Groningen Faculty of Arts Research Fellowship Programme 2026
Introduction - Making connections
With a rich heritage and an academic tradition dating back to 1614, the University of Groningen is an academic community with a strong sense of belonging and a culture of innovative education and research. It is an academic community where we are curious, ask questions with an open mind, and engage with each other and with society. We do this by making connections: connections across academic disciplines, connections between research and education, and connections with societal stakeholders. By learning and collaborating across borders we can tackle today’s multi-dimensional challenges.
In this light, the Faculty of Arts of the University of Groningen introduces a new fellowship programme. We invite early career researchers and internationally renowned senior humanities scholars to come to our vibrant city to make connections: with our researchers, with our students and with the residents of Groningen. To share their expertise and learn from ours, to strengthen and expand scientific networks, give expert lectures, collaborate in publications and to explore possibilities for a joint grant application.
What can be applied for?
Candidates can apply for either a junior or a senior fellowship. The Faculty of Arts offers four junior fellowships and two senior fellowships each year.
The senior fellowships are distributed over the research institutes as follows:
-
Groningen Institute of Archaeology (GIA): 1 every other year
-
Groningen Research Institute for the Study of Culture (ICOG): 1 per year
-
Centre for Language and Cognition Groningen (CLCG): 1 every other year
For the junior fellowships, no such distribution provisions apply.
Fellows will receive:
-
Guest status (OEP), providing access to all UG facilities, including the University Library, printers and flexible desk space;
-
A bench fee up to €3,000,- (junior fellows)/ €6,000,- (senior fellows) for a maximum of one semester. See below for a list of items that are covered and not covered by the bench fee.
Bench fee
Activities covered by the bench fee are
-
Travel expenses to and from the Netherlands from current work or homeaddress. Please note that the RUG follows a Sustainable business travel policy;
-
Travel expenses inside the Netherlands as long as they are work related (e.g. visiting an archive or attending a seminar);
-
Accommodation expenses for an overnight stay in Groningen only or related to the inbound and/or outbound travel; NB: overnight stays in other locations in the Netherlands are possible, but only after consultation with the assigned person of the Faculty of Arts and the approval of the Faculty Research Policy Officer
-
Costs concerning the application for a Visa.
Activities not covered by the bench fee are
-
Costs concerning travel to or from other destinations than the current work or home address;
-
Costs concerning travel to non-work-related destinations inside the Netherlands;
-
Other costs of living than the above-mentioned accommodation expenses, like food, drinks or toiletry;
-
Tuition fees;
-
Entrance tickets;
-
The purchase or rent of (research) equipment or means of transport (e.g. renting a car) with the possible exception of an OV-bike. The costs of renting an OV-bike can be claimed only when the OV-bike is used for work-related activities, e.g. travelling
to an archive in a Dutch city.
Please note that reimbursement of expenses will only be paid out provided that receipts are available. All costs that exceed the funding amount will be at the expense of the fellow.
Who can apply
Junior fellowship
Junior fellows have to be early career researchers who would like to capitalise on the research expertise, network and facilities present at the Faculty of Arts, while preparing a grant application for a (joint) research project at our Faculty. A junior fellow must be in the possession of a PhD title and can apply until max. four years after PhD graduation. The deadline for submitting the application is the cut-off date, i.e. Sunday March 29, 2026, meaning the doctorate must have been awarded no earlier than March 31, 2022.
Senior fellowship
Senior fellows have to be internationally renowned senior researchers, who are experts in their field and possess a relevant network. During their stay, they will collaborate with Faculty of Arts researchers in research projects and on co-authored publications.
How to apply
Submission deadline
The submission deadline for all applicants is Sunday March 29, 2026, 23:59 CEST.
The submission exists of an application form and a CV. Both documents must be either in Word or PDF, with the application and CV divided into two separate documents.
Junior fellowship
Candidates can apply by sending the application form before the submission deadline to the following email address: arts.rfp@rug.nl.
The application (max. 500 words) should contain the following:
-
The reason(s) for a visit to the Faculty of Arts;
-
A description of the added value of the visit;
-
A description of what the fellow will deliver in exchange for the fellowship (seminar/public engagement activity/publication/joint grant application/…);
-
The name of at least one research staff member within the Faculty of Arts with whom the fellow is planning to collaborate.
In addition, please add a curriculum vitae of max. two pages to the application.
Senior fellowship
Applications have to be submitted before the submission deadline by a research staff member of the Faculty of Arts upon request by the candidate. This member of staff has to send the application form to the following email address: arts.rfp@rug.nl.
The application (max. 500 words) should contain the following:
-
The reason(s) for a visit to the Faculty of Arts, including name(s) of staff member(s) with whom the applicant plans to collaborate;
-
A description of the added value of the visit;
-
A description of what the fellow will deliver in exchange for the fellowship (e.g. seminar/public engagement activity/publication/joint grant application).
In addition, please add a curriculum vitae of the fellow of max. two pages to the application.
Assessment procedure
A committee consisting of the directors of the three research institutes will assess all applications in April 2026. They base their assessment on the elements of the application form, as listed in 4.2 and 4.3.
As soon as possible after the committee has made its decision and no later than in May 2026, the applicants will be informed about the decision.
The awarded fellowships can start between September 2026 and February 2027.
For further information or questions, please send an email to: arts.rfp@rug.nl