Frequently Asked Questions about applying for a Research Fellowship or Internship
Yes, we welcome applications by email as long as they contain all the relevant material. Please send an email at the same time to say that you have sent the material by email (or indeed by conventional mail) in case of any delivery problems. We are also happy to accept applications by conventional (“snail”) mail.
An overview of our collections can be found in About the Collections. A partial online catalogue can be found here. An online catalogue of many of the books (but not all the older books) in the Science Museum Library can be accessed through the Imperial College and Science Museum Libraries Online Catalogue. You may also find it useful to visit our two object-related websites, Ingenious and Making the Modern World. If you need further information, please email Peter Morris.
We are keen to find out what areas of our collections you are interested in, and as part of the application process we would encourage you to propose a topic of your own choosing (it does not matter at this stage if the topic is practicable here or not). We would therefore be grateful if you could propose a possible topic or topics yourself. Think about what objects-based topics you are interested in and what field is attractive to you at this stage of your career. You will find it helpful to browse our online object catalogue and our two object-related websites, Ingenious and Making the Modern World. If you need more information or wish to make an appointment to visit the museum to see our collections on display, please email Peter Morris. We will assist successful Junior Research Fellows to find the best topic based on what is available in our collections once they have been appointed.
Yes, the museum would help find a topic for you to research, but we would do this in discussion with you, and we would endeavour to take your interests and strengths into account during this process. We may not be able to offer you the topic you would most like to research if the link to the collections is not strong enough. We would try our best but it cannot be guaranteed.
The purpose of these fellowships is to explore our objects and collections, and the uses to which they are put. It would therefore assist your application if you could show how your proposed research would help us to understand our objects and collections better, even if only tangentially so. Proposals that are purely about visitor research, display techniques or educational methods (to give just a few examples) are unlikely to be successful. If you are at all uncertain if your proposal is suitable, please email Peter Morris for assistance.
The museum is not constrained by disciplinary boundaries and welcomes applications from scholars from any academic discipline. In the past we have collaborated with scientists, physicians, psychologists, anthropologists, ethnologists, geographers, film historians, scholars interested in material culture and academics from English departments.
You are very welcome to apply, but it should be borne in mind that these fellowships are not intended to cover living costs beyond the cost of visiting the museum and staying in London. We would not be your employer and you would get no employment benefits. You will be expected to work largely on your own. These fellowships are best suited to (but by no means limited to) experienced scholars with another source of income such as professors on sabbaticals or retired academics and curators.
Only you can decide which suits you better. Think about the scholarly product you wish to have at the end of the fellowship. If you are thinking in terms of a paper, the three month fellowship would probably be best. If you wish to write a very long paper or a book, it would be better to apply for the long-term fellowship. The key thing is to present a strong proposal which makes good use of our collections. The details of which fellowship is best suited to your situation can be worked out afterwards. So the short answer would be to apply for both if you are in a position to do so and are in any doubt about which would be the most suitable. However you only need to make one application.
We welcome applications from any country but these posts do not carry contracts of employment. If you are applying from outside the EU, you would be responsible for obtaining permission to live and work in this country and any costs involved in this process.
We are happy to receive references from non-British academic referees, but we ask that the references be in English.
In the case of the Junior Research Fellowships, it would be a written report on your work at the museum and a short written product of value to the museum such as a web-page, improved catalogue records of objects or a short article for a magazine. At the end of the Research Fellowships, we would expect a written report, a seminar paper and an appropriate scholarly publication (a paper or book) depending on the length of the fellowship. However each case is different and the agreed outcomes would be negotiated with the successful candidate before they take up the fellowship/internship. The Science Museum will receive printed acknowledgement in any and all publications resulting in whole and in part from research carried out during the period of the fellowship/internship. Copies of all publications that are a result of the fellowship/internship will be given to the Science Museum. The Science Museum does not undertake to publish or assist with the publication of the research arising from the fellowship.
We do not have accommodation for research visitors and you would have to find (and pay for) your own accommodation. London is not cheap but there are some reasonably priced places to stay. If you are here outside the university terms, it may be possible to obtain nearby student accommodation for you at a comparatively cheap rate but this cannot be guaranteed. You are advised to look for accommodation several months before you take up your fellowship. We cannot guarantee that your stipend will be sufficient to cover these expenses.
The two research programmes have very limited funds for costs of travel, meal and accommodation incurred on research trips away from the museum if you submit the original receipts. We cannot guarantee to cover all the costs involved.
We will not pay for the cost of your travel to the museum from your normal place of residence nor from home or temporary accommodation whilst you are carrying out research at the museum. The stipend itself should be used for this purpose.
