Information and support for Postdoctoral and Early Career Researchers
Vitae
Comprehensive information and guidance on all aspects of development as a researcher, including skills
development, collaborative working and exploring career options is published on the Vitae website, and is one
of your main sources of information.
http://www.vitae.ac.uk/1269/Research-staff.html
University Researchers and the Market: a Practical Career Development Resource for
Research Staff
This booklet , published by AGCAS (the professional association for HE careers practitioners) is a
useful practical career development resource for research staff, intended to offer support and encouragement
to researchers who are considering their next career move, whether it is inside or outside academia.
http://www.agcas.org.uk/assets/download?file=1093&parent=422
The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers
The Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers sets out the expectations and
responsibilities of researchers, their managers, employers and funders. It aims to increase the attractiveness
and sustainability of research careers in the UK and to improve the quantity, quality and impact of research for
the benefit of UK society and the economy. By setting out clear expectations for researchers, research
managers, research institutions, and funders of research, the Concordat aims to enhance the research
workforce and thereby sustain research excellence in the UK, bringing benefits to the health, economy and
well being of our nation.
http://www.researchconcordat.ac.uk/documents/concordat.pdf
Graduate Junction
Graduate Junction is a forum for research students and early career researchers. Created by two graduate
researchers at the University of Durham in May 2008, it now has 13,000 researchers registered. You can
search the graduate research network to find other researchers who share your research interests regardless
of which department, institution or country they work in. It also aims to help researchers forge links and
engage with business, industry and social enterprise.
http://www.graduatejunction.com/forums
Careers advice
The services of the University Careers Centre are available to all: details can be found on
http://resources.glos.ac.uk/departments/careers/contacting.cfm
The following also provide useful information:
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Career Guide for Postdoctoral Researchers (last modified: 2 October 2008)
CV Writing for Post-doctoral Researchers (last modified: 13 March 2008)
Executive/Professional Level Aptitude Tests (last modified: 13 March 2008)
Marketing Yourself to Employers via Applications Forms (last modified: 13 March 2008)
Preparing for Interviews (last modified: 13 March 2008)
Job searches
ResearchResearch
The University subscribes to ResearchResearch which provides researchers in all disciplines with
comprehensive, up-to-date information on funding opportunities worldwide. You can search the site from any
university computer but for full benefits and to use the site off campus, you should set up an individual account
which you can yourself from the homepage (from a university computer).
http://new.researchresearch.com/
Postdoctoral vacancies are regularly advertised on the following sites:
http://www.jobs.ac.uk
http://www.findapostdoc.com/
http://www.phds.org/
http://www.vacancies.ac.uk/
http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/
http://www.scholarshipnet.info/category/postdoc/
H-Net (Humanities and Social Sciences Net Online) maintains listings of current Fellowships and other
funding opportunities, many of which are appropriate for postdoctoral work.
http://h-net.org/announce/
Research Council and other regular sources of funding
AHRC
Research Grants -route for early career researchers
Open deadline
The Early Career Researcher route of the Research Grants scheme has been introduced to assist new
researchers at the start of their careers in gaining experience of managing and leading research projects. The
Research Grants Schemes are intended to support well-defined research projects enabling individual
researchers to collaborate with, and bring benefits to, other individuals and organisations through the conduct
of research. This scheme is not intended to support individual scholarship. The AHRC aims to ensure that the
success rate for proposals to this route is slightly higher than that for the standard route
Applications may be submitted for proposals with full economic costs of between £20,000 and £200,000 and
for a duration of up to 60 months. In order to apply to this route you must be within eight years of the award of
your PhD or equivalent professional training or within six years of your first academic appointment.
http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/RG-EarlyCareers.aspx
Fellowships in the Creative and Performing Arts
This scheme aims to support artists - visual artists, performers, musicians, creative writers, poets, and other
producers of original creative work - as postdoctoral research fellows within a research environment. It
provides for the salary of the Fellow, who can be appointed on a salary of between £27,500 and £46,000 prorata according to their experience, and associated costs. Fellowships can be held for either 2 or 3 years full
time, or for five years at either 0.4 or 0.6 FTE. Up to £40,000 full economic costing may also be requested to
support project costs essential for carrying out the research of the Fellowship.
The next closing date for the receipt of proposals is 4pm on Thursday 24 September 2009.
http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/FCPA.aspx
Science and Heritage Postdoctoral Fellowships
The Science and Heritage Postdoctoral Fellowships are designed to support outstanding early career
researchers to carry out research and so establish an independent research career in heritage science.
The duration of the Fellowship is equivalent to 3 years full-time and they are open to researchers with no more
than 5 years post-doctoral or equivalent experience. The funding will cover Fellow’s salary and a small
amount of travel and subsistence, equipment and consumables. The next deadline is 4pm Thursday 10th
September 2009.
http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Pages/Fellowshipspdsciher.aspx
British Academy
Postdoctoral Fellowships:
This scheme is designed to enable outstanding early career researchers to strengthen their experience of
research and teaching in a university environment, which will develop their curriculum vitae and improve their
prospects of obtaining permanent lecturing posts by the end of the Fellowship. Applicants are expected to be
at an early stage of their academic career.
