Leverhulme International Professorships 2023

The University of Liverpool is inviting Intentions to submit from exceptional overseas professors to apply for this scheme and join the University.

The Scheme 

The Leverhulme International Professorships scheme is a £100 million scheme funded by Leverhulme Trust. It aims to help maintain the UK’s international standing as a desirable research destination that is open to talented individuals from all countries.  

This is a major opportunity to attract global talent to the University that will strengthen our research excellence and enable us to meet our strategic research aims.

The main objectives of the scheme are:

  • To enable UK Universities to conduct world-wide searches for research leaders and innovators of any nationality and bring them to the UK. 
  • To help ensure that the best possible appointments are made to strategically important academic positions in this country.  

The Trust invites applications for professorial candidates who will conduct research of outstanding originality and quality, and by their appointment, will also contribute significantly to the University’s strategic aims and objectives. This may be an appointment to consolidate or reshape an existing area or field of study or to allow the University to branch out into new areas or disciplines. Applicants are therefore invited to be bold in compiling their bids. 

The Leverhulme Trust deadline is Wednesday 22 November 2023, 12pm (UK time).

Eligibility and Awards available

Grants of up to £5 million are available for a period of five years. Permanent appointments will be made to staff appointed on these grants AND/OR an ongoing package of support will be offered by the host institution after the end of the grant.

Eligible institutions are universities in the UK. There are no restrictions on nationality of the professorial candidate but they must be working outside the UK at the time of application. Applications cannot be made retrospectively. 

Eligible costs include the Professorial salary (up to a maximum of £250k per annum), the salaries of associated academic and research staff, and associated costs.

Please refer to the Scheme Guidance for full details.

Selection and Support Process at the University of Liverpool

Given the highly competitive nature of this scheme and the fact that only one application is permitted per institution, the University of Liverpool has put in place an internal demand management process to select, and then closely support, the candidate to be put forward by the University.

This process will be led by the University of Liverpool’s Institutional Peer Review College.

How to apply

  1. Please ensure you have read the Leverhulme Scheme Guidance and ensure you are fully eligible for this scheme and fit the remit of this call before contacting colleagues at the University of Liverpool.
  2. Please contact the Department/colleague with whom you wish to apply, to discuss your potential application and your fit with the Department/School/Faculty. Please note that all nominations submitted to the demand management panel must have the support of their relevant Dean of School.
  3. Once both sides have agreed to take your application forward, please complete the Intention to Submit Proforma and send this to our Institutional Peer Review College (peerrev@liverpool.ac.uk) by Tuesday 12 September 2023, 4pm (UK time). The proforma can be downloads from the intranet or by contacting peerrev@liverpool.ac.uk. Note that this is a mandatory step which allows us to review submissions for eligibility and planning purposes.
  4. The relevant Dean of School will be required to submit the documents below to our Institutional Peer Review College (peerrev@liverpool.ac.uk) by Tuesday 19 September 2023, 4pm (UK time), for consideration by the panel:
    • A nominator’s statement of support (max 500 words)
    • A statement from the Professorial candidate (max 500 words)
    • The Professorial candidate’s CV (a summary of up to four pages)
    • An indicative budget

PLEASE NOTE that further information/guidance on the documents to submit for this internal demand management process is available on our staff intranet.

Please ask your University of Liverpool contact to access this or email peerrev@liverpool.ac.uk for further details.

Any questions?

For any further queries, please contact peerrev@liverpool.ac.uk.

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