fellowships – Research Development @ Northumbria

September 27, 2018

Royal Society Fellowships Workshop – 6 September 2018

Royal Society covers life & physical sciences including engineering but excluding medical

Lucy Saddleton and Katie Lisanti @Royal Society

Katie Saddleton- Scheme Manager, UK Grants (particularly Fellowships)

Fellowships – they are really flexible, encourage shared parental leave, can accommodate sick leave, parental leave etc. You are all humans and RS will support you.

There are additional free training opportunities available for RS Fellows, workshops, training, mentoring, MP pairing scheme. Funding schemes include:

University Research Fellows can apply to have a PhD student included in the Fellowship
ECR Fellowships
Senior Research Fellowships
Industry & Innovation – Fellowships & New Short Industry Fellowships
Industry & Innovation – APEX Award, Paul Instrument Fund
Research Capacity & Infrastructure – Research Grants

Lucy Lisanti – International Exchanges Manager

International Collaboration & Travel – International Exchanges, JSPS Postdoc Fellowship, Newton International Fellowship (ECR from Newton Countries), Newton Advanced (Early to Mid from Newton Countries), Royal Society Newton Fund (International Fellowships)

GCRF – International Collaboration (bolstering current collaborations), Challenge Led Grants (one off award), FLAIR Fellowships (African researchers to work in sub Saharan /Africa Universities

Application Process – Flexi-Grant – Flexi grant deadline is now 3pm not midnight

What are we looking for?

Think of it like a job interview, track record, creativity, excellent scientific merit

Royal Society don’t mind if you stay at your institution or if you move, and you can transfer your grant/fellowship if you move.

Tips for the Interview

For ECRs – how is this a route to independence
Why do you want to stay at institution – having family nearby is a valid reason.
Need to do an Elevator Pitch
Hold mock interviews before hand
There are videos about the interview process on RS website
Need a really good lay summary, understandable by someone who does not have a discipline specific knowledge.

Scheme notes can change between rounds!! Make sure you are accessing the most up to date version.

Other things to Note

RS do not publish success rates due to variation of award year on year – for some schemes success rates are not high so don’t want to put people off!!

Limited feedback at each stage – further down process you get the more feedback that you get.

Can apply again if unsuccessful (except Henry Dale which is joint with Wellcome Trust, where you need to complete a pre-application pro-forma).

Fellowship Case Studies

Claudia Schneider – Newcastle

University Research Fellowship

Leave lots of time for application

View another person’s proposal

Good to do a mock interview

Route to independence – how is work different to what you have been doing before,
how can you expand your group, what is your next publication

Lars Erik Holmquist- Northumbria

Wolfson Research Merit Award

Salary increase to help recruit someone you might not have been able to recruit otherwise

Biggest benefit is being part of RS network & accessing training

Digital Disruption Network

Del Atkinson – Durham

Royal Society Industry Fellow (can be either way, industry to academic or academic to industry)

Having a great idea and why you are the right person to do this at this time – why you, why now – what are you skill sets?

Working with industry, start small and build, be flexible

Don’t do it if you’re not interested

PANEL SESSION – Q&A

RS are not risk averse, they expect a project to have ambition and stretch the applicant.

June 14, 2017December 8, 2017

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Research Funding Event, 28 June at Newcastle University

Representatives from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) are visiting Newcastle University on 28 June. JSPS is the leading research funding agency in Japan, established by the Japanese Government for the purpose of contributing to the advancement of science. JSPS funds a number of fellowship programmes for researchers at all stages of their career and in all fields, including humanities and social sciences. These programmes provide opportunities for excellent UK researchers to go to Japan to conduct academic collaboration with Japanese researchers and can be used to build wider institutional relationships.

Northumbria colleagues are welcome to attend. Please see the flyer for further info and register here, also check the merge pdf if you need to get all of them into one document.

The programme for the day is as follows:

10.30-10.40: Welcome by Prof. Nick Wright, PVC R&I, Newcastle University

10.40-11.45: Presentation by JSPS

11.45-12.15: Case study by Dr. Adam Brandt, Newcastle University

12.15-12.45: Round up, questions and next steps

12.45-13.45: Lunch

June 14, 2017June 20, 2017

Royal Academy of Engineering: Research Fellowships 2017/18

A day at BCIT aerospace technology campus by Mike CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

The Royal Academy of Engineering offers seven Research Fellowships each year to outstanding early career engineering researchers, who are hosted by a UK higher education institute/university. These highly prestigious five-year Research Fellowships are designed to promote excellence in engineering by providing support for high-quality candidates to become future research leaders.

