Achieving a Research Fellowship

1. Achieving a Research Fellowship Alina Schilling EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellow School of Maths & Physics a.schilling@qub.ac.uk

2. Different types: • Early Career or Postdoctoral Research Fellowships • 3 years awards for researchers who have recently completed a PhD to establish an independent research career • Senior or Career Advanced Research Fellowships • 5 years of funding for talented researchers who have 3-10 years of postdoctoral experience • Leadership Research Fellowships • 5 years of funding for researchers with the most potential to develop into the UK’s future research leaders • Innovation Research Fellowships • Allow researchers to test the economic and/or scientific feasibility of a project for commercialisation • Visiting Research Fellowships • short time visiting another institution (usually up to 6 months) • Research Fellowships for special working patterns • 4 years support of excellent early-career scientists, who require a flexible working pattern

3. Which one? • Availability – i.e., time-dependent • Suitability – i.e., full time/part time • Requirements – i.e., eligibility for EU citizens • Benefits – i.e., funds for additional staff • Duration – i.e., 5 years • Degree of competition • i.e., 470 applications/23 fellowships for EPSRC • Amount of research money offered • i.e., fellow/fellow + additional staff • Location – i.e., labs space and equipment • Prestige – i.e., Royal Society/Research Council • Amount of paper work • Personal choice • ...

4. Research FellowshipsI know of in science: • Royal Society Fellowships (www.rcuk.ac.uk) • Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) fellowships (www.epsrc.ac.uk) • Leverhulme fellowships (www.leverhulme.ac.uk) • Marie-Curie fellowships (cordis.europa.eu/improving/fellowships/home.htm) • L’Oreal fellowships (www.womeninscience.co.uk/)

5. Royal SocietyFellowships • University Royal Society Fellowship • Considered the most prestigious • PI only • 5 years • about 10k/year + salary • Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship • Offers flexibility (part time or full time or both) • PI only • 4 years • Same 10 k/year + salary

6. EPSRCFellowships • Career Acceleration Fellowship • 5 years • Flexibility to change from full time to part time and back • Funds for more staff (i.e., postdoc, technical staff) • Funds for buying equipment • Longer and more difficult application process

7. Tips: • Build up a strong CV and publication list • Get informed about available fellowships and their deadlines • Decide which fellowship is better for you • Maximise your time by applying to only few fellowships rather than many of them (quite much time consuming) • Ask for help when writing up your proposal • Your supervisor or experienced PIs • Choose proper referees (preferably international) • Nobel laureates if possible or very important people who can write letters of support stating that you are the best person for that specific fellowship • Have proposal ready at least 10 days before the submission deadline • Some applications are not considered submitted without the referees letters • Our staff in the Research Office are very prompt and helpful

8. Things to consider: • Be familiar with the application process • Read the guide notes for that specific fellowship • Know dates (i.e., deadline, dates for the next step in application process, answer to referees, interview...) • Contact the Research Office • You will need full economic costs to fill out • proposal submission is a team work with the Research Office • Prepare for writing a detailed proposal • First stage in application might be a short (2 pages) proposal • Second stage might be a full proposal submission (around 20 pages) • Consider additional letters of support from international collaborators • Get information about the area of research of panel members should you be interviewed • Be ready to describe your proposed research in lay terms or in very short time (1 min)

9. Good luck!