You can apply for funding to spend a year collaborating with 10 Downing Street’s data science team (10DS) and the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
You will:
- co-design research and produce analysis using new and existing linked administrative datasets to inform policy in priority policy areas
- champion data science across central government and support wider knowledge exchange with researchers on effective policy collaboration and data analysis.
- The datasets will be accessed through the ONS’ Secure Research Service.
You must:
- have a PhD or equivalent experience
- be a social science-focused researcher based at an eligible UKRI research organisation
- have relevant quantitative analytical experience.
Funding will last up to 18 months to cover:
- inception phase for project set up, three months
- placement with 10DS, 12 months
- impact phase, up to three months.
This fellowship is available on either a full-time or part-time basis.
If you have any questions, or would like to talk more about this opportunity, contact Chris Hewson, Faculty Research Impact Manager (Social Sciences) at esrc-iaa@york.ac.uk.
The British Academy will be holding a webinar on Wednesday 31 March (09.30-11.00) for UK-based applicants in the humanities and social sciences interested in applying for the 2021 ERC Consolidator Grant call, which has a deadline on 20 April.
The webinar will be led by British Academy Fellows who have experience with ERC grants and panels.
The aim of the webinar is to provide participants with detailed, practical information about the ERC Consolidator Grant scheme. Participants should gain a deeper understanding of the proposal and evaluation format and the key issues they are required to address in planning, writing and costing a proposal.
In order to participate and for the webinar to be structured as effectively as possible for you, we ask that you submit in advance either an outline of your proposal or, if you have it, a draft of the 'extended synopsis (B1). Please contact Emily Zerling (e.zerling@thebritishacademy.ac.uk) by Wednesday 24 March (end of closing) to register.
https://mailchi.mp/thebritishacademy.ac.uk/erc-consolidator-grant-2021-call-webinar?e=51d1fc1376
Following the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement, which enables the UK's participation in Horizon Europe, the British Academy will be holding a webinar on Thursday 25 February, 9:30-11:00am for researchers in the humanities and social sciences interested in applying for the 2021 ERC Starting Grant call, which has a deadline expected at the end of the March.
The webinar will be led by British Academy Fellows who have experience with ERC grants and panels.
The aim of the webinar is to provide participants with detailed, practical information about the ERC Starting Grant scheme. Participants should gain a deeper understanding of the proposal and evaluation format and the key issues they are required to address in planning, writing and costing a proposal.
In order to participate and for the webinar to be structured as effectively as possible for you, we ask that you submit in advance either an outline of your proposal or, if you have it, a draft of the 'extended synopsis (B1)'. Please contact Emily Zerling (e.zerling@thebritishacademy.ac.uk) by Monday 22 February to ask to register.
Over the two weeks of 12th-23rd April 2021, the University will be holding its first 'Fellowship Fortnight' to celebrate the work enabled through our community of Fellows. Fellowship Fortnight will showcase the work of current Fellows, provide training for prospective Fellowship applicants and bring together academic staff to share ideas and practice to support Fellows.
'Preparing for Fellowship Success' training programme
A key part of Fellowship Fortnight will be the 'Preparing for Fellowship Success' (PfFS) training programme (delivered by our University’s Research Excellence Training Team in partnership with academic colleagues and Fellows). This intensive training provides detailed support and guidance for early career researchers who are preparing to submit a fellowship application to an external funder in the coming 12 months.
The 'Preparing for Fellowship Success' programme is open to both internal and external potential applicants
The application form, along with more information on the programme can be found here: https://www.york.ac.uk/staff/research/training-forums/research-excellence-training-team/research-staff/support-for-fellows/
The application form (approved by the Chair of Departmental Research Committee) should be submitted to fellowships@york.ac.uk by the deadline of noon, Wednesday 17th March 2021.
If you'd like to talk about either Fellowship Fortnight or Preparing for Fellowships Success, or if you have any questions, please contact Annabel Jenkins (Fellowships Coordinator) at fellowships@york.ac.uk
EPSRC and the N8 are to co-host an event on ‘How to handle impact in EPSRC proposals’, which will take place online on Thurs 25th Feb, 10:30-12:00.
The event will provide an update on recent changes and discuss EPSRC’s new philosophy towards impact, as well as providing practical advice on how to include impact in EPSRC grant funding applications. The event will be hosted by EPSRC’s Head of Economic Impact Dr Glenn Goodall and Senior Impact Manager Dr Michelle Lascelles, with an introduction from N8 Director Annette Bramley.
