Lecturer cover letter example
A lecturer’s cover letter answers the person specification: what you teach and how you improved it, the research you would bring, and why this school. This one goes with the lecturer CV, from a teaching fellow applying for a lecturer post in psychology.
Read the letter as text
Dr Nadia Rahman
Nottingham · [email protected] · 07700 900633
6 October 2026
Dr Karen Whitfield
Head of School of Psychology
Rivermead University
Thorne Road
Nottingham NG9 9ZQ
Dear Dr Whitfield
Application for Lecturer in Psychology (ref. PSY-2614)
I am applying for the post of Lecturer in Psychology. I am a teaching fellow at Hollinsford University, where I lead two undergraduate modules, and my research is on how older adults remember appointments and plans.
I lead Research Methods 2, with 210 students and six seminar tutors, and Cognitive Psychology, with 160. I redesigned Research Methods 2 around weekly data sets and short quizzes, and its pass rate rose from 81% to 92% in a year. I supervise eight final-year projects and am personal tutor to 25 students, and I became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2025.
I have two first-author papers on everyday memory in later life, and I plan a study of the memory aids older adults choose, which would fit your school’s ageing research group and its links with local care providers. I would be glad to teach on your research methods modules and to supervise projects in cognition and ageing.
My CV is attached, with the names of two referees. Thank you for considering my application; I would welcome the chance to discuss it at interview.
Yours sincerely
Dr Nadia Rahman
Fictional letter from Dr Nadia Rahman, the applicant in the lecturer CV example. Every person and employer in it is invented.
Why each paragraph is there
I am applying for the post of Lecturer in Psychology. I am a teaching fellow at Hollinsford University, where I lead two undergraduate modules, and my research is on how older adults remember appointments and plans.
The post, your current role and your research area in two sentences.
I lead Research Methods 2, with 210 students and six seminar tutors, and Cognitive Psychology, with 160. I redesigned Research Methods 2 around weekly data sets and short quizzes, and its pass rate rose from 81% to 92% in a year. I supervise eight final-year projects and am personal tutor to 25 students, and I became a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy in 2025.
Teaching evidence with numbers, answering the essential criteria.
I have two first-author papers on everyday memory in later life, and I plan a study of the memory aids older adults choose, which would fit your school’s ageing research group and its links with local care providers. I would be glad to teach on your research methods modules and to supervise projects in cognition and ageing.
The research you bring, and a specific link to this school.
My CV is attached, with the names of two referees. Thank you for considering my application; I would welcome the chance to discuss it at interview.
What is attached and a polite close.