UKRI has recently announced that Round 7 of its Future Leaders Fellowship programme has opened.
Future Leaders Fellowships are aimed at early career researchers and innovators who are either:
- looking to establish or transition to independence
- developing their own original and ambitious plans within a commercial setting.
There is no minimum or maximum award value. The project can last up to four years, with the option to apply to renew for a further three years.
These Fellowships are assessed against four criteria:
- Research and innovation excellence
- Applicant and their development
- Impact and strategic relevance
- Research and innovation environment and costs
UKRI's FLF website provides a number of guidance documents to help applicants prepare their application, including:
There is an institutional limit of 4 applications from York. This means that the Fellowships Coordination Committee will be running an internal selection process, to identify which candidates they wish to put forward.
Departments/Schools who wish to support a Fellow should undertake a selection process in order to nominate a maximum of two candidates to progress to the University-level selection assessment.
If an application is being put forward as a job share, two candidates can be put forward for one application.
Both internal and external candidates are eligible to apply, and will be supported equitably through the application process.
Successful Departmental candidates complete the Expression of Interest (EoI) form and prepare a 4-page CV.
We have compiled a short guidance document for applicants - please encourage them to read this before completing the EoI form.
Candidates send the form and CV to the Chair of their Departmental Research Committee to complete the statement of support and sign the form off.
DRC Chair submits the completed forms and CVs to Taryn Bell (fellowships@york.ac.uk) by 5pm, Monday 8 August 2022.
If putting two applications forward, the Department must indicate which application is their top choice and give a brief explanation as to why.
EoIs reviewed and decisions made by the Institutional Peer Review Panel (including the Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), Associate Deans (Research), and additional disciplinary co-opted members as required).
Candidates will be notified of the outcome and receive feedback as soon as possible after the selection panel has made a decision, by end of w/c 29 August 2022.
Candidates who are successful at the University selection panel meeting will be invited to develop their application to submit to the funder.
Candidates who progress to this stage will also be eligible to apply to the University’s Fellowship Coordination Committee (FCC) who may be able to provide limited financial support for match funding for equipment costs. The Committee will only consider match-funding items that clearly improve the chances of the fellowship being funded and the Committee will not consider match-funding salary costs for this scheme.
What are the deadlines for Round 7?
- Outline application deadline: 18 October, 4pm UK time
- Full application deadline: 6 December, 4pm UK time
Do you have any examples of successful applications?
Benjamin and Luke have shared their applications with us, and if you are applying an application, you should be able to access these here:
Please note that the guidance has changed a little since these were written, and so there may be some changes to what you are required to submit. Please always check and work from the current guidance.
We are grateful to Benjamin and Luke for sharing their applications, and ask that you don't share these applications further without asking.
If you don't have access, but would like to view them, please either 'request access', or send an email to fellowships@york.ac.uk.
Does an applicant need to contact UKRI if they are requesting over £1.5m?
The scheme guidance for Round 7 states that, if the applicant is requesting over £1.5m, they must include a cover letter justifying these costs.
If you are seriously considering applying for an FLF, please contact your Department's Research Support Office, who can provide support and advice on the logistics of a Fellowship.
You can also contact the University Fellowship Coordinator, Taryn Bell (fellowships@york.ac.uk).
The following information relates to funder and University processes and is intended to assist members of Research Support teams (rather than applicants).
For the Outline stage:
- Worktribe records will need to be completed and approved in the normal way (see below for more information).
- You'll need to request that these be moved back to the Bid Submission stage to allow you to make further changes before the full stage.
- The costings in WT should be as accurate as possible.
- Standard University deadlines apply for submission.
Additional notes:
RGO notes on the FLF can be found here (version from March 2021):
If you have any queries, please get in touch with your RGO contact.
