Research Fellowships

We are keen to support a limited number of strong candidates in applying for Research Fellowships. If your profile and interests match our activities, we would be very interested to hear from you.

How to submit an Expression of Interest

Candidates who are interested in applying for a Research Fellowship hosted within UCL P&A should first of all check the Fellowship Timetable to find out the specific deadlines for the scheme you are interested in.

**Fellowship Timetable and Guidelines**

The first step of applying for a fellowship hosted within UCL P&A  is to submit an Expression of Interest to the relevant Head of Research Group before the 'Register Interest by' date stated in the Fellowship Timetable. All EoI submissions will be subject to a critical review, as we can only support a limited number of candidates each year. 

To register interest, candidates should send the following documents to the Head of the Research Group where your interest lies (contact details can be found in the table below).

• Research outline (up to 2 pages)
• A statement detailing how your research fits in with the Research Group and the P&A department at UCL (up to 1 page)
• Short CV and Publication List

Candidates will then be contacted after the deadline to confirm whether or not your application can be supported in UCL P&A.

Deadlines

Each Fellowship scheme has a different deadline and the dates often vary from year to year - please check the latest Fellowship Timetable which has up to date information on internal deadlines, and links to the funder guidance.

Pay Scales

As a guide, a newly qualified PDRA applying for a fellowship would start at Grade 7, and increment one point up the scale each year. Experienced candidates applying for one of the schemes aimed at senior researchers with postdoctoral experience and leadership potential may be eligible to start at Grade 8. The grants team can provide further advice on starting salaries.

EPSRC 

• EPSRC are curently revising their fellowship offerings, and have withdrawn their Open/Postdoctoral Fellowship Calls for the time being - we expect new opportunities to be published later in 2025.
• EPSRC Doctoral Prize: The EPSRC Doctoral Prize Fellowship scheme is intended to help universities recruit and retain the very best newly qualified doctoral students (eg PhD, EngD), and help them launch careers in research. All Fellowship projects must lie within the EPSRC remit. Applicants must have received prior EPSRC studentship funding. Deadlines vary throughout the year.

Royal Society

• University Research Fellowship: The University Research Fellowship scheme aims to provide outstanding scientists, who should have the potential to become leaders in their chosen field, with the opportunity to build an independent research career. Deadline is normally annually in September.
• Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship: The Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship scheme supports excellent scientists and engineers at an early stage of their career. The Royal Society invites in particular female candidates to apply for an opportunity that is designed to help successful candidates to progress to permanent academic positions in the UK. Deadline is normally annually in late October/early November
• Newton International Fellowship: These fellowships are for non-UK scientists who are at an early stage of their research career and wish to conduct research in the UK. Deadline is normally annually in March.
• Faraday Discovery Fellowship: The Faraday Discovery Fellowship is aimed at outstanding mid-career STEM researchers. Deadline is normally annually in October.

STFC

• The Ernest Rutherford Fellowship enables early career researchers with clear leadership potential to establish a strong, independent research programme. Deadline is normally annually in September.

UKRI

• Future Leaders Fellowship: This fellowship is open to researchers and/or innovators with outstanding potential, who are transitioning to or establishing independence. There is an internal selection process at UCL for this fellowship, as applications are capped per institution. 

Other Fellowships

• EC Marie Curie Postdoctoral Fellowship: The Postdoctoral Fellowships action targets researchers holding a PhD who wish to carry out their research activities abroad, acquire new skills and develop their careers. PFs help researchers gain experience in other countries, disciplines and non-academic sectors. Deadline is normally annually in September.
• Royal Commission for Exhibition of 1851 Fellowship: The scheme of 1851 Research Fellowships is intended to give a few PhD level scientists or engineers of outstanding promise the opportunity for conducting research for a further period. Deadline is normally annually in January,
• Royal Astronomical Society Fellowship: The RAS Research Fellowships and Norman Lockyer Fellowships are aimed at promising young scientists, to allow them be employed as Research Fellows at UK universities. Each scheme is open every three years, and the deadline is normally in October.
• Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship: The Research and IC Postdoctoral Fellowships are for early-career researchers with proposed research projects in one of the engineering subject areas outlined by the Academy. Institutions can make a limited number of applications so will be reviewed first by a central UCL prioritisation panel. The deadline for this process is in early June. The funder deadlines are normally in September and April respectively. 
• Wellcome Trust Career Development Awards: The scheme provides funding for mid-career researchers from any discipline who have the potential to be international research leaders in understanding related to human life, health and wellbeing. Deadlines occur three times a year.

Please note that the department is not able to support applications to the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship at this current time.