UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has announced round 11 of this scheme with a final submission deadline of 16 June 2026.
The Future Leaders Fellowship Scheme supports early career researchers in any subject area, with outstanding potential, to tackle challenging research questions and develop their own careers. Flexible funding is available for up to seven years to support adventurous and ambitious programmes. There are no eligibility rules based on years since PhD or whether the applicant currently holds an open-ended academic position. The Fellowships provide salary support, allowing successful applicants protected time to concentrate fully on their research (up to six hours per week may be spent on other commitments or related activities, provided they enhance career development).
UKRI’s guidance for Future Leaders Fellowships can be found here and in the PDF documents below.
Expressions of Interest
Worcester can submit two applications to this call. We will therefore be inviting Expressions of Interest (EOI) from eligible internal and external researchers, and will run a selection process to select the two applications to be put forward.
We welcome EOIs from current employees or from researchers outside of the University. Researchers from outside of the University who are not current employees of the University will only receive an offer of employment from the University if the researcher’s application to UKRI’s Future Leaders Fellowship Scheme is successful.
If you are interested in submitting an EOI, please get in touch to explore further by contacting the Research, Innovation & Impact Office (RIIO) on researchoffice@worc.ac.uk.
INFORMATION SESSIONS
We will be running information sessions for potential applicants on the following dates:
- 25 February 2026 at 11am on Teams
- 4 March 2026 at 1pm on Teams
These sessions can be booked on iTrent for existing staff. For external candidates, please contact researcherdevelopment@worc.ac.uk.
FURTHER RESOURCES
Please read about our current Future Leaders Fellows: