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Applications are now open for the Chevening-Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (OCIS) Fellowship Program. Click here to learn more about this opportunity and apply for it.
Opportunity Details
The Chevening Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (OCIS) Fellowships are aimed at mid-career academics or professionals who are dedicated to the promotion of academic activities which encourage a more informed understanding of the culture and civilisation of Islam and contemporary Muslim societies.
Fellows will undertake a 5-month period of self-directed research focusing on their own project on the culture and civilisation of Islam and contemporary Muslim societies in a global context.
Fellows will benefit from meeting a multi-disciplinary group of scholars focusing on the Islamic world and have the opportunity to develop contacts with relevant individuals, discuss issues relating to the Islamic world, including Islamic history, classical Islamic sciences, economics and Islamic finance, public health, science and technology in the Muslim world, and the study of Muslims in the West. Fellows will contribute to the Centre’s objective to encourage and promote sustained dialogue and collaboration within the global academic community of the culture and civilisation of Islam and contemporary Muslim societies.
OCIS is an institution for the advanced study of Islam and the Muslim world and provides a meeting point for the Western and Islamic worlds of learning.
This fellowship programme will commence in October 2024. Fellows will need to develop their own research project to focus on during their fellowship prior to arriving in the UK.
Fellows must reside in Oxford for the duration of their award. OCIS can provide information about accommodation options in Oxford upon selection.
Fellowship
| Applications open at 12:00 BST | 6 August 2024 |
| Applications close at 12:00 GMT | 5 November 2024 |
| Applications are sifted against eligibility criteria | From 6 November 2024 |
| Reading Committee assessments
Independent reading committees assess all eligible applications. Their scores and rankings are then passed back to local British embassies/high commissions. |
Mid-November 2024 to January 2025 |
| Applicants shortlisted for interviews
Once the embassy/high commission has reviewed the applications, they produce a shortlist of those who they will invite to interview. Notifications will then follow. |
Mid-February 2025 |
| References and education documents deadline | 19 February 2025 |
| Interviews take place
Candidates from all over the world are interviewed by panels at British embassies and high commissions. |
26 February to 25 April 2025 |
| Results announced | From May 2025 |
| 2025/26 Chevening Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (& Abdullah Gül) Fellowship runs | October 2025 to March 2026 |
Please note this timeline is subject to change.
To be eligible for a Chevening OCIS Fellowship, you must:
* Note: Immediate relatives are defined as parents or step-parents, siblings or step-siblings, children or step-children, spouse, civil partner or unmarried (where the couple have been in a relationship akin to marriage or civil partnership for at least two years).
Please note that applicants who have previously received financial benefit from a HMG-funded scholarship or fellowship are eligible to apply after a period of five years following the completion of their first HMG funded award. In these cases, applicants will be required to demonstrate their career progression from that point.
Applicants should be prepared to outline a short proposal on the area of academic research they would like to conduct at the time of application submission. The proposal should include a main research question and how the applicant intends to conduct this research while in residence at the Centre.
Applications for the 2025/2026 OCIS Afghanistan Award are currently closed. Eligibility for this year’s programme is still under review. Please monitor this page for updates.
Apply for Chevening-Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (OCIS) Fellowship Program