The purpose of the Scottish Parliament is to hold the Scottish Government to account, to scrutinise legislation and to represent the people of Scotland by debating issues of national importance.
The Academic Fellowship Scheme, which is managed and hosted by the Scottish Parliament Information Centre (SPICe), enables academics to work on projects with the Parliament in support of this purpose.
The scheme aims to:
We are now inviting bids via an application form for the following three topics:
Research into how people access advice and representation to deal with civil justice issues (118KB, pdf) posted 28 February 2025
Council tax and the Scottish Approach to Taxation (142KB, pdf) posted 28 February 2025
Unlocking data to support parliamentary business (141KB, pdf) posted 28 February 2025
Please fill in the application form
Please also email us a 2-page document with details of your proposed project and also a CV to academia@parliament.scot.
We are also inviting bids for our open call where we request fellowship proposals from academics on any topic relevant to parliamentary business, in particular original, analytical or primary research.
Applicants for the open call do not need to fill in the online application form. Instead, please email us a one-page document to the email address below outlining your proposed project, and also send us a cv.
Please consider carefully why your proposal might be relevant to parliamentary business and explain why as that will be a key issue for us when considering open call applications.
The deadline for submitting bids for all fellowships is Friday 18 April 2025 at 5.00pm.
Applicants should normally have completed a PhD in a relevant area of study and be working within an academic institution. Appointments will be made based on our standard terms and conditions which you should review before applying.
Terms and conditions (111KB, pdf) posted 28 February 2025
For further information including eligibility requirements, the application process and answers to some frequently asked questions see:
Guide to the Scottish Parliament Academic Fellowship Scheme (253KB, pdf) posted 28 February 2025
Guidance on applying (172KB, pdf) posted 28 February 2025
SPICe will be hosting a webinar on How to apply for a Scottish Parliament Fellowship on Friday 14 March 2025 between 10:30-11:30.
Please email academia@parliament.scot if you would like to sign-up for this free event. Please add the word ‘webinar’ to the subject line of your email. We will then get in touch during the week before the webinar with further information. Sign up will remain open until Wednesday 12 March 2025.
If you have any queries, please email academia@parliament.scot.