Institute of Advanced Study
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Welcome to the Institute of Advanced Study
How to get involved – research events, training, and funding
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 The Institute of Advanced Study (IAS) is gearing up for the start of the new academic year. We are particularly looking forward to welcoming our new cohort of Early Career Fellows. Our Accolade training programme is open to all postdoctoral researchers in Warwick: please contact us if you would like to apply to be an Associate Fellow of IAS, which will make you part of the IAS Community. We are also excited to announce our IAS research seminars for the autumn term. Our first Research Exchange will take place on 15th October in the IAS Seminar Room, featuring presentations by Dino Jakušić , Molly Harrabin, Grace Kamanga, Juliá n Harruch and Miriam Gordon. If you have an idea for new interdisciplinary research and would like to explore the possibility of developing a collaborative project within Warwick, please consider applying to our IAS Conversations Fund. IAS will support Warwick staff and IAS Fellows in hosting small, informal gatherings that encourage the development of new interdisciplinary research ideas. These sessions provide a collaborative environment in which to think speculatively, explore emerging areas of interest, and build connections across disciplines and institutions. Designed as a catalyst for future academic initiatives, IAS Conversations are intended to serve as a springboard for research networks, collaborative projects, and external funding applications. Submissions for IAS Conversations are accepted on an open call basis and will be reviewed at the end of each month.
If you want to develop your ideas for interdisciplinary research collaboration further, please apply for the IAS Interdisciplinary Research Development Awards. The aim of this scheme is to provide pump-priming funding to advance new interdisciplinary research ideas and other speculative early-stage activities (such as network development) to a point where a funding application can be submitted to an external funder for a significant research project or other long-term continuation of the pilot activity. Research ideas submitted to this scheme should be beyond the speculative and shaping phase and should be aiming for proof of concept in order to strengthen a future funding application. This fund will support activities such as travel for external participants, but does not offer buy-out for time. We are grateful to those who have agreed to form new peer review college, who will be assessing applications for Interdisciplinary Research Awards. The next deadline will be 15 December 2025.
IAS also supports the development of international networking. Warwick researchers are welcome to apply to invite a distinguished international researcher to become an IAS Visiting Fellow for a period between 10 days and 10 weeks. We already have a packed programme of visitors for 2025/26, but we still welcome applications for the later months of the current academic year, and beyond. The next call for applications will open on 1st December 2025 and close on 12th January 2026.
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 Warwick–Luxembourg Postdoctoral Exchange Programme (PEP)
The Institute of Advanced Study, University of Warwick and the Institute for Advanced Studies (IAS) Luxembourg are excited to launch the Warwick–Luxembourg Postdoctoral Exchange Programme (PEP).
This new scheme will support up to three six-month interdisciplinary fellowships for researchers within seven years of completing their PhD. Applicants must be employed at either the University of Warwick or the University of Luxembourg for the entire duration of the fellowship.
This prestigious academic exchange programme supports early-career researchers in building long-term, interdisciplinary collaborations across institutions. Through international mobility, intellectual exchange, and cross-disciplinary research, PEP Fellows will contribute to a vibrant academic partnership that bridges national and disciplinary boundaries.
The programme is designed to deepen scholarly connections, promote innovation, and strengthen collaborative networks between two leading European research communities.
PEP Key dates:
- Call opens: 1 October 2025
- Deadline: 15 December 2025
- Fellowships begin: 1 June 2026
- More information on the PEP website
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30th September 2025 12:00-13:00
IAS Seminar Room - Zeeman Building
This workshop will guide attendees through the application process for the IAS Early Career Fellowship Scheme. It will cover key aspects of preparing a strong application, highlight essential information from the scheme guidelines, and provide tips for success. The session will also address common questions from prospective applicants, helping to clarify eligibility, expectations, and next steps.
How to Apply Workshop
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Hannes Houck
Congratulations to former IAS EUTOPIA SIF fellow Dr Hannes Houck who has been awarded an ERC Starting Grant.
Hannes joined the IAS in 2021 as part of the first cohort of EUTOPIA-SIF fellows and used the fellowship to secure a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in the Department of Chemistry.
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Matteo Leta
Dr Matteo Leta has been awarded a four-year fellowship at UCD in the School of Languages, Cultures and Linguistics. He starts his fellowship in September 2025 on his project ‘Staging Otherness: The Representation of “Gypsies”, Turks, and Moors in Italian Renaissance Comedies and their European Translations (c.1500-1650)’. We would like to congratulate Matteo on this amazing achievement and wish him all the best at UCD.