Prospective attendees must pre-register for the event via Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/how-to-handle-impact-in-epsrc-proposals-tickets-132034981183
These fellowships are supported by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) through the White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership
This Postdoctoral Fellowship Scheme supports salary and limited research costs for one year, starting in October 2021 and is an opportunity to consolidate your PhD through developing publications, your networks, research and professional skills. Here at York it is administered through the White Rose Doctoral Training Partnership. To be eligible you should have been awarded a PhD or have passed your viva voce with minor amendments between March 2020 and 2021 at a research organisation that is part of a DTP or CDT and have no more than 12 months active postdoctoral experience by 23rd March 2021.
This year's call specification, Expression of Interest google form and guidance documents are now available on the White Rose website: https://wrdtp.ac.uk/fellowships/.
We have also set up a Google Folder for the key Documents and Resources.
Following on from our initial information session earlier in November, this is a more detailed follow up if you intend to submit an Expression of Interest in January. We highly recommend your potential mentor also attends. With tips from one of our current Fellows and her mentor, together with additional input from the Associate Dean for Research in the Social Sciences - Professor Yvonne Birks, we will be looking at this year's requirements and answering any specific questions you may have.
The session will be held via zoom on Thursday 10th December 2020 at 10:00 - 11:00, please email: socsci-rdteam@york.ac.uk to register.
EPSRC Fellowships are changing. Key characteristics of the new funding opportunity will include:
- Increased opportunities at early career stage onwards;
- Opportunity for applicants to focus on discovery science, innovation, instrumentation/technique development or software engineering or to include non-technical elements to create positive change in the research community
- Allows a high degree of freedom, flexibility and support for talented and ambitious researchers.
The new guidance document “EPSRC Post-doctoral and Open Fellowships Guidance” contains details of the assessment criteria and applications process so that applicants can work on their proposals in advance of the scheme formally opening for applications.
- Applications that are already under development can continue to be submitted under the existing scheme until 14 December 2020, should candidates wish to do so.
- Applications under the new scheme will also be accepted from 30 November 2020 onwards.
- Researchers that currently hold an EPSRC Fellowship will be not be affected
EPSRC are putting on four webinars about the upcoming the Fellowships scheme. Each webinar will be an hour long with the opportunity to ask questions. There will be two types; one for research office staff and one for potential applicants. Attendees are able to submit questions ahead of the event.
Research office staff can sign up here:
2pm 26 November - https://ukri.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_5-VGBkjnQkiBSW72SUyJYg
10am 1 December - https://ukri.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xnQfKv0GRg2k1CqHO5q06g
Potential applicants can sign up here:
2pm 1 December - https://ukri.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qZeGIJylTme9zAQBQZwa1w
2pm 3 December - https://ukri.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_BgXQXNbBRU-F2Sw9jUGA5w
If there are issues signing up to the webinar please contact: Events@epsrc.ukri.org
NERC Knowledge Exchange (KE) Fellowships are intended to enable the sharing and flow of knowledge and expertise between environmental science researchers and their stakeholders, partners and/or user communities with the aim of generating impact from NERC remit research in the priority areas detailed in the NERC delivery plan.
You don't need to have held NERC funding before to apply for a NERC Knowledge Exchange Fellowship.
You should however bear in mind that applicants who already hold a position where they would be eligible to apply as a Principal or Co-investigator for a NERC grant would generally be expected to apply for the KE Fellowship for a percentage of their FTE only. However applicants who are at an earlier career stage and not yet be eligible as a PI/CoI for NERC grants may apply for up to 100% of their time through this fellowship.
This scheme has been reinstated for 2020. You can find more information at: https://nerc.ukri.org/funding/available/schemes/kefellows/. The funder deadline is 2 December 2020 (but an earlier University deadlines will apply).
The University's Research Excellence Training Team (RETT) provides all researchers with support and development opportunities to excel in their chosen fields and careers.
A full list of professional and career development opportunities that they provide, plus updates on news and events can be found here: https://www.york.ac.uk/staff/research/training-forums/research-excellence-training-team/research-staff/
The following upcoming courses in the next couple of weeks may be of particular interest to fellowship holders:
Wed 14th October, 10:00-11:30 - Safeguarding in International Development Research
Thurs 15th October, 10:00-11:30 and Wed 28th Oct, 10:00-12:00 - Building Better Relationships - Understanding Communication & Management
Tues 20th October 10:11:30 and Tues 27th October 10:00-11:30 - A Guide to Virtual Networking
If you have any questions, or would like any further information, please contact either rett@york.ac.uk or fellowships@york.ac.uk.
The NERC Knowledge Exchange (KE) Fellowships are intended to enable the sharing and flow of knowledge and expertise between NERC funded researchers and their stakeholders, partners and/or user communities with the aim of generating impact from NERC funded research in the priority areas detailed in the NERC delivery plan. KE Fellows can work anywhere between 20% and 100% of their time on a work plan of their own choosing.
The Knowledge Exchange Fellowship scheme is being reinstated for 2020. Call opens on 30 September 2020, closing at 16:00 on 2 December 2020.
