Fixed-term Fellowship by Special Election in Law

The Fellowship is intended to provide College with teaching in Law, whilst also offering an opportunity for continuing research to an outstanding academic at an early stage of their career, and as such is designated by the College as an early career fellowship. The successful candidate will be elected to a Fellowship from 1 September 2026, with the appointment held in the first year on a probationary basis. The Fellowship will not be renewed beyond August 2030.

In making this appointment, the College’s goal is to develop and strengthen the teaching and research capacities and capabilities of both the College and the Faculty of Law, as well as to contribute, more generally, to the objective of maintaining Oxford University as a leading centre for teaching and research in the subject.

The College wishes to appoint someone willing and able to teach at least two, and preferably three, of the following subjects: Trusts, Land Law, European Union Law, Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Jurisprudence.

For information, the subjects taught on the Oxford BA course can be found at: https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/content/course/ba-jurisprudence

Wadham is one of the largest colleges of the University of Oxford, with approximately 450 undergraduates, 250 graduates, and 70 Fellows. Founded in 1610 by Nicholas and Dorothy Wadham, the College has a strong commitment to academic values, whilst preserving a liberal and progressive atmosphere. The College is situated close to the heart of the city, in Parks Road. Its buildings range from the formality of the Jacobean quad to the informality of the centuries-old cottages along Holywell Street, and its spacious grounds provide a relaxed setting for intellectual and social fellowship.

Wadham College is committed to maintaining a vibrant and internationally excellent teaching and research environment. It accordingly expects its Fellows to be active in research and to contribute to a high-quality teaching and learning experience for its student body. The College has a strong commitment to supporting individual researchers, and to contributing to the University’s strategic goals in research and teaching. All Fellows should find in the College a convivial and lively atmosphere conducive to interdisciplinary exchange and support. Potential applicants can find out more about Wadham from the College website: www.wadham.ox.ac.uk.

Wadham has a strong tradition in law, with two Tutorial Fellowships in Law and this fixed-term College-only early-career post. The College currently accepts some 10 students a year to read for the undergraduate BA in Jurisprudence and BA in Jurisprudence with Law Studies in Europe, and 10 - 15 Law postgraduate students. It is a measure of the loyalty of our former students that they provided the full endowment for two of the three established Law Fellowships in the College. One, this fixed-term College-only early-career post, is named in tribute to the Wadham College Law Society. The other, the Dr Lee Shau Kee’s Sir Man Kam Lo Fellowship, is named in honour of Dr Lee Shau Kee, and funded by his generous gift.

The College’s two Tutorial Fellows are Professor Sandy Steel and Professor Shazia Choudhry. Professor Steel, the Lee Shau Kee Fellow in Law, specialises in the law of obligations and legal philosophy. Professor Choudhry, the Hackney Fellow in Law, specialises in criminal law, human rights law, feminist jurisprudence and family law. The selected candidate will be expected to work closely with Professor Steel and Professor Choudhry to organise the teaching of law at Wadham.

Wadham is, and has long been, represented by women and men in the higher reaches of the legal professions and the judiciary around the world, including appellate courts in the UK, Canada, Australia and Pakistan. Distinguished former students are actively engaged with the activities of the Wadham College Law Society; its current President is Honorary Fellow, former Lord Justice Timothy Holroyde. Lord Dyson, former Master of the Rolls, Sir Christopher Rose and Sir Franklin Berman QC KPMG are also Honorary Fellows of Wadham. Many former students hold distinguished academic posts in Oxford and Cambridge, and in universities across the English-speaking world, and in recent years four Wadham lawyers have been elected as Fellows of the British Academy.

Academic

i) Research and Faculty involvement

The person appointed will be expected to engage in advanced study and research in Law for the period of the post. Candidates must have a strong academic record; have research expertise as demonstrated by publications or other written work; and have a coherent plan of research for the duration of the fellowship. The Fellow will be required to make a first- and final-year report to the College’s Academic Policy Committee on progress in research.

In holding a career development post, the Fellow will be encouraged to participate in seminars and classes organised by the Oxford’s Centre for Teaching and Learning, and by the University’s Learning & Organisational Development centre, including on courses admissions and tutorial teaching, and particularly those which would best prepare the postholder for a permanent post, whether in Oxford or elsewhere.

