Appointment of academic visitors

The Department of International Relations welcomes external applications for visiting appointments from qualified academics or practitioners whose interests intersect with the Department’s research interests.

Visitors to the Department come under three main categories:

Visiting Fellow: academics at Assistant Professor level, post-doctoral/early career researchers, or non-academic professionals at a broadly comparable level in the early stages of their career.
Visiting Senior Fellow: academics at Associate Professor level, or non-academic professions of equivalent standing.
Visiting Professor: Full Professors, or non-academics who have achieved prominence in public life, or who have attained distinction in their profession.

Academic applicants should have a completed PhD by the start date of their fellowship.

Doctoral candidates interested in visiting the Department before completing the PhD are normally expected to apply for the status of Visiting Research Student in International Relations through LSE's Application System (application code M1ER).

Visiting appointments are typically offered for a period of up to one year. In exceptional cases, such as multi-year postdoctoral fellowships funded by research agencies and foundations, a longer period may be agreed.

Visitors are able to attend Department research seminars and events, as well as meet with staff within the Department and elsewhere at LSE. Visitors can also attend many other seminars and events that are held across the School.

LSE operates on two teaching terms, and participation to the Department research cluster seminars is only possible in the Autumn and/or Winter terms. Therefore applicants are urged to take the term dates into account when indicating the preferred start and end date of their visit. The Department cannot accommodate applications to the Summer Term only as we would expect visitors to engage with cluster activities. We encourage applications starting in the Summer Term to extend to the Autumn Term as a minimum.

Visitors are provided with an LSE IT account and email address, as well as access to the LSE Library. The Department offers open-plan hot-desking space for visitors to use if and when they may need it.

Visitors are able to use their visitor title, eg LSE Visiting Fellow, when referring to their LSE affiliation. The “Visiting” status must be made explicit in all circumstances.

Visiting appointments are unpaid and non-contractual. We are not able to provide financial support for visitors (including for travel or accommodation), nor are we able to assist with sourcing travel/accommodation/administrative support for your stay or visa support.

Visitors are expected to play an active part in the research and intellectual life of the Department. This could be by, although not limited to, participating in our research cluster seminars; giving a public lecture; contributing a written piece for our website/blog; and meeting PhD and MSc students to discuss their thesis or dissertation projects.

All visitors are affiliated with one or more of the Department’s research clusters, and attend the relevant research seminars in the Autumn terms and/or Winter terms.

Find out further details of the Departments’ research clusters

In addition, visitors can be affiliated with a Department research unit, subject to agreement of the unit head.

Find out further details of the Department’s research units

More information is also available on the Academic Visitors application form.

Complete the application form [Word]

and return it to ir.research@lse.ac.uk by the following deadlines of each year:

27 November (for earliest possible start date of the following March)
29 January (for earliest possible start date of May)
4 June (for earliest possible start date of September)

Applicants are notified about the outcome of their application approximately 12 weeks after the relevant deadline. No visit can commence before the official notification is issued.

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