You can view a list of other fellowship opportunities in this link.
This communication provides some updates on the work of the University Fellowship Programme, and outlines some upcoming initiatives and activities.
Background
Established in October 2019, the York Research Fellowship Programme has two main aims:
I. to retain, attract, and provide support to, talented early career researchers who aim to gain a fellowship at the University of York; and
II. to support the development of current fellowship holders, allowing them to develop their careers at York.
The programme also supports the sharing of best practice among departments. Oversight and governance of the University Fellowship Programme is provided by the Fellowship Coordination Committee (FCC), which meets quarterly, and is Chaired by the Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research (Prof. Matthias Ruth).
Fellowship Coordinator
Since June 2020 Dr Annabel Jenkins serves as Fellowship Coordinator (0.5 FTE), working closely with the Research Excellence Training Team (where she is based) and the Research Development Team. Annabel has a diverse background, including work within interdisciplinary research projects, and experience in the engineering industry. She has also supported research within departments for several years and currently also serves as Research Facilitator in the Department of Mathematics. You can contact her on early career fellowship matters at fellowships@york.ac.uk.
Financial Support for Early Career Fellowship applications
The FCC has limited funds to support early career fellowship applications to external funders, through (partial) match-funding. The FCC aims to retain and attract the very best candidates, providing financial support to applications that would not otherwise be possible without its assistance, or where the support clearly improves the chances of the fellowship being funded. More information on the aims of this scheme, including details of what the FCC will consider supporting, can be found on this FCC financial support page.
Fellowship webpages
The University of York Fellowship pages can be found at https://www.york.ac.uk/research/fellowships/. In addition to these externally-facing pages, we are also developing an internal University Fellowships wiki to provide additional information for members of the University, with links to fellowship information at departmental pages, where appropriate.
York Fellowship Community
The University is home to over eighty early career fellowship holders, spanning almost all departments, and covering a diverse range of research, including such topics as ‘Women and the Built Environment in Late Medieval England’ (Dr Rachel Delman, History, Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship) and ‘Experiments on light nuclei to benchmark the chiral EFT ab initio frontier’ (Dr Marina Petri, Physics, Royal Society University Research Fellowship). The ‘Preparing for Fellowship Success’ for early career researchers has run annually since 2019 as an immersive training event for those internal and external researchers whom departments choose to support and nurture through the fellowship writing process. The event includes a Fellowship dinner bringing together prospective and current fellows with identified fellowship mentors. We will continue to build on this initiative and develop ways to bring the early career fellows community together (online in the foreseeable future), and to support their development. As part of this, we’re looking for current early career research fellows to represent their Faculty on the FCC:
OPPORTUNITY - Research Fellowship Representatives on the FCC
We seek one Fellowship Representative from each of the Sciences, Social Sciences, and Arts and Humanities Faculties to represent early career fellows on the FCC. Representatives will input into the direction of initiatives and will also have advocacy roles for fellowships both within their Faculty, and externally. Representatives should currently hold an externally-funded early career fellowship, and have strong communication skills. The role will involve attendance at quarterly meetings and representation at related events where appropriate. The representatives will not participate in administrative processes of the FCC (e.g. financial decisions). They will have an opportunity to feed into the development of the University’s Researcher Development Concordat Action Plan and to ensure that the particular needs of Fellows are considered. This is an excellent opportunity to develop and practice leadership skills and gain experience in the workings of University committees. Early career fellowship holders who wish to apply for one of these roles are asked to submit this form by the end of 23rd October 2020.
OPPORTUNITY - Fellowships Coordination Committee (FCC) Lead
The FCC Lead will take responsibility for leading on initiatives that support the aims of the York Fellowship Programme (including: the recruitment of early career fellows; the development of current fellowship holders; community-building of fellowship holders across all faculties of the University; and sharing of best practice within the University). The role will include attending FCC meetings, events focused on fellowships (e.g. best practice sharing events, fellowship community events) and working with the Fellowships Coordinator, and other members of committee on the development and execution of events and initiatives. Working with the FCC Chair (Prof. Matthias Ruth) and the rest of the FCC, the FCC Lead will also contribute to decision-making around the strategy and finances of the FCC. It would be expected that the role holder will have some experience in leadership, and a track record in supporting early career academics. It is anticipated that the work of the FCC Lead would take around 0.5 days per week. We ask (1) people who are interested in becoming the FCC Lead to speak to their Head of Department, and (2) for Heads of Department to nominate potential candidates to the Chair of the FCC by sending an email to fellowships@york.ac.uk by the end of 23rd October 2020.
If you have any questions about anything discussed here, or would like to talk more about early career fellowships, please contact Annabel at fellowships@york.ac.uk.
