Dr David JossEPSRC Advanced FellowDepartment of Physics

1st Research Staff Conference

Research Fellowships

What opportunities are currently available for research fellowships?

EPSRC Fellowships / STFC Fellowships.

Which qualities are the research councils seeking in an advanced fellow?

The fellowship proposal. Improving your chances of success.

Getting started.

Preparing a proposal.

How your proposal will be reviewed / assessed.

Preparing for the interview.

A case study: My path towards an ARF award.

Overview

Postdoctoral Fellowships

Advanced Fellowships

Career Advancement Fellowships.

Leadership Fellowships (for permanent academic staff).

Other Fellowships.

Royal Society Industry Fellowships.

Leverhulme Fellowships.

Toshiba Fellowships.

http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/ResearchFunding/Opportunities/Fellowships/default.htm

EPSRC Fellowships

Early career fellowships.

Aim to start shortly or immediately after

PhD graduation.

Scheme aims to allow new researchers to establish

independent research careers.

PDFs provide funds to cover fellow’s salary and low level costs.

Open to international applicants (subject to DWP requirements).

Typically 3 years duration.

Exceptions such as Royal Academy of Engineering / EPRSC fellowships can last for

5 years.

EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellowships

Subject area Availability Closing

Dates

(fellowships / year) (2008)

Mathematical sciences At least 7 30/9/08

Theoretical Comp. Sci. Up to 5 30/9/08

Theoretical Physics Up to 5 30/9/08

Life Science Interface Up to 10 30/9/08

RAE-EPSRC fellowships Up to 10 28/10/08

More about PDFs

Advanced Fellowship scheme aims

to allow researchers to establish

independent careers of

international standing by the end of

the fellowship (5 years).

Career Advancement Fellowships

CAFs provide funds to cover fellow’s salary and research costs.

Approximately 50 advanced research fellowships are awarded each

year (CAF and LF).

Last year 451 applications were received. Only 23 CAFs were awarded!

What qualities are requiredin an Advanced Fellow?

Leadership

Good project management

skills

Originalthinkers

Excellence in

research

Good communication

skills

Independence

Enthusiasm

Select an institution and make contact with

the Head of Department.

The Head of Dept will help you make contact

with the relevant staff in the central research

support services.

Getting started.

Contact your host institution’s research support services.

They will advise you about the full economic costings and indirect costs

that you will need for your grant submission.

Register for an account on the Joint Electronic Submission (Je-S)

system.

CV (max 2 sides of A4)

There are strict format and content requirements for your CV.

See EPSRC webpage ‘Career Acceleration Fellowship Outline Call’.

List of Publications (no limit).

Order in terms of refereed and unrefereed journal articles and

conference proceedings.

Explanatory paragraph indicating impact factors and author ordering

conventions.

Indicate 10 articles where you have a leading role in realising the paper.

Do not include articles that have not been accepted for publication.

Case for Support (track record and vision, aims and context).

Preparing an outline proposal

A self-contained description of your track record and the aims and context of

your research vision.

Keep it clear, concise and free from jargon.

Follow the format rules regarding page limits, fonts and margins etc.,

Track record (1 side of A4)

Do not duplicate the CV or publication list.

State your most significant results, the impact of your work, your relevant

collaborative work.

You can include work that has not been accepted for publication

e.g. papers in preparation.

Case for Support Your chance to shine!

Vision aims and objectives (max 2 sides of A4)

Describe broad aims of research, describe problem

that you wish to solve, the methods you intend to

use.

Highlight what is original about this research. How

does it differ from your supervisor/group leader?

Case for Support

What is the international context? Who are your competitors?

Does your proposed research overlap with a key strategic priority?

Why is this work timely? Explain in terms of

research and your personal career progression.

Why are you the right person to deliver this

research programme?

‘I’ not ‘We’ !

Justify choice of host institution. What can they

offer you?

Case for Support – Your chance to shine!

Summarise key staff and equipment in terms of length of post or cost.

ASK YOUR HEAD OF DEPARTMENT AND COLLEAGUES

TO READ YOUR PROPOSAL AND COMMENT BEFORE YOU SUBMIT !

