The aim of this scheme is to give early career scientists or engineers of exceptional promise the opportunity to conduct a research project of their own instigation. The scheme is open to applicants working in any of the physical, biological sciences or applied sciences, maths or engineering. Candidates must be in possession of a recent PhD or equivalent (with no more than 3 years postdoctoral experience when the fellowship would start the following October) or be in the final stages of their PhD studies. Extensions can be granted for exceptional circumstances (for example part time working, career breaks etc). The scheme is open to applicants of all nationalities.
Awards are for 3 years and should be held at a different institution from the one where the candidate's PhD research was undertaken. The funder appreciates that in some exceptional cases, applicants not be able to move institutions (for example for family or caring responsibilities) and exemptions can be applied for however applicants should move research groups as a minimum. Funding is for the Fellow's salary plus £10k per annum of research expenses per year. A letter of acceptance from the Head of Department, and institutional administration is required to be submitted with your application. We only support the 'employed' variety of the scheme.
Applications are made through the funder's application funder's application portal; applicants must supply two references: neither should be from the host institution, and one should be from your PhD supervisor. Further information is available on the funder's website.
Deadlines and timescales (2024)
Internal selections are now closed for the 2024 call, the next call is expected in Autumn 2024. Please email fellowships@physics.ox.ac.uk to register your interest if you'd like to be notified by email when the next round is announced. The below outlines the internal process from the 2024 call for information.
The 2024 call deadline is 12 noon 8th January 2024 for fellowships starting October 2024. Each year the Department runs an internal selection process as outlined briefly below to select candidates to support to make an application with Oxford Physics as host. The internal selection deadline is Wednesday 18th October 2023.
Interested candidates are asked to submit an expression of interest (EOI) by sending their CV, publications list and 1 page summary of their proposed research project to fellowships@physics.ox.ac.uk by the internal selection deadline of 18th October 2022.
You will require a sponsor for your application (an academic based in Oxford Physics who supports your application). Please ensure you secure an Oxford Physics sponsor prior to submitting your EOI and cc them in to your EOI submission email.
If there are extenuating circumstances you would like the panels to be aware of for the exemptions listed above (to the scheme requirements of moving institutions and no more than 3 years post PhD research experience), please let us know when you submit your EOI.
Due to the low number of awards made nationally each year by the funder we will be capping the submitted applications to 1 per sub-department, with candidates selected by internal sub-department academic panels. Following discussions with the funder we are aware that their selection for these fellowships is made by a multidisciplinary group who jointly consider the shortlist derived from expert assessment therefore please consider a multidisciplinary audience when writing your proposal. Candidates should show ‘compelling ability, research momentum and personal vision’.
Please keep these factors in mind when submitting your expression of interest.