Other Significant Fellowships

Huntington Fellowship

As a result of a partnership agreement between the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and the Huntington Library, California, we are delighted to announce the award of a fellowship to a member of our academic staff. This fellowship recognises the recipients’ outstanding research profiles and will provide valuable opportunities to engage with the Huntington Library’s internationally renowned collections and scholarly community. The awards also reflect the Faculty’s ongoing commitment to fostering international research collaboration and supporting excellence in the arts and humanities.
Amanda Hsieh (Associate Professor of Musicology) has also been awarded a fellowship to be taken during the 2026–27 academic year, with her project entitled Singers of the Japanese Pacific: Southern California and the East Asian Empire’s Actor Networks.

Amanda Hsieh

Huntington Fellowship

Associate Professor of Musicology, Durham University,

Smithsonian Fellowship

As a result of the institutional MOU between the University and the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History in North America, we are delighted to announce the award of a one-month fellowship.
This fellowship has been granted to a member of our academic staff and will support research and scholarly engagement with the Museum’s outstanding collections and expertise.
Dr Kris Fire Kovarovic, Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology has also been awarded a fellowship and will advance research focused on fossil mammal assemblages and their critical role in reconstructing the ancient environments in which early humans evolved.     Fire will take up the fellowship in the academic year 2026/27.

Kris “Fire” Kovarovic

Smithsonian Fellowship

Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology, Durham University,

Tom McLeish Fellowships

Durham University is delighted to invite applications from outstanding researchers for the prestigious McLeish Visiting Fellowships, hosted by the Centre for Creation, Natural Philosophy and Science (CCNPS).
The Fellowships provide an exciting opportunity for scholars whose research engages the relationships between theology, the natural sciences, philosophy, and the humanities, and who wish to contribute to a vibrant interdisciplinary academic community at Durham.
The Centre for Creation, Natural Philosophy and Science was established at Durham University in 2025 to celebrate and advance the intellectual legacy of Professor Tom McLeish, whose pioneering work explored the intersections of theology, medieval natural philosophy, and contemporary science.

Applications are welcomed from researchers with an established track record of excellence and a demonstrated interest in interdisciplinary scholarship relevant to the aims of the Centre.

For application details, eligibility criteria, and deadlines, please visit here

Past Fellows

26/27

2025/26

April

Adam Bridgen

Huntington Fellowship

Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellow, Department of English Studies, Durham University,

May

Barry Shiels

Smithsonian Fellowship

Department of English Studies, Durham University,

Loading Fellow

Durham Barker Fellowship has been an unforgettable experience, from beginning to end. The fellowship enabled me to consult invaluable archival materials in an inspiring environment and to further my research. My work was facilitated by the library staff, who were very kind and helpful throughout my stay. Apart from enabling me to conduct my research project (Monsters on Durham’s Riverbanks: Bertram Colgrave’s Notebooks on OE and ME Poems), the fellowship also gave me the opportunity to meet the other fellows as well as members of Durham University. The exchange of ideas which ensued was incredibly enjoyable and productive.
Ivana Bicak
Barker Visiting Fellowship (Bilkent University, Turkey)
The Barker Fellowship at Durham University provided an invaluable space for advancing my research within a dynamic and collegial intellectual community. Following my work on the history of sexual violence, I became increasingly interested in how it intersects with other forms of discrimination—sexual and gender-based, racial, and social—within religious contexts. This led me to explore religious women’s movements and their role in the fight against sexual violence and gender discrimination. During my time at Durham, I deepened my research on the Catholic Women's League of England, which has a particularly rich history in this respect, and its connections with other...
Agnes Desmazieres
Barker Visiting Fellowship (Centre Sèvres-Facultés jésuites de Paris, French)
Staying in Durham for one month from late February to late March in 2025, I worked on my research project under the Barker Visiting Fellowship to investigate anime “intermediate” materials like storyboards and key frame drawings, and anime-related objects like posters and cosplay costumes, along with the documents of their metadata and acquisition, held in the Durham University Oriental Museum. During the fellowship, I also observed the ways in which those materials and objects were managed, conserved, displayed, and utilized in the Museum and got clearer ideas of what is aimed at with those modern or contemporary Japanese items in...
Joon Yang KIM
Barker Visiting Fellowship (Niigata University, Japan)
'The opportunity to work intensively with the manuscript treasures of Durham special collections was invaluable. The collegial and friendly atmosphere generated in the cohort of fellows was an added bonus!'
Professor Gordon Pentland
Barker Visiting Fellowship (University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom)
I was delighted to be awarded a Lendrum Fellowship to work at the Durham Residential Research Library and to be part of the fantastic research community around these collections. My research would not have been possible without the fellowship, because the books I am working with are specific to Durham Cathedral in the sixteenth century, and offer important clues about what happened there during the Reformation. Durham is enormously fortunate in its collections because such a large proportion of its pre-Reformation books stayed in the region, whether in the Cathedral collections or gathered into the library at Ushaw, and it...
Elizabeth Biggs
Lendrum Priory Visiting Fellowship (University of York, England)
'I had a fantastic month as part of the Durham Research Fellowships scheme at the start of 2020. Participating in the scheme allowed me to conduct detailed research into medieval archival material held by at Durham, including original financial accounts, charters, and court rolls. I subsequently integrated this into my research on the governance of the medieval wool trade. I enjoyed the chance to meet some of the historians based at Durham and also greatly enjoyed staying at Ushaw College, which offered a stunning location. Another highlight included attendance at a formal dinner at St Chad's College with other Research...
Matt Raven
DRRL Visiting Fellowship (Institute of Historical Research, London, England)
Durham is a lovely town, and the University is a stimulating place for scholars. I believe that the Fellowship will offer wonderful experiences, both academically and socially, to anyone interested in research and life at an English university.
Shunsuke Katsuta
Sasakawa Visiting Fellowship (University of Tokyo, Japan)
I express my gratitude to Durham University for offering me the Residential Research Library fellowship. My experience at Durham was very enriching. Along with the great academic exposure, I got the chance to explore the rich cultural heritage of a beautiful Romanesque city. It is substantially important to mention that the visiting fellows are given access to all the resources. From navigating through the rich archives and rare collections to exploring the latest research in the Bill Bryson library, everything was hassle-free. The functionaries at all the places are very welcoming. Overall, my stay at Durham has been very fruitful...
Veenat Arora
Barker Visiting Fellowship (Panjab University, India)
During my time at Durham University, I have surveyed and studied various South Asian bows and arrows preserved at Oriental Museum. Besides, the study of bows and arrows I have also explored many photographs/images of archers and archery preserved at Palace Green Library that helped me to shape my understanding towards the high skills used to manufacture oriental bows and arrows and also the use of specialized training in archery. Further, the holdings of rare manuscripts and books pertaining to bow-making and archery at Durham Cathedral and Bill Bryson Library enhanced my knowledge in the field of bow-making and the...
Dr Syed Ashraf
Barker Visiting Fellowship (Department of Delhi Archives, New Dehli)
I am deeply grateful for my Lendrum Book Fellowship, which has offered me a truly transformative research experience. The expansive time and space offered by the Fellowship has enabled me both to pursue my planned archival project in depth, and to discover new and unexpected pathways for the future. This will lead to several outputs and, I hope, some future projects and collaborations related to early books and manuscripts at Durham Cathedral and Durham University. My heartfelt thanks to the Lendrums for their generosity.
Mary Ann Lund
Lendrum Visiting Fellowship (University of Leicester, UK)