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[bacardiandlime]

I'm finishing an oxbridge PhD (humanities). I'm considering applying for JRFs but the odds seem formidable. Anyone have any tips on tilting things in my favour? (likewise Britac postdocs - I've tried to find cvs of last year's successful applicants to get a gauge of publication rate, etc but haven't found any) Any general guidance? Would a book contract be enough to get through?
(currently I have one article at press, 7 under submission, half a dozen book reviews)

[porcupine]

I think a good half of the battle is actually applying - plenty of people with excellent CVs simply don't apply, and thus miss out. The odds of getting a fellowship are slim, but not impossible! Also, if you particularly want a postdoc, be prepared to write a lot of applications, and consider going abroad as well as applying for fellowships in the UK. There are lots of humanities postdocs available in the US, and also in Australia, Canada, South Africa, not to mention Europe - more than there are in the UK, I believe.

I do know that the Britac competition, like many postdoc competitions, is keen to see that you have the PhD in hand. If you're applying before you've had your viva, you either need to be able to indicate when the viva date will be, or you need your supervisor to comment on this, and on the likelihood of all going well, in their reference letter for you (which should be stellar). Ideally, you need to have had the viva before the committee begins their deliberations. You will also need a very strong reference from your external examiner, as well as from one or two other senior scholars in your field (if one of them is a Britac fellow, this might help!).

You also need a truly outstanding project proposal. I'm sure your supervisor can give you advice on writing a compelling proposal if you're not already au fait with grant-writing techniques, but there are lots of web resources around that are also useful.

Good luck!