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Roxanne Douglas
Living with Ghosts is Roxanne's first monograph. This book moves the field of study of Arab women’s writing on from the Anglophone preoccupation with the “bravery” that it takes to put pen to paper, and instead focuses on what the pen actually does. This book shows that Arab women writers innovate and utilise Gothic forms to “live with the ghosts” of foremothers, who represent lost knowledges about violence and feminised heritage. Examining contemporary Arab women’s writing from the 1970s to the present through the lens of world-literary systems and feminist theory, this book details aesthetic patterns between decades, nations, and authors. The works of canonical Arab feminist authors such as Nawal El Saadawi and Hanan Al-Shaykh are put in conversation with those of contemporary authors such as Adania Shibli, Joumana Haddad, and Mansoura Ez Eldin. These works are linked through their creative feminist theorisations of loss and living.
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Dino Jakušić
Dr Dino Jakušić has recently published an article entitled Christian Wolff and Positive Academic Freedom focusing on how academic freedom was conceived of during German Enlightenment and what we can learn from it today. Please find the abstract in continuation:
“In this article I argue that it is possible to find a positive account of academic freedom or of “freedom to philosophise” within Enlightenment thought. I focus on the case of Christian Wolff and his discussion of libertas philosophandi. I start by contextualising Wolff’s life and philosophy and discussing the negative aspect of his freedom to philosophise. I then present a case for an additional positive version understood as epistemic autonomy. Finally, I explain Wolffian epistemic autonomy within the context of his wider theory of cognition."
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 Hatice Gundeslioglu
Early Career Fellow Hatice Gundeslioglu has published an article 'Mental Health Problems Among UK Undergraduates: A Comparison Study of Autistic and Non-autistic Students'
The aim of this study was to examine whether the relationship between a set of risk and protective factors (e.g., selfesteem, stress, intolerance of uncertainty, autistic symptoms) and mental health problems differed between autistic and non-autistic undergraduates enrolled in UK universities across genders.
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Farewell and Welcome to IAS Fellows
As we approach the start of the new academic year, we would like to thank our departing EUTOPIA-SIF Fellows for their outstanding contributions to the Institute. We bid farewell to Cohort 3 Fellows, who have completed their two-year fellowship and congratulate those who have appointments:
- Dr Derya Kaya Ozdemir
- Dr Aditya Singh
- Dr Carla Guerra Tomazini
- Dr Thomas Bilterys
- Dr Belayneh Gedifew
Their expertise, energy, and creativity have made a lasting impact at the IAS, and we wish them every success in the next stage of their careers.
We would also like to congratulate Early Career Fellow Mathilde Alain who will be starting a Fellowship at the University of Grenoble-Alpes. We wish them all the best.
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At the same time, we are delighted to welcome our new Early Career Fellows, who will be joining the IAS this year:
- Alice Coffey – Global Sustainable Development
- Claudia Di Tosto – History of Art
- Cat Jones – Education Studies
- Farjana Kabir – Theatre and Performance Studies
- Oluwatosin Orababa – School of Life Sciences
- Ummul Fayiza Puthiya Peedikayil – Law
- Hrafnhildur Ragnarsdottir - Institute for Employment Research
- Lizzie Smith – English and Comparative Literary Studies
- Charlotte Spear – English and Comparative Literary Studies
- Dan Wood – Politics and International Studies
- Yang Shaoyu – School of Modern Languages and Cultures
- Xinyao Zhang – School of Modern Languages and Cultures
We look forward to supporting their innovative research, fostering interdisciplinary collaborations, and sharing their work with the Warwick community throughout the coming year.
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 Professor Lorenzo Calvelli
Prof. Lorenzo Calvelli from Ca’ Foscari, Venice was an IAS Visiting Fellow in the Dept of Classics and Ancient History in March 2025.
During his visit, Lorenzo had a chance to meet a variety of students and staff across different Faculties. Activities included: a research paper ‘Falsification from the Age of Humanism to the 18th century and beyond’; a tour of WMG facilities, with discussion about ongoing collaboration around digital cultural heritage; participation in a roundtable led by Jenny Burns (Arts Faculty Deputy Chair, External Engagement) and jointly with colleagues from Ca’ Foscari who attended online, to discuss the future development of joint cultural heritage projects; meeting undergraduates about to embark on their year abroad in Italy.
During his visit, a joint application to Eutopia for a PhD studentship between Warwick and Ca’ Foscari was also developed and subsequently awarded, on the topic ‘From ‘pagans’ to Christians’.
