Through a generous donation, King’s College Cambridge is able to invite applications for a four-year Research Fellowship from those who are completing or have recently completed a doctorate and who intend to pursue a substantial research project on some aspect of the Silk Road countries, societies, and cultures of Asia from the Western borders of China to the Mediterranean Sea, as well as their relationships with China in the East and Europe in the West. The research project can be situated in any discipline or interdisciplinary position and can address any aspect of the movement of materials, knowledge, cultural practices and technologies between China and the Mediterranean or any sub-region between the two at any period up to the present day.

This Research Fellowship is part of a broader programme, which includes lectures, seminars and conferences, as well as graduate scholarships and further Research Fellowships. As well as pursuing their own research project, the successful candidate will be expected to play an active role in developing the programme and in organizing academic activity concerned with the countries of the Silk Road outside of their own specific project.

The ideal candidate for this Research Fellowship will have a strong background in a relevant discipline and be completing or have completed an outstanding doctoral thesis. It is not a requirement that the candidate’s doctoral studies or the work that they submit in support of their application should have concerned questions of the Silk Roads specifically, but candidates will be expected to show in their applications how their plans for their future work relates to the work that they have already done.

A Research Fellowship is a postdoctoral position tenable for up to 4-years. Applications are welcome from graduates of any university. Candidates will usually have completed their PhD, but must not have undertaken more than 3-years of postdoctoral work by 1 October 2024 (i.e. your PhD cannot have been granted before 30 September 2021).