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UCL EPSRC Research Associates in Mathematical Sciences

This scheme is intended to help UCL retain the very best newly qualified PhDs and help them to launch a career in research.

2022 Final Intake

Note: This is the final round for this scheme, whose funding is time-limited.

Closing date: 23:59 on 29 May 2022.

Summary

These Research Associate positions are intended to help UCL retain the very best of its newly qualified doctoral (eg PhD, EngD) students in the Mathematical Sciences for 12 months, and help them launch careers in research. All Fellowship projects must lie within the EPSRC Mathematical Sciences remit and applicants must receive their doctoral degree from UCL before the project starts. The fellowship start date is flexible; can start any time between appointment and 1 October 2022; all projects must be complete by 30 September 2023. Applicants must have submitted their doctoral thesis before the start date; and have submitted their doctoral thesis for examination or finished their funded studentship period (whichever is earlier) no more than 12 months before the closing date for applications.

We are strongly supportive of applications to hold these research associateships on a part-time (0.5FTE) basis for personal reasons; any successful applicant who prefers to work at 0.5FTE will be eligible for a longer project (but note that the end date of 30 September 2023 is non-negotiable).

Funding

As newly qualified Postdoctoral Researchers, Research Associates will be appointed to Grade 7 point 29 on the UCL salary scale, unless their doctorate degree has not yet been awarded at the start of the fellowship. Those who have not yet had their doctorate awarded at the start of the position will be appointed on Grade 6 and promoted to Grade 7 point 29 once their doctorate is awarded. Non-salary costs are available for research expenses (e.g. facilities use, consumables), travel (e.g. visits to collaborators, conferences), and outreach activities (e.g. public engagement, knowledge transfer). A guide figure for non-salary costs is £3k per annum (p.a.). However, as the requested costs should be appropriate to the proposed project, some related costs would be expected to be below £3k p.a. and higher costs can be given when justified.

Eligibility

Any student who is expecting to graduate with a doctoral degree from UCL between 29 May 2021 and your proposed start date, and whose thesis work falls in the EPSRC Mathematical Sciences remit, is eligible to apply. There is no constraint on the source of funding for the candidate's PhD. Applicants should have submitted their doctoral thesis for examination or finished their funded studentship period (whichever is earlier) no more than 12 months before the closing date. The award requires the Fellow to have submitted their thesis prior to the start of the award. Candidates who have not yet submitted their thesis at the time of application are still eligible, but they must have submitted their thesis prior to the Fellowship start date, and the supervisor’s letter of support must clearly state the expected submission date. Where the PhD viva has not taken place before the start of the Fellowship, the outcome must be an outright pass or pass with minor corrections otherwise the Fellowship offer will be withdrawn. If minor corrections are required, they must be done outside of the time allocated for the Fellowship.

Selection criteria

We are seeking to retain our very best newly qualified doctoral students in the Mathematical Sciences in order to help them launch careers in research. This period should be used to develop research independence, and we are aiming to select those candidates with best potential to submit full independent Research Fellowship applications (whether to EPSRC or elsewhere) by the end of this post.

The research proposals submitted to this scheme may well be developed in collaboration with a more senior researcher, but we look for evidence of the candidate being ready to drive their own research agenda.

How to apply

The full application consists of three items:

  1. The application form, which includes a research proposal, completed using the template provided: UCL EPSRC Research Associate in Mathematical Sciences form.
  2. A letter of support from the primary/principal doctoral supervisor that comments on the applicant’s track record and future career trajectory. It should also clearly state the expected or actual thesis submission date, and must be completed using the template provided: Reference Form.
  3. Monitoring data, filling the specific form: Monitoring data.

Items 1 and 2 must be completed using the templates provided online. A traditional CV should not be added. Instead, the relevant information should be provided via this application form. Items 1 and 2 must be saved as PDF documents and must be submitted by sending an email to imss-info@ucl.ac.uk. This can be done by the candidate, the supervisor or another member of staff in the host department, but it is the candidate's responsibility to ensure that it has been submitted before the deadline. Any incorrectly formatted applications will not be reviewed.

The monitoring data (item 3) will be collected by a separate online form, and should be completed by the candidate. This form will also ask whether you need any special arrangements for the interview. The monitoring data does not form part of your application and will not be used by the review/interview panel. UCL is required to report the monitoring data of successful candidates to EPSRC. Aggregate data from all candidates will be used internally to monitor the scheme.

The deadline for submission is 23:59 on 29 May 2022. Shortlisted candidates will be notified by 17 June 2022 of their invitation to interview. Interviews are expected to be held in June or early July 2022. Interviews will be held online using MS Teams or Zoom. Candidates will be asked to give a brief presentation which will be followed by questions from the panel. Please indicate when you apply whether you will require any special arrangements for the interview (via the monitoring data collection form).

Monitoring Data

Please note, for all successful candidates awarded a Fellowship, this data needs to be reported to EPSRC. Please review their data policy. D1 to D3 need to be reported for each individual awarded Fellow. D4 to D6 will be reported as aggregated data for all Fellows funded from the grant.

For all candidates, anonymised aggregate data will be retained for internal monitoring of the scheme.

  • D1: Name
  • D2: ORCID ID (if applicable) [your 16 digit ORCID ID (number only) in the format XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX]
  • D3: HUSID / HESA ID [your 13 digit HUSID (also known as HESA ID). This can be found in your Portico record – shown as "HESA student ID".]
  • D4: Gender
  • D5: Nationality
  • D6: Ethnicity

Application Templates

Application form: link

Supervisor's letter of support template: link

Monitoring data form: link