Awards, tenable for three years (not renewable),are offered under the Full Economic Costing regime. Directly
incurred salary costs on host institution’s local pay scale, commensurate with equivalent appointments offering
similar duties and responsibilities within the host institution’s own internal pay framework; plus limited research
expenses; directly allocated costs, including mentor’s time, and estates, and indirect costs.
http://www.britac.ac.uk/funding/guide/pdfells.cfm
EPSRC
Postdoctoral Fellowships
EPSRC is offering Postdoctoral Fellowships in theoretical physics, theoretical computer sciences,
mathematical sciences and cross-disciplinary interfaces to enable the most talented new researchers to
establish an independent research career, shortly or immediately after completing a PhD.
The awards are for a period of up to three years and cover the salary costs of the Fellow, incidental
equipment, travel and subsistence. Candidates are encouraged to gain a wider research experience by
changing host organisations and to clearly demonstrate their ability to operate as independent researchers
Next closing Date: 4pm Wednesday 26 August 2009
http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/CallsForProposals/pdfcall2009.htm
Career Acceleration Fellowships
Career Acceleration Fellowships provide support for talented researchers at an early stage of their career. Up
to five years funding is available, and there is an annual call for proposals. Career Acceleration Fellowships
are offered across the whole of the EPSRC remit. To be eligible for a Career Acceleration Fellowship you
should not hold or have held a permanent academic post, or have received, before the start date of the award,
the promise of a permanent academic post. You should have between 3 and 10 years postdoctoral research
and/or relevant industrial experience by the start date of the fellowship. The Career Acceleration Fellowship
call for 2009/2010 will close on 29 September 2009.
http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/ResearchFunding/Opportunities/Fellowships/CAF.htm
ESRC
Postdoctoral Fellowships
ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowships provide a career development opportunity for those at a relatively early stage
of their academic career who can demonstrate great potential in social science research. The awards provide
funding for one year full time, or up to two years part time, to give fellows time to gear up for a successful
academic career. The scheme is also open to those returning to research following a career break. Applicants
should have no more than three years' active postdoctoral experience when they take up the award.
ESRC currently expects to support up to 85 Postdoctoral Fellowships each year. Applications may be made
throughout the year.
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/opportunities/earlycareer/postdocfellowships/index.aspx
International Training and Networking Opportunities
This new scheme, launched in 2009, is targeted at early career researchers, including doctoral students and
researchers within five years of completing their PhD. Participation is not limited to ESRC funded research
students or early career researchers and may include non-ESRC funded students and researchers in the
social sciences whether full-time or part-time. It is expected that proposed activities will fall into one or more of
the following strands:
 The provision of international workshops, summer schools or other events that stimulate networking
around shared research or methodological agendas;
 Short-term mobility opportunities to enable groups of UK based early career researchers to participate in
an international event or to benefit from specialist advanced methodological training only available outside
of the UK;
 The establishment of new virtual networking opportunities.
Applications can be made for up to £40,000 at 100% full economic costs (FEC) of which ESRC will meet 80%.
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/opportunities/postgraduate/fundingopportunities/International_Training
.aspx
First Grants scheme
The First Grants scheme aims to assist new researchers and academics at the start of their careers gain
experience of managing and leading research projects.
The scheme is open to all staff of all recognised Research Organisations (ROs), who have not previously
been Principal Investigators (PIs) on Research Council awards, other than holders of Post-Doctoral
Fellowships, which are training awards, and holders of seminar awards. Applicants should normally be within
six years of the completion of their PhD or equivalent professional standing.
The scheme is designed to allow newer researchers to gain experience of research leadership and
management and to formulate their research careers, and it is expected that applicants should dedicate no
more than 40 per cent of their time to conducting their own research programme (or part-time
equivalent).Applications may be up to three years in length, and up to £400,000 at 100% FEC.
The call is usually in October, when further details are available under Current Funding Opportunities, with a
closing date of January.
http://www.esrc.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/opportunities/current_funding_opportunities/research/AnnualComps.a
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FP7
Marie Curie Initial Training Networks
Marie Curie Initial Training Networks offer early-stage researchers the opportunity to improve their research
skills, join established research teams and enhance their career prospects. Usually, at least three participants
join together to propose a coherent programme for an ITN. The participants can be universities, research
centres or companies (large or small). Funding can cover:
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Recruitment of researchers who are in the first five years of their career for initial training – for
instance, they may be studying for a research-level degree (PhD or equivalent) or be doing initial postdoctoral research.
Recruitment of a limited number of experienced "visiting" researchers of outstanding stature in
international training and collaborative research, so that they can strengthen knowledge transfer. Such
researchers should be exceptional and duly justified in the context of the training programme.
Networking activities, workshops or conferences that involve research staff from the participating
research establishments and external researchers.
