{"id":2083,"date":"2026-02-17T15:18:59","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T15:18:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/?p=2083"},"modified":"2026-02-17T15:19:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T15:19:00","slug":"early-independence-bbsrc-fellowships-outline-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/?p=2083","title":{"rendered":"Early independence BBSRC fellowships (outline stage)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"247\" src=\"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BBSRC-logo-1-1024x247.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2084\" srcset=\"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BBSRC-logo-1-1024x247.png 1024w, https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BBSRC-logo-1-300x72.png 300w, https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BBSRC-logo-1-768x185.png 768w, https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BBSRC-logo-1-1536x371.png 1536w, https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/BBSRC-logo-1.png 1989w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>Funding for early career researchers in biological sciences to establish research leadership and independence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Multidisciplinary applications that cross into other research council areas are permitted providing the primary focus of your work falls within the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/councils\/bbsrc\/remit-programmes-and-priorities\/\">BBSRC remit<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Those interested should note that this is the only BBSRC fellowships opportunity open in 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-light-green-cyan-background-color has-background\">ELIGIBILITY<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Applicants must have a PhD qualification or relevant research experience combined with clear evidence of leadership potential. There is no limit on the number of years postdoctoral or work experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Applications are welcomed from applicants of all nationalities, including those not currently located in the UK, providing fellowships are held at a UK research organisation eligible for BBSRC Funding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You are <strong>not<\/strong> eligible to apply if:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>you have applied to a concurrent UKRI fellowship of the same type (career transition)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>you are the project lead on a UKRI grant application and it is being assessed<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>you have secured grants as a project lead that include support for and leading of research staff such as postdoctoral research associates (PDRAs), as this would indicate you have already made the step-change to independence<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>you hold or have ever held a position at lecturer level (or the equivalent in an institution other than a university), unless this is a teaching-only post or did not provide an opportunity to start an independent research group<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>you hold or have ever held an equivalent competitive fellowship that allows you to establish an independent research group, and therefore independent researcher status<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-light-green-cyan-background-color has-background\">VALUE AND DURATION<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There is no limit to the value of individual awards (15 fellowships are expected to be funded form a \u00a39 million budget).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The duration of this award is three years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Funding supports salary, consumables, travel, training, specialist technical support, and visa costs if required. It does not cover additional research staff or equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-light-green-cyan-background-color has-background\">KEY DATES<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/events.teams.microsoft.com\/event\/d50b3602-3cad-42ec-b045-9f4c3528fe60@8bb7e08e-daa4-4a8e-927e-fca38db04b7e\">Webinar<\/a> for potential applicants: 5 March 2026&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Outline application deadline: 22 April 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Full stage launch: Mid-July 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Full stage deadline: Mid-September 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Project start date: no later than 1 July 2027<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity is-style-dots\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Further details can be found on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ukri.org\/opportunity\/early-independence-bbsrc-fellowships-outline\/\">opportunity webpage<\/a> and in the guidance document below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Note that this funding opportunity was renamed in 2024 \u2013 the scheme was formerly known as \u2018BBSRC Discovery Fellowships\u2019 and <a href=\"https:\/\/pivot.proquest.com\/grants\/past_winners\/d1d89970-de34-4cdb-81e8-f2f1552f7976\">grants previously awarded<\/a> under this scheme can be viewed on Pivot-RP.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div data-wp-interactive=\"core\/file\" class=\"wp-block-file\"><object data-wp-bind--hidden=\"!state.hasPdfPreview\" hidden class=\"wp-block-file__embed\" data=\"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Early-independence_-BBSRC-fellowships_-outline-\u2013-UKRI.pdf\" type=\"application\/pdf\" style=\"width:100%;height:600px\" aria-label=\"Embed of Early independence_ BBSRC fellowships_ outline \u2013 UKRI.\"><\/object><a id=\"wp-block-file--media-2b114bf5-e6eb-441c-bd35-8ef86c2992cd\" href=\"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Early-independence_-BBSRC-fellowships_-outline-\u2013-UKRI.pdf\">Early independence_ BBSRC fellowships_ outline \u2013 UKRI<\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/Early-independence_-BBSRC-fellowships_-outline-\u2013-UKRI.pdf\" class=\"wp-block-file__button wp-element-button\" download aria-describedby=\"wp-block-file--media-2b114bf5-e6eb-441c-bd35-8ef86c2992cd\">Download<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Funding for early career researchers in biological sciences to establish research leadership and independence. Multidisciplinary applications that cross into other research council areas are permitted<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2083","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-opportunities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2083"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2089,"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2083\/revisions\/2089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/researchfunding.on.worc.ac.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}