This year, the Royal Academy of Engineering’s prestigious Research Fellowships scheme will open 30th June and close at 4pm on 6th September 2017. As the number of bids per institution is restricted, Northumbria University has an internal selection process for this call – see below for further information and note this has an internal deadline of 13th July 2017.

The Academy will award 7 Research Fellowships and, as part of the Global Challenges Research Fund, up to 4 additional Engineering for Development Research Fellowships. The latter fellowships must positively impact social and economic development in one or more DAC list countries.

Who can apply?

Applicants must have been awarded a PhD within the four years prior to the submission deadline. Existing PhD students can apply but only if they will complete their PhD prior to the take up of the award. Applicants must not hold a permanent academic position, but fixed-term postdoctoral staff would be eligible. If you’ve applied previously but were unsuccessful, you can re-apply assuming you still meet the other eligibility criteria. There are no nationality restrictions.

Which disciplines do the fellowships cover?

The fellowship must be in the broad area of ‘engineering’, which for RAEng encompasses: civil, construction and environmental engineering; materials and mining; chemical and process engineering; aerospace; transport and mechanical engineering; manufacturing and design; electrical and electronic engineering; energy and power; medical and bioengineering; computing and communications. More detail on all of these areas is given in the scheme guidance.

How much funding is available?

For the standard Research Fellowships, applications are capped at a maximum contribution from the Academy of £500,000 over the 5-year period, at 80% of full economic costs. For the Engineering for Development Research Fellowships, an additional £25k per annum is ring-fenced for the development of international collaborations in order to deliver the research outputs and build pathways to positively impact or contribute to the
sustainable economic or social development of a country or countries on the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) list.

Are there limits on the number of proposals?

Yes. Each university is only permitted to submit a maximum of three applications*, with an additional application permitted if the applicant is a member of a group which has been evidenced as persistently underrepresented within engineering (i.e. women and black & minority ethnic groups). Northumbria University is therefore adopting an internal selection process for this call:

All potential applicants should submit i) a two-page outline describing the proposed project and ii) up to three-page CV by 13th July 2017 to researchsupport@northumbria.ac.uk (please make sure these are two separate attachments – Word or PDF – and please include applicant surname in the filename for both documents).
The two-page outline should include the following information: title, abstract, subject area, objectives, timeliness/novelty, beneficiaries and impact, ambitions & career plans (further information about what to include under each of these headings can be found in the scheme guidance, though note that the word limits don’t apply here as long as you keep the outline under two pages A4).
The CV is left to the applicant’s discretion, but should include a list of publications, any grants awarded, and any postdoctoral positions. You may wish to indicate which publications you deem most significant. The CV should be no more than three sides A4.
An internal review group consisting of senior academics from relevant disciplines and Faculties will be convened and will make a decision about which applications will be supported by the 21st July giving the selected applicant(s) 6 weeks to work on the full proposal before the deadline.

Please contact your Departmental Research Funding and Policy Manager to discuss any potential application.

* RAEng updated this from two to three on 20th June 2017.

June 14, 2017June 15, 2017

ERC Starting Grant events in the UK, 19 & 26 July

As UK National Contact Point for the European Research Council (ERC), UKRO is holding two events for researchers interested in applying for the 2018 ERC Starting Grant call. There will be an event at the Natural History Museum in London on 19 July from 10.45-13.30 and another identical event at the University of Edinburgh on 26 July from 10.00-13.00.

The events are free but registration is essential. You can sign up on the UKRO website.

The 2018 Starting Grant call is likely to open on 18 July and close on 17 October. These grants offer flexible, generous funding to researchers with an excellent track record at the stage at which they are starting their own independent research team or programme. To be eligible for the 2018 call, the PI must be 2-7 years from their PhD on 1 January 2018, which is extendable in certain limited cases.

