Fellowships are personal awards which include the salary of the fellow as well as, most of the time, a budget for research (consummables, equipment etc. and sometimes even staff salary and PhD studentship), travel (conferences, collaborations and secondements) and personal training. They are awarded to one Person to carry out one Project in one Place (3Ps).
From a career development point of view, fellowships are not just a way to work on the specific field you are interested in, they also helps demonstrating your independence and ability to attract funding.
Fellowships are very prestigious awards and thus are highly competitive! Applying to one needs to be carefully planned; we strongly advise that you to seek out all the help you can get to increase your chances of being succesful, notably by engaging with the Fellowship Application Support Programme (see below).
Illuminate is Queen's Vice-Chancellor's Fellowship scheme, designed to nurture high-potential independent early-career researchers, developing the research leaders of the future.
Researchers appointed in this scheme benefit from protected research time, support and training via the "Fellowship Academy" and fast-tracking career progression to Senior Lecturer or Reader (T&Cs apply).
Applications to the scheme are welcome at any time and are reviewed 3 times a year.
Institutional fellowships are funded and advertised by Universities themselves, sometimes with funds obtained from external funders. They are usually highly prestigious and competitive and allow the fellows to develop their own research project at the University, sometimes in a specific field.
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External fellowships are funded by various organisations such as UK Research and Innovation (including Research Councils: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Medical Research Council...), charities (Wellcome trust, Cancer Research UK...) and societies (Royal society...).
There is a plethora of fellowships available for different fields and career stages.
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This programme is developped to help postdocs plan and write the different parts of their applications as well as provide feedback and interview preparation.
The PDC and Research Development are currently re-shaping the Fellowship Application Support Programme, which will be provided mainly as online training videos covering various aspect of the proposal (expected release: Summer 2019).
#1 Online Training Videos
A series of training videos are currently being developped in collaboration with University experts to help postdocs with the different aspects that need to be covered in a fellowship proposal. Expected release: Summer 2019.
Provisional topics are: "Introduction to fellowships", "Searching for fellowship calls", "Tips for a successful application (what to think about before starting to write)", "Research proposal", "Impact and dissemination", "Institution and support", "Finance", "CV and career plan" and "Ethical considerations".
#2 Key contacts
A list of key contacts and QUB experts will be provided to help applicants and provide feedback if needed. In all cases, the first point of contact for applicants will be the Research Development team.
#3 Draft review
Feedback on proposals will be provided (except on the science itself) by Research Development and, in some cases, by the peer-review college. This will require submitting your draft at least 6 weeks before your deadline.
Separatelly, feedback on your lay abstract can be provided by non-scientists (contact the PDC: pdcfmhls@qub.ac.uk).
#4 Mock interview
If you are selected for an interview, a mock interview panel will be organised to help you prepare.
New deadlines will be advertised in the future for the next rounds of the call.
Please email Research Development with any queries you may have.
Note that UKRI previously organised a series of Town-hall meetings, and webinars to inform potential applicants and answer questions. Check the programme here.
Prospective applicants need to submit the EoI form and CV (use template below) to Research Development by 5 pm on 15 July 2019 for review.
Download the EoI form Download CV template
External candidates wishing to apply for a FLF at Queen’s should contact Research Development to request the necessary documents.
The Research Development team are currently running a managed bid process for Round 4 of the UKRI (United-Kingdom research and Innovation) Future Leaders Fellowships (FLF). These enable early career researchers and innovators to transition to or establish their research or innovation independence in any area supported by UKRI.
The FLF offers long-term, flexible support, including the fellow's salary and justified research, staff and training costs, with up to seven years of support available, and the opportunity of a permanent academic position on successful completion of the fellowship. Applicants are expected to hold a doctorate by the fellowship start date or to be able to demonstrate equivalent experience. There are no restrictions based on years since completion of PhD, nationality, or whether the applicant currently holds a permanent/open-ended academic position. Please see here for the scheme overview document, and here for a snapshot of our research highlights.
As FLF positions require a financial commitment from the host institution, the call is being managed by the Research Development team on behalf of the University. Prospective applicants should email Research Development, who will be able to provide the forms that are required for the internal process. Research Development will also be able to put you in touch with academic researchers from all of our schools within the Faculties of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences, Engineering and Physical Sciences, and Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. A senior panel of academics will review CVs and Expression of Interest forms of all applicants, to select and mentor the strongest submissions forward to full applications.
The timeline for application to apply for a UKRI FLF at QUB is below.
QUB internal deadline: 15 July 2019
UKRI Expression Of Interest Deadline: TBC Sep 2019
Full application deadline: TBC Oct 2019
Please email Research Development with any queries you may have.
For help related to identifying and applying for funding, go to Funding tools
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For more information please read our Equality and Diversity Policy.
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