The Trustees of the Camel Trust invite applications for a grant of up to a maximum of £3,000 to support outstanding post-doctoral research in the field of social anthropology during the course of the calendar year 2027. Their intention is to support research by an early career post-doctoral scholar and to help them to prepare for an academic career in anthropology and make a significant contribution to the discipline. This could be through a short period of post-doctoral field research, the completion of an original academic publication, or the completion and submission of a grant application (or any combination of these).
Eligibility:
Applicants must have been formally awarded a PhD in Anthropology from a UK university at the time of application, and the degree must have been conferred after 1st January, 2023. The terms of the Trust require that the successful candidate should be formally or informally affiliated to a UK university, and a short letter agreeing to such an affiliation must be forwarded to the Trustees before the award is finally confirmed. This might be from a prospective ‘mentor’, a former supervisor or a Head of Department.
There are no restrictions on nationality. Applications are invited from scholars in temporary employment or without any formal employment, but not from those who already hold a permanent faculty position. It may not be held concurrently with a full-time post-doctoral fellowship. Research on any thematic area and geographic region will be considered.
Application materials and deadline:
The closing date for applications is 1 December 2026 and the proposed research may be done at any stage between mid-January 2027 and 31st December 2027. Applications should consist of a one-page cover letter, a short CV, a one-page outline of the proposed writing and/or fieldwork activities, a short budget and a clear timeline of planned activities. Please also submit an article/chapter-length sample of writing. In addition, the names of two referees should be provided who may be contacted by the Trustees. Please use the attached application form and do not exceed 6 pages in total. The application form, together with the sample writing, should be emailed to: cameltrust@gmail.com<mailto:cameltrust@gmail.com>.
The successful applicant will be contacted in January 2027. If you have not heard from us by that time you should assume that your application was not successful. By the end of the grant period (that is, by 31st December 2027) the grant recipient will be required to submit a short (1 page) report on their research activity along with a short account of the fieldwork conducted, or a copy of the article(s)/monograph completed or the research application submitted.
In 2024 a grant was awarded to Hannah Tubman in support of her research on the commodification of environmental justice in Zambia. In 2025, a grant was awarded to Meghan Donnelly for her project ‘Mission to America: International Outpost of an Indonesian Religious Organisation’.
The Trustees regret that they cannot enter into any correspondence with unsuccessful applicants or offer further advice on the form that applications should take.