Case for Support

Impact Plan (max 2 sides of A4)

Justification of Resources (1 side of A4)

Diagrammatic Work Plan

(1 side of A4)

e.g. Gantt Chart

ARF Full Proposal Submission

Letters of support from project partners

Quotes for equipment (where applicable)

New in 2009

The Impact Plan Replaces the beneficiaries section from previous years.

Economic impact (EI) assesses demonstrable contribution of research on society and the UK economy.

Impact Summary (max 4000 characters)

Who will benefit from your research?

How will they benefit? (Better public services, increased economic competitiveness, commercial exploitation)

What will be done to ensure that interested parties will benefit?

(Communication and engagement strategies)

What are the realistic timescales?

How does the skills base develop?

The full proposal is reviewed by at least 4 expert referees (including one suggested in your application).

You will receive referees reports and have the opportunity to respond to factual inaccuracies.

Academic Beneficiaries Section (max. 4000 characters)

How will other researchers in your field benefit from your research?

Are there beneficiaries in other disciplines?

What are researchers (UK + International) likely to be interested in?

What is the academic impact of your research?

Will you produce data that is valuable to other sectors?

Economic Impact

Research student or PDRA?

Justify your choice – e.g is the project too

technical for a student?

Justify staff time.

How much time will your staff be dedicating

to the project?

Justification of Resources

Travel and subsistence.

Are the number of scientific visits appropriate? Why are chosen conferences likely to advantageous?

Justify equipment costs.

Are equipment costs reasonable? Do you need laptop and PC, etc?

The Full Proposal Review

The full proposal is reviewed by at least 4 expert referees (including

one suggested in your application).

You will receive referees’ reports and have the opportunity to

respond to factual inaccuracies.

Keep your responses short and factual.

If your referees’ reports are positive there is a good chance that you

will be invited to interview.

What makes a good proposal?

Internationalleadership &collaboration

Awareness of research

impact &potential

Reasonablebalance of

risk and return

AnOriginal

Idea

Reliable costings& clear justification

of resources

Adventure inresearch

Awareness ofbroad research

context

A feasible methodology

Future researchvision

Prepare a synopsis of your research.

Broad outline and context.

Key milestones to realising aims.

Ask advice from successful applicants from your research community.

Preparing for the Interview

Get your host department to arrange a ‘mock’ interview panel.

Be prepared to answer questions on justification of resources / project management / contingencies.

Panel Interview.

Approximately 6 experts from the broad remit of the research council.

Approximate ARF Timescales Sept 2009 Submit outline proposal to host institution.

Late Sept 2009 Host submits outline proposal to research council.

Mid - Dec 2009 Decision on candidates to invite to submit full proposal.

Feb 2010 Closing date for full proposals.

May 2010 Decision on candidates succeeding to interview stage.

June 2010 Interviews.

June 2010Final allocation panel meets.

July 2010 Fellowships announced.

July 2010 – March 2011 Fellowship awards are started.

Graduated with PhD from Liverpool (1998).

Temporary lecturer

Staffordshire & Keele Universities (1998 – 2001)

Opportunity to demonstrate academic role capability.

Opportunity to establish a new research direction.

Joined a UK collaboration to build the GREAT spectrometer.

Principal investigator on EPSRC grant (~£6k travel & subsistence)

Co-investigator on another EPSRC grant (~£40k)

Additional funds EU trans-national access to facilities support.

Preparing experiment proposals for international peer review.

Spokesman for approved experiments at international accelerator labs.

A case study: My path towards an ARF

Higher Scientific Officer, Daresbury Laboratory (2001 - 2005).

Spokesman for approved experiments at international accelerator labs.

Writing first authored publications for high-impact refereed journals.

Presented work at international workshops, IoP conferences & invited

seminars.

Obtained a 3-month visitor grant for an international colleague from

Royal Society.

Applied for EPSRC Advanced Fellowship.

ARF awarded in July 2005.

My experiences in research: A case study

Raise your research profile Publish good work in high-impact refereed journals.

Give seminars and talks to your international research community.

Develop a track record in obtaining funding. Travel grants, project grants, visitor-exchange grants.

Take on leadership roles. Take on key roles in proposal writing, experiment & equipment

design, data analysis, writing publications ….

What you can do to improve your chances.

You’re Hired!