April 19, 2017

Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships call open, deadline 14 Sept

This year’s call for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships has launched with a deadline of 14 September 2017. Full call information, including the Guide for Applicants, is available on the European Commission’s Participant Portal.

Individual Fellowships (IF) are aimed at individual fellows who already have a doctorate or equivalent research experience. They enable researchers to advance their careers and gain new skills through advanced training, international mobility, and optional intersectoral secondments. European Fellowships are held in EU Member States and are open to researchers either coming to Europe or moving within Europe. Global Fellowships are based on a secondment to a third country and a compulsory 12 month return phase in a Europe host organisation.

Applications are developed jointly between the fellow and their intended host organisation. As well as a strong programme of research, the application needs to describe the benefits of the fellowship to both the researcher and the host institution and how the programme of research and training for the fellow will be implemented and managed. Industrial secondments can also be included.

UKRO, as UK National Contact Point for Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, is holding two information events on the call to be held in Liverpool on 5 May and Bristol on 23 May. These events will provide participants with an in-depth overview of the IF scheme. Participants should gain a clear understanding of the proposal format for each scheme and the key issues relating to planning, writing and submitting proposals. Attendance is free but you must register on the UKRO website to reserve a place.

If you are thinking about developing an application, please contact your relevant Research Funding and Policy Manager who can advise and support you through the application process as well as share resources such as previously successsful applications.

December 19, 2016

L’Oréal fellowships for women in science, deadline 25 Jan 2017

L’Oréal UK and Ireland, the UK National Commission for UNESCO and the Irish National Commission for UNESCO, with the support of the Royal Society, invite applications for the L’Oréal UK and Ireland fellowships for women in science. These promote, enhance and encourage the contribution of women pursuing their research careers in the UK or Ireland in the fields of the life and physical sciences, including mathematics and engineering.

Female early-career researchers who have been awarded their research doctorate may apply if they have no more than 10 years of active full-time equivalent postdoctoral experience do not currently hold a permanent academic post. Applicants may be citizen of any country but must be resident in the UK or Ireland at the time of application.

Five fellowships worth £15,000 are available. The fellowship funding to assist with research over a 12-month period. The Fellowship money can be spent in any number of ways to enable women scientists to pursue their careers and facilitate world class research – such as buying equipment, paying for childcare or funding travel costs to an overseas conference.

The deadline is Wednesday 25th January 2017.

November 3, 2016

ERC launches 2017 Consolidator Grants call – deadline 9 February 2017

The 2017 European Research Council Consolidator Grants call has been launched with a 9 Feb deadline. Consolidator Grants are designed to support excellent Principal Investigators with 7-12 years of experience since completion of their PhD and at the career stage at which they may still be consolidating their own independent research team or programme. Applicants must demonstrate the ground-breaking nature, ambition and feasibility of their scientific proposal. These are “frontier” research grants operating on a “bottom-up” basis without predetermined themes or priorities.

This is highly competitive but also highly rewarding funding with up to €2 million available per award, covering up to 100% of the eligible direct costs of the research. If you are interested in applying, please contact your Faculty Research Funding and Policy Manager.

October 27, 2016November 8, 2016

MS Society 2017 Grant Round for Research

The MS Society have announced their 2017 Research Grant Competition.

The 2017 research programme is organised into two streams, Biomedical research and Care and Services research.

There are four types of award in the 2017 Grant Round:

PhD studentship
Innovative
Project Grants
Junior Fellowships (Care and Services research only)

Closing date: 12 noon, 6 February 2017

For further details see the MS Society website.

July 26, 2016July 26, 2016

European Research Council calls 2017

The European Research Council has launched the 2017 Starting Grants call today. The deadline is 18 October. Starting Grants are for talented researchers with 2-7 years of post-PhD experience and strong track records. Attractive long-term funding of up to € 1.5 million is available for projects of up to 5 years duration.

The Consolidator Grants call (for researchers with 7-12 years post-PhD experience and a track record showing scientific talent) will open on 20 October with a deadline of 9 February and the Advanced Grants call (for researchers with a 10 year track record of leadership in their field) will open on the 16 May 2017 with a deadline of 31 August next year.

If you are interested in applying to any of these calls, please contact your faculty Research Funding and Policy Manager who can advise you on the next steps.