors

Members of under-represented groups, and those colleagues who believe themselves to be disadvantaged in making an application (either personally or professionally), can also receive generic and limited advice from a small number of ‘application advisors’.

Find out more

Apply for the scheme

Applications need to be made by completing a smart survey form administered by the AHRC. Applications will not be accepted via J-es.

Preview the survey questions in advance.

Applications for this scheme are now closed. This information remains available for reference only.

Application form

Eligibility

The scheme is open to colleagues working within any unit or department that sits within a research or academic library which belongs to a recognised UK Higher Education Institution (HEI), Independent Research Organisation (IRO), or is a member of Research Libraries UK (RLUK). 

The scheme is open to both RLUK and non-RLUK member institutions, and has been designed to enable a wide variety of applications from individuals, institutions, and professions, from across the academic and research library communities.

RLUK and AHRC welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds and career stages. The scheme would particularly like to encourage applications from early-career professionals who are seeking to develop their research capability, confidence, and capacity. RLUK and AHRC would also like to encourage applications from members of ethnic minority communities, who constitute an underrepresented group within the library and information sectors.

In order to be eligible for the AHRC-RLUK Professional Practice Fellowship scheme, at the point of application, applicants must:

  • Be employed by an academic or research library that belongs to a recognised UK Higher Education Institution (HEI), Independent Research Organisation (IRO), or is a member of Research Libraries UK (RLUK)
  • Have at least two years of experience working within a collection-holding, cultural, or information institution or two-years postdoctoral experience
  • Have an existing employment contract that lasts at least until the end of the award
  • Have identified a named and willing mentor, with a strong academic or professional practice background relevant to their fellowship, who is willing to act as a mentor during the duration of their fellowship. This individual can work within their own institution or at an external institution or body
  • The research and work undertaken through these fellowships must fall under the funding remit of the AHRC.

Please refer to the full application guidance document to check the eligibility criteria before contacting AHRC with any queries.

Background to the scheme

The creation of this scheme is a direct response to the findings and recommendations of a joint RLUK-AHRC scoping study regarding the role, and potential role, of research and academic libraries as research partners and leaders. The report, published in July 2021, highlighted the need to support colleagues working across research and academic libraries in the development of their research capability, capacity, and confidence.

  • The RLUK-AHRC scoping study report, which has informed the development of this scheme, is available here: Potential applicants are encouraged to familiarise themselves with this report and its findings as context for this scheme.
  • A pre-call announcement of this scheme was made on 8 September: guidance issued as part of the pre-call has now been expanded and superseded by the Full Scheme Guidance, given above.