This newsletter has been sent to Heads of Department, Chair of DRC and Departmental Fellowship Contacts. It has also been shared through the York Research Administrators Forum (YRAF) mailing list.
The Natural Environment Research Council has attempted to reassure researchers after it emerged that none of the candidates awarded Independent Research Fellowships in 2019 were women.
In an open letter dated 28 September, Susan Waldron, director of research and skills at NERC, said the research council took fairness in grant processes “seriously” and had “reviewed carefully” the outcome of the 2019 fellowship round, as well as previous ones.
You can read more of this article, from Research Professional, at: https://www.researchprofessional.com/0/rr/news/uk/research-councils/2020/9/NERC-addresses-concerns-over-lack-of-fellowships-for-women.html#sthash.LC0AOgdo.dpuf, and you can read NERC's Open Letter here: https://nerc.ukri.org/latest/news/nerc/open-letter-in-response-to-the-outcomes-of-the-independent-research-fellowship-2019/
Further links from the University of York:
The University of York is committed to working together to create a university community where diversity is recognised, valued and celebrated. You can find the University's Equality, Diversity and Inclusion strategy here: https://www.york.ac.uk/about/equality/strategy/
The University's Staff Equality Networks provide an opportunity for interested staff to participate in promoting progress and good practice in relation to equality, diversity and inclusion as well as opportunities for peer support and development. You can find more information about these networks, including the University's "Women in Research" network here: https://www.york.ac.uk/about/equality/staff/equality-networks/
You may also be interested in 'The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers': https://www.york.ac.uk/staff/research/training-forums/research-excellence-training-team/research-staff/concordat-to-support-the-career-dev-of-researchers/
CIFAR (formerly the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research) is a charitable organization based in Canada that brings together teams of top researchers from around the world to address important and complex questions.
CIFAR invites exceptional early-career researchers from across the natural, biomedical and social sciences and the humanities to join one of our interdisciplinary research programs that address some of the most important questions facing science and humanity. The CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars program accelerates the development of the next generation of research leaders and positions them to heighten their impact in academia and beyond.
The CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars program seeks to assemble a global cohort. There are no geographic restrictions on who may apply. CIFAR is committed to equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI).
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars are provided research funding and participate in a CIFAR research program over a two-year term. The term will begin on April 1, 2021 and end on March 31, 2023. Scholars receive $100,000 CAD in unrestricted research support. The funds are administered through their home institution and are intended to support their capacity to conduct research. Possible uses include, but are not limited to: research projects, teaching release, trainee support, conference travel, etc. CIFAR separately covers travel costs associated with attendance at CIFAR meetings.
Deadline: 30th October 2020
More information can be found here: https://www.cifar.ca/next-gen/global-scholars?utm_source=1accelerate&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=GS2020
A new, more flexible fellowship scheme, ‘Open’ and ‘Open Plus’ Fellowships, will be announced by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) during autumn/winter 2020.
Open Fellowships will offer a new vision which enables researchers to design a fellowship to fit their research ideas, their career stage, development needs and leadership aspirations. The scheme will be open for all EPSRC remit areas, including multi-disciplinary work.
For more information, see: https://epsrc.ukri.org/newsevents/news/epsrc-to-launch-new-fellowships-scheme/
The Early Career Fellowships is one of The Leverhulme Trust's most popular, long-running and successful schemes. The grants offer a bridge into an academic career for researchers with a proven research record, providing them with the opportunity for independent career progression and enabling them to undertake a significant piece of original publishable research. The Fellowships also provide support for movement within the UK, allowing Fellows to gain experience at different institutions and broaden their academic careers.
In response to these uncertain times and the financial challenges facing universities in the forthcoming academic year, the Leverhulme Trust Board wanted to reassert their confidence in early career academics and invest more in the scheme. The Board will therefore be committing an additional £3.625 million to the Early Career Fellowship competition in 2021 to support an altered funding model, which will be in place for this round only. In 2021, the Trust will contribute 100% of each Fellow’s total salary costs in year one, up to a maximum of £50,000, and will then contribute 50% of the Fellow’s total salary costs, up to a maximum of £25,000, in years two and three, with the balance to be paid by the host institution. The Trust Board hopes this temporary change will give universities across the breadth of the sector the best opportunity to continue to support postdoctoral career development during the worst of the emerging financial crisis.
The University of York has a strong record of hosting Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellows. Our current Fellows are: Michael James (Chemistry); Luke Wilkinson (Chemistry); Lydia Zeldenrust (English and Related Literature); and Rachel Delman (History) and we're looking forward to welcome new Fellows in the Autumn.
Applications for this scheme will open in January 2021, with a funder deadline in February 2022. More information can be found at: https://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/early-career-fellowships and we'll also be sending more information on opportunities for support closer to the time.