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 Professor Kirill Monakhov
Kirill Monakhov, who heads the Switchable Molecularly Functionalized Surfaces Group at the Leibniz Institute of Surface Engineering (IOM) was visiting the Warwick Electrochemistry & Interfaces Group (Prof. Patrick Unwin) at the Department of Chemistry.
This innovative and collaborative project led to several far-reaching outcomes by combining scanning electrochemical cell microscopy (SECCM), developed at Warwick, with solvent-processable, multilevel switchable polyoxometalates (POMs), synthesized and immobilized on different substrate surfaces at the IOM in Germany. The findings include novel insights into molecular electronic structures and previously unexplored electrochemical behaviour of these molecular species at liquid–solid interfaces.
The envisioned application of this work is a radically new method for storing and processing information under confined conditions. It builds on prior research in nanoparticle fabrication and probing conducted by the Warwick Electrochemistry & Interfaces Group and significantly expands these efforts into the realm of molecular approaches for cognitive computing. These studies are currently being prepared for submission to various high-impact, multidisciplinary journals.
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Accolade Training Programme and Associate Fellowships
We would like to extend a very warm welcome to all the IAS fellows that will be participating in the Accolade Training Programme. The aim of Accolade is to help Fellows transition from their doctoral training to an independent career and become effective academic leaders.
Accolade events and training sessions are open to all postdoctoral fellows affiliated with the IAS (any postdoc is eligible to apply for one of our Associate Fellowships). The programme is designed to develop knowledge and skills invaluable to anyone intending to embark on an academic career in the UK or worldwide. Developed in collaboration with our Fellows, broader Warwick community, and experts within and beyond the academic sector, the programme aims to help Fellows develop both personal and academic skills and gain experience and confidence in communicating your research to broader academic and non-academic audiences. For the upcoming term, we have planned events covering transferable skills, funding applications, stress management, pursuing hybrid careers, as well as advice on presenting posters and publishing monographs.
Beyond the training, Accolade sessions are a great opportunity to connect with our international and interdisciplinary community of fellows. Fellows have a chance to meet, chat with, and develop new research ideas with other IAS Fellows. We are particularly excited about our Research Exchange events which feature research presentations from ECFs, other current and former IAS fellows, as well as colleagues from collaborating international institutions.
Accolade sessions take place in hybrid format every Wednesday of Term 1, from 1pm to 3pm in the IAS Seminar Room (C0.02, Zeeman Building) and via Teams. For more details, check the IAS Events calendar.
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 Dr Nataliya Pratsovyta
Dr Nataliya Pratsovyta is an IAS Research Fellow at Warwick, affiliated with the Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies. Her research explores Biblical imagery in the works of G.K. Chesterton, alongside broader interests in Biblical motifs in fiction, historical fiction, and academic writing.
Nataliya completed her PhD in Comparative Literature at the University of Maryland, College Park, in 2017, and also holds a position as Docent at the Ukrainian Catholic University (UKU) in Lviv. Alongside her research at Warwick, Nataliya has remained deeply committed to supporting students in Ukraine, organising summer schools for UKU students at Warwick and continues to provide academic advising and supervise undergraduate theses.
Nataliya's work reflects the IAS mission to combine research excellence with international collaboration.
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Ukranian Summer School
As part of our commitment to supporting Academics at Risk the IAS was delighted to support the Third Ukrainian Summer School at the University of Warwick which took place in early July. This event brought fourteen undergraduate and six postgraduate students from the Ukranian Catholic University (UKU) in Lviv to Warwick to participate in a two-week programme of study.
The Summer school was led by Professor Christoph Mick (History) and gave the UKU students a wide range of pedagogical experiences by introducing them to many different subject areas, methods and approaches taught by the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Social Sciences. The summer school also sought to facilitate enriching encounters between Warwick and UKU students.
During the summer school the UKU students took part in a wide range of seminars and workshops led by colleagues from the Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences and Warwick Institute of Engagement and included a hybrid session with the Lviv Summer School of the Mykola Halevoi Centre with Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and UKU Lviv. The students were also able to undertake a number of cultural visits during their time at Warwick including Coventry Cathedral, Packwood House and Westminster Cathedral.
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We would like to thank Christoph Mick, Lewis Beer and the many other colleagues at Warwick who gave their time to make this such a successful and rewarding experience for the UKU students and we look forward to supporting the Fourth Ukrainian Summer School at the University of Warwick which is already being planned for 2026.
