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[wondering]

My question says it all---I read the TLS every week...may I ask how you found out about, and how you applied for, and how you got, such a wonderful gig? And if the salary is comparable (no need to  be specific)? And will they provide housing? It just sounds like heaven and I'd like to investigate further. I'm in humanities at an R1; public ivy PhD, so no blueblooded oxbridge pedigree here alas...

[sidey]

Look on the college websites.

Most "visiting" Oxford fellowships do not pay a salary (or a stipend, for ye pedants).  Rather they provide a place to live in college (if you are lucky), library access, and a scholarly community to be a part of for the period of the fellowship.  The reason that very few of these pay anything is that UK academics do not take a cut in pay whilst on leave, and therefore these are in place to allow them to live and research in Oxford (or other universities for that matter) during leave years.

wondering wrote:

> My question says it all---I read the TLS every week...may I ask
> how you found out about, and how you applied for, and how you
> got, such a wonderful gig? And if the salary is comparable (no
> need to  be specific)? And will they provide housing? It just
> sounds like heaven and I'd like to investigate further. I'm in
> humanities at an R1; public ivy PhD, so no blueblooded oxbridge
> pedigree here alas...

[anon]

Some can be found at:

http://www.jobs.ac.uk/

Several come up on Community of Science (which includes arts and humanities) searches -- available through your university's research office.

[anon as well]

The best place of all is the appointments section of the Oxford University Gazette every week. It's available online at http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/2005-6/weekly/wk-0056.htm

You'll have to look every week (and go back through a few weeks as well) as the Gazette doesn't have a central repository of adverts, but all visiting fellowships are usually to be found in it.

But, as sidey said, most visiting fellowships are non-stipendiary and may or may not cover accommodation, so you'll need to have your finances sorted at the US end to start with.

[Foreigner]

I'm going to be doing two at Cambridge in 2006/7; one is a non-stipendiary Visiting Fellowship but I get to rent a college apartment, and dine in Formal Hall, and use the libraries, and meet everyone at the drinks parties and generally be included in the academic social and work forum. I got it by writing to them with a CV and a book and asking would they have me. And apparently they would. Happy days.

The second Visiting Fellowship was advertised and while non-stipendiary too, they pay airfares for me and my partner, our rent whether we use college accommodation or not, and there is research funding too.

www.jobs.ac.uk has all the official ones regularly. Just put in 'fellowship' in the search box. That's where I found the second one.

They are unbelievably nice at Cambridge. If they take you, you'll love it, and as a bonus it all looks really nice on your resume...

Good luck!

[wondering says thanks to all]

Thanks everyone! Much appreciated!
--wondering

[Oxon Newbie]

Contrary to ivies and some public R1s you'll find that academics at Oxbridge are MUCH MUCH nicer, less snobbier, more open-minded, and just a nicer bunch of people to work with.

America could do well to learn from them.

The downside is that depending on what college and department you are at, funding may be an issue. Most brit universities, including Oxbridge, are strapped for cash. That's why a lot of the fellowships are non-stipendary or pay less than what a cashier at Tesco would earn.

[E]

This my be a very silly question ..... but what is a public R1?

[Thundering Marshmallow]

The most prestigious category of US institutions of higher education, i.e., they grant doctoral degrees and suck all the grant money out of the universe.

[wondering]

Aw cmon, Thundering, such a jealous comment is unworthy of you.

Public = funded through a state legislature; depending on the state this can be a good thing or a bad thing---in my R1's case, it is a bad thing since our state legislature is both broke and stingy (not to mention completely uninterested in education).

R1 = research One, i.e., the top category of the Carnegie Foundation classification (which has since been revised to a new and incomprehensible set of multiple classifications---we all still use the old system, though). Research One universities hold as their dual mission the expansion of knowledge and the teaching of it; they have doctoral programs, and most professors at R1s are under contracts that specify that at least half of their time and evaluation will be based on their specific research productivity.  It is qute literarlly publish or perish--if you are not actively advancingknowledge in your field, you can and do lose your job.
Me?, I like that part of it, but at my woefully underfunded poor-state R1, we have high demands but low funding support to allow us to DO what we need to do.  That's why I was looking for more research-friendly pastures.

Thanks again for all the good suggestions.
w/

[burpeau]

I'm going to be doing two at Cambridge in 2006/7; one is a non-stipendiary Visiting Fellowship but I get to rent a college apartment, and dine in Formal Hall, and use the libraries, and meet everyone at the drinks parties and generally be included in the academic social and work forum. I got it by writing to them with a CV and a book and asking would they have me. And apparently they would. Happy days.

The second Visiting Fellowship was advertised and while non-stipendiary too, they pay airfares for me and my partner, our rent whether we use college accommodation or not, and there is research funding too.

www.jobs.ac.uk has all the official ones regularly. Just put in 'fellowship' in the search box. That's where I found the second one.

They are unbelievably nice at Cambridge. If they take you, you'll love it, and as a bonus it all looks really nice on your resume...

Good luck!

[buglet]

Just ask.  I asked a colleague of mine at Oxford for one during my sabbatical, and he fixed it up for me.  Received an office, library privileges, email address/computer support, and a host of warm and wonderful colleagues.   A very nice experience indeed.