The University of Worcester supports applications to a range of externally funded postdoctoral fellowships (also referred to as early career fellowships). These are personal fixed-term awards that cover the applicant’s (fellow’s) salary and other expenses required to complete a piece of original research at a host organisation.
All such awards are primarily aimed at developing researcher independence, usually following completion of a PhD. Some also promote international mobility, while others support those returning to work following a career break or those who require a flexible working pattern due to personal circumstances.
Candidates typically develop their applications in partnership with an academic mentor/supervisor at the host organisation in accordance with the respective fellowship scheme’s guidelines. In practice, this involves agreeing on factors such as a suitable vision and approach for the research project in question, as well as being clear on the form host organisation support will take.
Fellowships of various remits and lengths are available from a wide range of funders (a sample of which are introduced below) with their own eligibility criteria and calls for applications. Academic colleagues may even wish to consider identifying potential opportunities ahead of time (e.g. when candidates are in the final stages of their PhD) and work with candidates on draft applications in advance of calls opening.
Arts, Humanities, Social Sciences
- Timebound eligibility criteria: for researchers without prior experience of leading a significant research project (candidates are required to self-define their eligibility and include a justification in their application).
- Duration: up to five years.
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship
- Timebound eligibility criteria: candidates must apply within three years of their PhD viva.
- Duration: three years.
- Timebound eligibility criteria: candidates must articulate why they should be considered an early career researcher and how the award of a new investigator grant will have a demonstrable impact on their trajectory to becoming an independent researcher.
- Duration: up to five years.
Engineering, Maths, Physical Sciences, Life Sciences
- Timebound eligibility criteria: no limit on the number of years of postdoctoral or work experience.
- Duration: three years.
- Timebound eligibility criteria: no limit on the number of years postdoctoral or work experience.
- Duration: up to three years.
Royal Society Career Development Fellowship
- Timebound eligibility criteria: candidates should have a PhD by the time the funding starts but have less than 24 months postdoctoral experience.
- Duration: four years.
Royal Society University Research Fellowship
- Timebound eligibility criteria: candidates must have between three and eight years of research experience, excluding career breaks, since the award of their PhD.
- Duration: eight years.
Medicine (clinical)
Alzheimer’s Research UK Clinical Research Fellowship
- Timebound eligibility criteria: candidates should have delivered previous research project(s) with impactful outputs, such as publications and conference presentations, and should ideally have a PhD.
- Duration: up to three years.
Cancer Research UK Clinician Scientist Fellowship
- Timebound eligibility criteria: former eligibility rules based on years of experience post PhD no longer apply.
- Duration: five years.
- Timebound eligibility criteria: these fellowships are aimed at individuals at various points of their career, including those who have recently completed or are about to complete a PhD but haven’t yet established themselves as an independent researcher.
- Duration: between two and five years.
Medicine (non-clinical)
Alzheimer’s Society Postdoctoral Fellowship
- Timebound eligibility criteria: candidates must be postdoctoral researchers not already in open-ended, university-funded posts, or final year PhD students who will have been awarded their PhD at commencement of the grant or have equivalent experience at time of application.
- Duration: up to four years full-time or up to six years part-time.
British Heart Foundation Immediate Postdoctoral Basic Science Research Fellowship
- Timebound eligibility criteria: candidates should be in the final year of their PhD studies or have no more than two years of postdoctoral research experience from the date of their PhD viva.
- Duration: four years.
Diabetes UK RD Lawrence Fellowship
- Timebound eligibility criteria: three to ten years postdoctoral experience.
- Duration: four or five years.
- Timebound eligibility criteria: these fellowships are aimed at individuals at various stages of their career, including those who have recently completed or are about to complete a PhD but haven’t yet established themselves as an independent researcher.
- Duration: between two and five years.
Multidisciplinary
- Timebound eligibility criteria: candidates must have between two and seven years of research experience since completion of their PhD.
- Duration: five years.
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship
- Timebound eligibility criteria: candidates must be early career researchers who are transitioning to or establishing research independence.
- Duration: up to seven years.
Wellcome Trust Early Career Award
- Timebound eligibility criteria: candidates must have passed their PhD viva at the point of application (they may also have some postdoctoral experience in the proposed field of study, but no more than three years).
- Duration: five years.
International Mobility
British Academy / Royal Society Newton International Fellowship (for non-UK scientists who are at an early stage of their research career and wish to conduct research in the UK)
- Timebound eligibility criteria: candidates should have no more than seven years of active full-time postdoctoral experience at the time of application.
- Duration: two years.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellowship
- MSCA European Postdoctoral Fellowships are open to researchers moving within Europe or coming to Europe from another part of the world to pursue their research career. These fellowships take place in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country and can last between one and three years. Researchers of any nationality can apply.
- MSCA Global Postdoctoral Fellowships fund the mobility of researchers outside Europe. The fellowship lasts between two and three years, of which the first one to two years will be spent in a non-associated Third Country, followed by a mandatory return phase of one year to an organisation based in an EU Member State or Horizon Europe Associated Country. Only nationals or long-term residents of the EU Member States or Horizon Europe Associated Countries can apply.
Support for specific groups
Daphne Jackson Trust Fellowship (enables researchers to return to research after a break of two or more years taken for family, caring or health reasons)
- Timebound eligibility criteria: candidates should ideally have a PhD and have taken a minimum two-year break from research for family, caring or health reasons.
- Duration: two to three years.
Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship (support for outstanding postdoctoral scientists who require a flexible working pattern due to personal circumstances, such as caring responsibilities and/or health-related conditions)
- Timebound eligibility criteria: candidates should have no more than six years of research experience since their PhD.
- Duration: eight years.
As the above examples suggest, research councils are a good place to start looking for postdoctoral fellowships (use the UKRI funding finder). Other general search tools include Early Career Researchers Central and Pivot-RP / Research Professional.