Chevening Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies Fellowship (OCIS) and OCIS Abdullah Gül Fellowship

The Chevening Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (OCIS) Fellowships are aimed at mid-career academics or professionals who are dedicated to the promotion of academic activities which encourage a more informed understanding of the culture and civilisation of Islam and contemporary Muslim societies.

The following fellowships are a collaboration between the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office and OCIS:

• Chevening OCIS Fellowship
• Chevening OCIS Abdullah Gül Fellowship (for Turkish citizens)

Programme structure

Fellows will undertake a 5-month period of self-directed research at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies (OCIS). focusing on their own project on the culture and civilisation of Islam and contemporary Muslim societies in a global context.

Fellows will benefit from meeting a multi-disciplinary group of scholars focusing on the Islamic world and have the opportunity to develop contacts with relevant individuals, discuss issues relating to the Islamic world, including Islamic history, classical Islamic sciences, economics and Islamic finance, public health, science and technology in the Muslim world, and the study of Muslims in the West. Fellows will contribute to the Centre’s objective to encourage and promote sustained dialogue and collaboration within the global academic community of the culture and civilisation of Islam and contemporary Muslim societies.

OCIS is an institution for the advanced study of Islam and the Muslim world and provides a meeting point for the Western and Islamic worlds of learning.

This fellowship programme will commence in October 2025. Fellows will need to develop their own research project to focus on during their fellowship prior to arriving in the UK.

Fellows must reside in Oxford for the duration of their award. OCIS can provide information about accommodation options in Oxford upon selection.

Benefits

• Five-month period of research at OCIS.
• Living expenses for the duration of the fellowship.
• Return economy airfare from home country to the UK.
• Allowance package for research-related activities.
• Access to a programme of cultural events and activities organised by the FCDO and the Chevening Secretariat.

Eligibility 

The Chevening OCIS Abdullah Gül Fellowship is available to applicants from Turkey .

To be eligible for a Chevening OCIS Fellowship, you must:

• Demonstrate the potential to rise to a position of leadership and influence
• Demonstrate the personal, intellectual and interpersonal attributes reflecting this potential
• Be a citizen of Afghanistan (please see note below), Algeria, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Morocco, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Philippines, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, or Uzbekistan
• Return to country of your citizenship at the end of the period of the fellowship
• Hold a postgraduate level qualification (or equivalent professional training or experience in a relevant area) at the time of application
• Have significant professional and/or academic research experience (at least five years)
• Have a good working knowledge of English to be assessed in your application form and if you are invited to interview
• Not hold British or dual-British citizenship
• Not be an employee, a former employee, or relative* of an employee of His Majesty’s Government, or have been within the last two years from the opening of Chevening applications (including the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, all British Embassies/High Commissions, the Home Office, the Ministry of Defence, the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, the Department for International Trade and the UKVI), the British Council, a sponsoring UK university, or a staff member of the Association of Commonwealth Universities.

* Note: Immediate relatives are defined as parents or step-parents, siblings or step-siblings, children or step-children, spouse, civil partner or unmarried (where the couple have been in a relationship akin to marriage or civil partnership for at least two years).

Please note that applicants who have previously received financial benefit from a HMG-funded scholarship or fellowship are eligible to apply after a period of five years following the completion of their first HMG funded award. In these cases, applicants will be required to demonstrate their career progression from that point.

Applicants should be prepared to outline a short proposal on the area of academic research they would like to conduct at the time of application submission. The proposal should include a main research question and how the applicant intends to conduct this research while in residence at the Centre.

Application timeline

Please note this timeline is subject to change.

Hear from our fellows

Meet OCIS fellows