What is a Postdoctoral Fellowship?

A Postdoctoral Fellowship is a research fellowship awarded to individuals that are within five years of completing their doctoral degree. These fellowships allow the candidate to develop of an independent research focus and simultaneously experience other parts of the academic programme, like postgraduate student supervision and academic service.

Fellowships are always dependent on the availability of funding, the majority of which is external in nature.

A Postdoctoral Fellowship is temporary in nature and normally lasts for two years. You may hold postdoctoral fellowships for a maximum of five years, should you successfully obtain further postdoctoral fellowship grants.

On termination, there should be no expectation of employment with the University, and no expectation of further fixed period contracts.

A Postdoctoral Fellowship is a temporary research position held by a person who has completed their doctoral studies. These Fellowships commonly last for periods ranging between one and three years, dependent on the specific Fellowship and are dedicated purely to research. Click here for Visa information.

A Postdoctoral Fellowship is awarded to a candidate who has successfully applied for the award and must be paid on the understanding that, apart from research and the duties required for the individual’s own professional development, no services are required of the candidate in return for the Fellowship. In South Africa, Postdoctoral Fellowships are non-taxed, and bound by the Binding Class Ruling entered into between the South African Revenue Service (SARS) and Universities South Africa (USAf).

Per this binding class ruling, the primary objectives of PDRFs include the following:

• The primary objectives of PDRFs include the following:
• To place higher education institutions at the forefront of research and innovation;
• To generate new knowledge and transfer knowledge and skills;
• To enable outstanding doctoral graduates to obtain experience of research and innovation at higher education institutions;
• To provide an opportunity to promising young researchers from different universities to enhance their research skills and expertise;
• To expand on existing research and ideas and to pursue new lines of research;
• To interact with other academics and post doctoral fellows;
• To emphasise an increase in publication outputs;
• To establish and enhance South African intellect;
• To develop knowledge for stakeholders such as the government, business, industry and social communities; and
• To promote national and international conference attendance by post doctoral fellows 
  
  

Further, the binding class ruling states that PDRFs are not employees of the University and they can therefore not qualify for any employee benefits including retirement funding, membership of retirement funds, support for a medical aid scheme or any for other employee benefits. This does not preclude PDRFs from performing temporary tasks for remuneration (up to a maximum of 12 hours per week), for example conducting ad hoc tutorials or marking examination papers in a similar manner as other post graduate students. This remuneration would be taxable on the same basis as for other part-time employees for services rendered. Click here for Tax and Funding information.