Chevening Southeast Europe British Library Fellowship 2026

The Chevening Southeast Europe British Library Fellowship is co-funded by the British Library and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. It is open to applications from mid-career professionals from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey, who have a strong interest in the history and culture of the Balkan region. 

The fellowship will take place at the British Library, where you will work closely with the Lead Curator for Southeast European Collections and colleagues in cataloguing, digital research, and collection metadata. You will use your professional expertise, subject knowledge, and language skills to improve collection records, analyse data, and produce a series of written content and research to help make the region’s intellectual heritage more visible and accessible to a global audience.

Are you ready to uncover the Balkans’ hidden intellectual heritage?

The Chevening Southeast Europe British Library Fellowship offers one exceptional candidate the opportunity to lead a research project and produce a range of outputs, including data analysis, blog posts, and a collection guide.

Fellows will have the opportunity to:

• Improve and enrich catalogue records for Southeast European collections (for example, updating language information, publication details, contributor records, and subject categories)
• Develop practical approaches to analysing large collections of data to identify trends, strengths, and gaps
• Contribute research and create accessible guides to help others better understand the historic Southeast European collections

Fellows will gain:

• Work directly with rare and historic primary sources that can deepen understanding of the region’s identity and history
• Gain hands-on experience working with large bibliographic datasets
• Publish research and outputs under the name of a world-renowned institution
• Increase your international academic and professional profile

• Table of Content
• About Chevening
• Chevening Fellowship
• Aim and Benefits of Chevening Fellowship
• Requirements for Chevening Fellowship Qualification
• Application Deadline
• How to Apply

Chevening Fellowship

Aim and Benefits of Chevening Fellowship

• 12-month period of project-based activity at the British Library 
• Living expenses for the duration of the fellowship 
• Return economy airfare  
• Allowance package for fellowship-related activities
• Up to £1,000 for approved project-related expenses

Requirements for Chevening Fellowship Qualification

In addition to meeting the standard eligibility criteria, you must:  

• Be a citizen of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Turkey and be a resident in one of these countries at the point of application 
• Have advanced proficiency in at least two languages of Southeast Europe, including Albanian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Croatian, Macedonian, Romanian, Serbian, and Slovenian 
• Have 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) 
• Be currently employed or a currently enrolled PhD candidate (PhD must not be with a UK/EU or USA university) 
• Experience working with large datasets and/or computational methods in the library and information context 
• Experience working with 18th-20th century printed books
• Strong interest in the history and culture of the Balkan region 
• Excellent humanities research skills working in a collections/records environment
• Familiarity with library metadata standards is desirable, specifically experience with MARC21, RDA, and the use of LCSH within an integrated library system

Application Deadline

How to Apply

For more information, kindly visit Chevening Fellowship webpage.