Training will be primarily through research on individual projects, complemented by substantial training
modules in other relevant skills and competences. Successful proposals are funded for up to 4 years. Support
provided by the networks to individual researchers may be from 3 to 36 months for early stage researchers or
up to a maximum of 24 months for experienced researchers.
http://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/people/initial-training_en.html
MRC/ESRC/NIHR
Early Career Postdoctoral Fellowships in Economics of Health
The ESRC/MRC/NIHR fellowship is a personal award aiming to provide an opportunity for successful
applicants to pursue a career in health economics. The fellowship provides early-career support to help
individuals begin to establish a track record in the field and to undertake further training. Its aim is to:
 Produce publications arising from the Fellow’s PhD
 Disseminate research findings and evidence their application to the research agenda in health economics
 Undertake additional training and gain further research related skills
The competition is open to any field within health economics but would include those who have undertaken
research in areas such as economic evaluation, micro econometric analysis of health production and health
inequalities, incentives in health care, the health workforce the development of priority setting frameworks as
well as methodological work in quantitative and qualitative methods.
At the time of application candidates must either have a PhD/DPhil or expect to do so by the time of take-up of
the award, and must not have more than three years (full-time equivalent) post-doctoral experience.
Next closing date 25 September 2009
http://www.mrc.ac.uk/Fundingopportunities/Fellowships/Earlycareerpostdoctoral/index.htm
NERC
Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
The Natural Environment Research Council Fellowship scheme provides opportunities for outstanding
environmental scientists to devote their time to research, to develop their research careers and to produce
work of international importance. Early career development awards of up to three years provide postdoctoral
experience and support outstanding environmental scientists as they become independent investigators.
Around thirty fellowships in total are available to start around October 2010. The next closing date is 3
November 2009 at 16:00.
http://www.nerc.ac.uk/funding/available/fellowships/
Leverhulme Trust
Early Career Fellowships
Early Career Fellowships aim to provide career development opportunities for those who are at a relatively
early stage of their academic careers but with a proven record of research. It is anticipated that a Fellowship
will lead to a more permanent academic position. Applications are welcomed in any discipline. Fellowships
can be held at universities or at other institutions of higher education in the UK.
Applicants may not currently hold, or have already held, a full-time established academic position in a UK
university or comparable institution in the UK and should normally be under age 35 and hold an awarded
doctorate or have equivalent research experience at the time of taking up the award.
Fellowships are normally tenable for either two or three years on a full-time basis, but applications to hold the
award part-time over a proportionately longer period will be considered if this is appropriate for the nature of
the research proposed and the career development of the individual. The Trust will contribute 50% of each
Fellow's total salary costs up to a maximum of £23,000 per annum and the balance is to be paid by the host
institution.
Application materials for the 2010 competition will be available on
http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/grants_awards/grants/early_career_fellowships/ from 1 January 2010. In the
meantime, please download the Scheme Leaflet and Help Notes 2009 for further information.
Royal Society/JSPS
JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
The Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Postdoctoral Fellowship Program for Foreign
Researchers provides opportunities to young postdoctoral researchers from other countries to conduct, under
the guidance of their hosts, cooperative research with leading research groups in universities and other
Japanese institutions. The program aims to help such researchers advance their own research while
contributing to the advancement of research in Japan and the counterpart countries. The research undertaken
must be on a subject within the natural sciences, including: physics, chemistry, mathematics, computer
science, engineering science, agricultural and medical research (non-clinical only). Applicants must hold a
doctorate when the Fellowship goes into effect, which must have been received within six years prior to 1 April
2009. Applicants must be UK nationals or permanent residents at the time of application. JSPS will provide
funding for visits of between 12 months minimum and up to 24 months maximum.
http://royalsociety.org/funding.asp?id=7068
Nuffield Foundation
New Career Development Scheme
This scheme is currently under review and there will be no call in 2009. A revised scheme will be announced
in 2010.
http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/go/grants/ncdf/page_127.html
Getty Center: Pre- and Postdoctoral Fellowships
Predoctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships provide support for emerging scholars to complete work on projects
related to the Getty Research Institute's annual theme. Recipients are in residence at the Getty Research
Institute, where they pursue research to complete their dissertations or to expand them for publication.
Fellows make use of the Getty collections, join in a weekly meeting devoted to the annual theme, and
participate in the intellectual life of the Getty.
Please note that the next application deadline will be 1 November 2009. Detailed guidelines and application
instructions for 2010-2011 fellowships will be available in August 2009. The Scholar Year Theme for 20102011 is The Display of Art
Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art: Postdoctoral Fellowships
The Paul Mellon Centre offers a variety of fellowships and grants to support scholarship in the field of British
art and architectural history (not contemporary fine arts) and to disseminate knowledge through publications,
exhibitions and education. Postdoctoral Fellowships are offered to enable the Fellow to transform doctoral
research in the field of British art or architectural history into publishable form, such as a book, series of
articles or exhibition catalogue. Alternatively, the fellowship may support new research arising out of a
successfully submitted doctoral dissertation where that research may lead readily to publication.
All applicants must have had their doctoral theses successfully examined, normally within the past four years,
or be able to demonstrate that the final examination will be completed by 30 June. Fellowships are usually
awarded for a period of six months. Application deadline: 15 January annually.
http://www.getty.edu/foundation/funding/residential/getty_pre_postdoctoral_fellowships.html
July2009