Deadline: January 22, 2027
Applications are open for the CRASSH Visiting Fellowships for Scholars from the Global South 2027. The Centre for Research in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (CRASSH) at the University of Cambridge is inviting applications for funded Visiting Fellowships for scholars from the Global South.
The purpose of these Fellowships is to provide opportunities for scholars working at higher education institutions in the Global South to exchange ideas with other researchers based at CRASSH and elsewhere in the University of Cambridge and to draw benefit from access to the University’s collections and resources. It is hoped that these visits will lead on to future collaborations and exchanges.
Music Bodies & Ecologies
For 2028, CRASSH will partner with the Faculty of Music.
Since antiquity, music has had a complicated relationship with the body and the broader ecologies surrounding it. On the one hand, music has been integral to forms of celebration, sacred worship, song and dance across vast cultural geographies. Yet on the other hand, music has often been understood as suspect for its potential for excess. In our current moment of mounting ecological and other crises, new criticism and questions have arisen about whether music has any meaningful role to play in cultivating sustainable and regenerative forms of life.
They invite applications that explore these questions of music and its connections to human bodies and to broader ecologies beyond the human. They welcome proposals dealing with any musical tradition/culture, but especially encourage applications from scholars working on musical practices beyond the Western art music tradition. Some areas of research that may be particularly relevant include:
- music and listening as bodily practices
- music and dance
- music and ritual
- music and bodily presence, including shared co-presence and community
- music and the environment
- Black and Indigenous ecomusicological thought and practices
- music and time (potentially including ‘deep time’, seasonality, and life cycles)
- music, sound and voice
- religious and other cosmologies of music/sound and the broader world around us
- more-than-human musical practices (including non-human animals, plants, and geology)
- music and technological mediation, including the digital and artificial intelligence
- music pedagogy and the disciplining/training of the body
Benefits
- Visiting Fellows will receive return (economy fare) travel from the scholar’s home institution, in accordance with the University’s travel policy. CRASSH will also cover the cost of a visa, if required.
- CRASSH will also book and cover the cost of single ensuite accommodation will be provided at Wolfson College. Wolfson College will waive its usual membership fee and provide free access to the college library, gym, and social spaces, as well as participation in activities open to college members. Fellows may take meals in the college Dining Hall at their own expense.
- As this scheme is open to scholars already employed at a higher education institution, it is assumed that most everyday expenses will be met through their salary; however, a subsistence allowance of £175 per week is provided to help with the costs of food and local travel, which may be higher in the UK than in the applicant’s country of residence.
- Each Visiting Fellow will have desk space and computer access at CRASSH, along with full access to the University’s libraries, collections, and academic events hosted by CRASSH and other University institutions.
- The in-person Fellowship must be held for a minimum of nine weeks, and may be extended to twelve weeks if the Fellow wishes. It will be followed by a nine-month digital Fellowship, providing continued access to the University’s online events and resources.
Eligibility
- Applicants must be currently employed at a higher education institution or a research institute located in the Global South, on at least a 50% contract, and working primarily within the arts, humanities, or social sciences. For the purposes of this Fellowship scheme, ‘Global South’ is defined as those countries that are included in the OECD’s list of countries receiving Official Development Assistance.
- Applicants should have been awarded a PhD at least five years before the date of application.
- Applicants must have a level of spoken English that will allow them to engage actively in discussion on topics of academic interest.
Application
Applications must be submitted via the online application system by the deadline indicated. Register or log in to your application on the right-hand side of this page. The following documents are required:
- A cover letter, explaining why you would like to be considered for a Fellowship at CRASSH.
- Acurriculum vitae – use the template supplied. Applications with CVs in alternative formats will be considered ineligible.
- A copy of your PhD certificate, confirming that your PhD has been formally awarded and clearly showing the date of award.
- A letter of support from your Head of Department (or equivalent), confirming that leave of absence will be granted by your institution for the full period of the Fellowship.
- A sample of written work – please upload a short text (e.g. a journal article or book chapter) you have already published on a topic relevant to your research proposal.
- A research proposal – please outline in up to 1500 words the research project you propose to undertake during your Fellowship at CRASSH.
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- Your proposal should clearly identify a central research problem or question and explain the original contribution your project seeks to make to existing knowledge or understanding. We are particularly interested in how your project emerges from your previous work, and how it builds on or challenges existing scholarship.
- Please explain the specific sources, materials, evidence or cases you intend to investigate, the approach you will take, and how these will enable you to address your research questions. Your proposal should also explain what part of the project you would aim to complete during the Fellowship. We are looking for proposals that demonstrate independent intellectual judgement, a well-developed understanding of the research problem, and a clear rationale for the choices underpinning the project. We value precision, originality and critical engagement over broad claims about the significance or novelty of the proposed research.
For more information, visit CRASSH Visiting Fellowships.
