Funding and Fellowships

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Funding and Fellowships Dr. Ian Prior School of
Biomedical Sciences
iprior_at_liv.ac.uk
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Key questions

• Why do you want to be a research fellow?
• Which fellowship should you apply for?
• What do you have to do to get a fellowship?
• (where is the right place to be, when is the
  right time?)

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Why?

• Independence
• Research-focused position
• Gateway to long term academic career

• Reality is
• Increasingly a desk job
• Small lab but high expectations
• Regularly write and secure grants
• Publish regularly
• Develop infrastructure
• Contributions to admin/teaching
• Responsible for other peoples careers

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Which Fellowship?

• The Royal Society the national academy of
  science of the UK and the Commonwealth
• Royal Society University Research Fellowships
  (URF)
• Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowships (DHF)
• .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.
• URF approx. 30 per year. (5 success rate)
• DHF approx. 10 per year.
• Eligibility
• Natural sciences mathematics, biological and
  biomedical sciences, engineering.
• EU citizens not holding permanent academic
  position.
• Fellowship
• URF 5 years (3 years,2 years), salary
  11,000pa maximum flexibility
• DHF 4 years, salary 11,000pa.

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Alternative Biomedical Fellowships
Which Fellowship?
Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship Approx. 70
per year, any discipline. 50 of salary
6000pa research expenses. 2-3 years
duration. Beit Memorial Fellowship 1 every
other year Salary minimal research expenses. 3
years duration. Wellcome Trust Career
Development Fellowship Salary Research
Assistant expenses start up costs. 5 years
duration. Focus at least 80 of time on Wellcome
projects. BBSRC David Phillips fellowships Up
to 10 per year Salary expenses start up
costs. 5 years duration NB. NOT medical
research. CRUK Career Development
Fellowship Salary Postdoctoral Researcher
Research Technician expenses equipment. 6
years duration Other medical charities eg.
Leukaemia Research Fund, British Heart
Foundation Alternative funding MRC New
Investigator Research Grant Up to 600,000 over
3 years. Expect institution to be committed to
offering permanent contract by the end.
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What do I have to do to get a fellowship?

• Typically PhD with 3-10 years post-doc
  experience
• Excellent publications/record of productivity
• Ambitious research proposal/academic vision
• Excellent and appropriate research environment
• Clearly independent of colleagues
• Possibly evidence of securing external funding
• Interview well

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What do I have to do to get a fellowship?
My experience PhD Liverpool 1995-1998 Post-doc
Brisbane 1999-2002 PI Liverpool 2003, URF
application 2003 Nanoscale characterisation of
cell surface signalling domains
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What do I have to do to get a fellowship?
Track record 5 first author papers, some in
good journals Research proposal
innovative/ambitious/realistic/feasible 2-5
pages - every word counts some preliminary
data Location excellent research
environment appropriate infrastructure suitabl
e lab space good colleagues not moving needs
extra justification
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What do I have to do to get a fellowship?
Talk to colleagues working in unrelated
areas, attend meetings Read more Is your
research productive? Will it be in the next 12
months? Be prepared to move Take
responsibility for your project Be proactive at
every opportunity Try to get funding eg.
travel/training fellowship
Pre-application tips
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What do I have to do to get a fellowship?
Application tips Staying in same institute
and extending post-doc project hard to
justify Discuss your plans and ideas with other
people Get hold of successful fellowship and
grant applications Make sure you pitch it
properly - may need rewriting for different
panels No typos or lazy text Get at least
one other person to critically read your
applications Proposal has to be clear to
non-experts Dont underbudget your running
costs Be prepared to embrace new
technologies Timelines are important - maybe
use Gantt plot Be very positive