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Spotlight on DEAR
In March 2023, the IAS awarded funding to Dr Emily Henderson and Dr James Burford (Centre for Education Studies) to host an IAS Salon ( now IAS Conversations) on Doctoral Education and Academia, bringing together scholars to explore doctoral structures, supervision, mobility, and inequalities in academia. Inspired by the Salon’s energy, the Doctoral Education and Academia Research (DEAR) Centre was officially founded in October 2023 by Dr Henderson and Dr James Burford as an interdisciplinary hub for research on doctoral education and the academic profession.
Under Dr Henderson and Dr Burford’s leadership, DEAR has rapidly grown into a dynamic research centre, with a commitment to inclusivity, social justice, and global impact, partnering with Warwick’s National Centre for Research Culture (NCRC) and shaping policy and practice in higher education. The Centre Collective, which guides its activities, also includes Dr Fiona Fisher, reinforcing the ongoing partnership between the IAS and DEAR.
A landmark moment in the DEAR Centre’s evolution was Dr Henderson’s Inaugural Professorial Lecture, “Achingly Academic: Critiquing, Demystifying and Hopefully Transforming the Academic Profession,” held on 15 May 2025 in the FAB building (https://youtu.be/sDN1npBRA14?si=v92bzmVXDS5fqvaR). The lecture called for a reflexive, outward-facing view of academia, arguing that academics must critically engage with institutional structures to fulfil higher education’s public good mission.
The lecture is part of DEAR’s Celebration Series, designed to mark significant milestones in the Centre’s work.
Learn more about the DEAR Centre: www.warwick.ac.uk/DEAR
(Image credit: Rhiannon Nichols)
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 Women in World-Literature Conference
Dr Roxanne Douglas
With support from the IAS, Dr Roxanne Douglas (P2K Fellow) organised the international conference Women in World-Literature: Climate, Crisis, and Contagion. This two-day event brought together around 200 participants online and in-person, with innovative “hubs” in Turkey, Jordan, and Zambia.
Thanks to IAS funding, seven international colleagues from the Gambia, France, the Netherlands, India, the US, and the UK were supported with travel and accommodation bursaries. The conference also launched the Women in World-Literature (WIWL) Network, which now hosts regular reading groups, Work in Progress sessions, and a newsletter sharing calls for papers and opportunities. Dr Douglas leads an international steering committee of eight colleagues, ensuring the network’s ongoing global reach.
Learn more about the WIWL Network
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Wild Warwick
Dr Ian Farnell
Supported by an IAS Award, Dr Ian Farnell organised Wild Warwick, in collaboration with SCAPVC and the University Sustainability Team. The exhibition held 6–24 January in the FAB atrium, invited staff and students to showcase 30+ original works celebrating nature on campus and locally, including photography, cross-stitch, portraiture, canvas painting, watercolour, and poetry.
The opening event featured stalls from local nature groups including Warwickshire Wildlife Trust, Butterfly Conservation Trust, Warwickshire Mammal Group, Warwickshire Bat Group, Bee Friendly Leamington, and the Leamington Hedgehog Group. Workshops included bird feeder-making, a talk on bird spotting by the RSPB, and a campus litter pick.
The project was featured on BBC Coventry and Warwickshire, highlighting a tribute to the late local birdwatcher Jonathan Dean. It increased attendance at Youth Committee meetings for participating groups, attracted interest from the University’s central marketing team, and created teaching opportunities with the Warwickshire Wildlife Trust. Dr Farnell continues to work with the Sustainability Team on campus-wide initiatives and plans to extend the project in future research and community engagement.
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A new issue of the Exchanges journal was published in August (Volume 12.3 - Special Issue). Produced in association with Warwick’s National Centre for Research Culture and their annual International Research Culture Conference, this issue contains work inspired by the 2024 event. It also follows a similar volume published in 2024. A third volume in this series is planned for 2026.
With the departure of long-time Managing Editor-in-Chief of Exchanges, Dr Gareth ‘Gaz’ J Johnson, Dr Fiona Fisher co-hosted the 75th episode of the Exchanges Discourses podcast to look back over Gareth's time in the role. This episode, along with all the earlier ones, can be found on various sites or directly from the podcast’s host on Spotfiy.
Contributions are welcomed throughout the year for consideration for future issues, and the IAS is always happy to discuss potentially suitable submissions with authors too - exchangesjournal@warwick.ac.uk. |
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If you would like to get involved, join the IAS community or apply for funding all information is available on the IAS website.
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