The postholder will have a mentor with whom to discuss career development. Previous incumbents of the position have in some cases taken up Associate Professorships in Oxford or permanent positions elsewhere. It is intended that the position provides a springboard for such career progression. Mindful of the variety of academic paths taken by early career academics across the Divisions, the College is committed to considering, alongside research, contributions to knowledge exchange, impact and pedagogy.

Although employed solely by the College, the Fellow will also be a member of the Law Faculty (http://www.law.ox.ac.uk/). The Faculty of Law is one of the largest in the United Kingdom, and is the largest unit in the Social Sciences Division of the University. There are approximately 150 members of the Law Faculty, of whom around 90 are in established University academic posts. The Law Faculty has a distinguished reputation in research and publications in Law. Oxford is consistently listed in the top three for law in leading guides to British universities.

The Fellow may be invited to undertake some duties for the Faculty, including lecturing and examining, and such other duties as may be agreed between the Law Faculty and the College. The Faculty will pay the postholder directly for any faculty teaching or examining agreed, or by agreement this may be set against college teaching stint.

ii) Teaching and associated duties

Within the College the successful candidate will be expected to organise teaching, teach undergraduates in tutorials and small classes in the papers for which they are responsible, and share responsibility for the academic welfare of undergraduates in the subject.

The post-holder’s college teaching stint will be six contact hours per week averaged over the three eight-week terms which constitute the academic teaching year. Tutors may make exchange arrangements with tutors in other colleges, so that they teach their own subjects for other colleges, as well as Wadham College. In that way, Wadham College students will, reciprocally, be taught other papers by tutors in other colleges.

In addition to these teaching responsibilities, the successful candidate will take part in the administration of the undergraduate Law courses. They will be expected to carry out the normal duties of a College Tutor, which include organising tuition and the teaching of papers by external specialist tutors, setting and marking collections (internal termly examinations), attending tutorial board meetings, monitoring progress and writing termly reports on students. They will also take part in the annual admissions procedures for the selection of new undergraduates to read Law and Law with Law Studies in Europe.

The successful candidate will share responsibility for the care and welfare of the College’s Law undergraduates. In addition, they may act as College Adviser to typically 3-5 graduate students of the College reading for higher degrees in Law (this is in addition to the graduate student’s supervisor, appointed by the University, who is responsible for directing the academic work of the student). The College Adviser is available as a source of help and advice, which may concern academic matters in a broad sense, but may also be required in connection with pastoral issues.

The successful candidate will be elected to a Fellowship by Special Election, and will be a member of Tutorial Board. This post does not come with Governing Body membership or trusteeship, but Fellows by Special Election may participate in other committees and working groups supporting the Governing Body by request from time to time.

Fellows are expected to play a full role in the life and administration of the College. This will involve, in conjunction with the College’s Development and Alumni Office, regular contact with alumni, particularly through the activities of the thriving Wadham College Law Society. It is also expected that the person appointed will participate in the College’s access activities, and play a part in the College’s Open Days. As the Wadham College Law Society Fellow, the successful candidate will take the lead in liaising with the student Law Society in the organization of its activities.

The post holder will be a member of the Senior Common Room. The terms and conditions of the College Fellowship are subject always to the provisions of the College Statutes and by-laws, and the regulations of the Governing Body in force from time to time.

One term of sabbatical may be taken after completing the first six terms service. (The final term may not be taken as sabbatical.)

The formal selection criteria for the post are as follows:

i. A doctoral degree in Law, or a doctoral thesis in Law close to completion (essential). To be eligible for this career development role, candidates must normally have completed their doctorate Law not more than five years before the start date for the role;

ii. A research record of a standing appropriate to the stage of the candidate’s career, with evidence of potential for producing distinguished research within the broad field of Law, and the intention to continue researching and publishing;

iii. Ability to provide excellent tutorial and small group teaching for at least two, and preferably three, of the following subjects: Trusts, Land Law, European Union Law, Constitutional Law, Administrative Law, Jurisprudence;

iv. Ability and willingness to undertake college administration and to co-operate in college and Law Faculty affairs;

v. Ability and willingness to undertake pastoral responsibilities.

The qualities that we are seeking therefore include:

vi. Scholarship of the highest quality and as appropriate to the stage of the candidate’s career; an ability to bring advanced research projects to fruition; excellent presentation skills; and the ability to contribute to a research community;

vii. A sound knowledge of Law in the relevant subjects;

viii. An understanding of the learning needs of undergraduate students and how to address them;

ix. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills;

x. Excellent organisational skills, including personal initiative;

xi. A willingness to work in close cooperation with the other Law Fellows in running the subject within the College;

xii. Sympathy for the nature and aims of the College and willingness to participate in and assist its collegiate life and government.

The appointment committee recognizes that candidates can contribute to these goals in many different ways and will use its professional judgment, based on the evidence available, to decide how successfully candidates could make such contributions, bearing in mind the needs of the College. It will take a particular interest in the likelihood that the candidate will produce research and teaching of a high standard, and will explicitly take into account career breaks or other factors, such as part time working or disability, which may have had an impact on the quantity of candidates’ publications.

The stipend will be a for a twelve-hour Fellowship (£36,340-£42,794 in 2025-26, potentially subject to an inflationary adjustment for 2026-27) and will be taxable. The post is advertised as a full-time position, but part-time applications will be considered. In such circumstances the research requirements of the college post would reduce, but not the teaching and administration elements. For example, should the successful postholder have a 50% paid research position within a University department, or initially be combining the post with doctoral studies (in which case visa restrictions might limit paid work to 20 hours a week), the Wadham FTE and stipend will be adjusted pro-rata. The college stipend will not be reduced below the salary point for fixed term fellows at the minimum required teaching stint.

The position does not attract housing allowances or benefits as, whilst the post does carry a degree of oversight responsibility (as with stipendiary lecturers), it is expected that the post holder will neither be expected to hold significant College office, nor take the same degree of responsibility for extraordinary student matters as longstanding fellows.

The position is superannuable under the University’s Superannuation scheme.

The post-holder will be entitled to the following in addition to their stipend on the above salary scale (in all cases, currents levels of remuneration are quoted):

• Full USS (pension) benefits;
• A room in College suitable for teaching and study;
• Free lunches and dinners with the Senior Common Room throughout the year except during brief periods when the kitchens are closed;
• Provision of a (college-owned) computer and printer suitable for performance of college duties;
• An entertainment allowance (currently £413 p.a.);
• Allowances to cover research and teaching-related expenditure (currently up to £2,547 p.a.). The post-holder will also be entitled to apply to the Faculty’s Research Support Fund;
• Single living accommodation in college may be available, for which a charge will be made. (No separate housing allowance is offered.)

Informal contact: If candidates wish to speak to someone informally about the post, please contact Professor Shazia Choudhry (shazia.choudhry@law.ox.ac.uk).

Selection Committee: Applications for this post will be considered by a selection committee containing representatives from both the Faculty of Law and Wadham College.

Applications: Applications and references should be emailed to the Warden’s EA (academic.appointments@wadham.ox.ac.uk) no later than 9 am on 22nd June 2026.

Applications should comprise:

• a covering letter setting out which subjects you could offer to teach for the College;
• a brief description of teaching experience (no more than one side of A4);
• a statement of current and proposed research, including a list of publications and/or research projects (no more than two sides of A4);
• a curriculum vitae (no more than two sides of A4);

Please combine these application materials into a single PDF document and save the file using the format: Lastname_Firstname.pdf (References submitted separately);

• the names of three referees.

If you would prefer a printed copy then please contact the Wadham HR Department at vacancies@wadham.ox.ac.uk or on 01865 277900. These forms are used for monitoring purposes and will not be seen by any members of the selection committee.

The College welcomes applications from candidates who have a disability. These documents will be made available in large print, audio or other formats on request. Applicants invited for interview will be asked whether they require any particular arrangements to make the interview more convenient and effective for them.

Wadham has a proud tradition of being at the forefront of advancing equality of opportunity, and celebrates vigorous debate, independent thought, and academic excellence. We seek to create a welcoming, accessible, and secure environment in which to work, study, live, and visit. Our community embraces people of all ages, backgrounds, races/ethnicities, nationalities, beliefs (including religious beliefs), genders, sexualities, dis/abilities, and appearances. This diversity, underpinned by mutual respect and consideration, enriches us all.