Independent Research Fellowships
What are Independent Research Fellowships?
Fellowships are competitively awarded grants which support talented and ambitious researchers to lead an independent programme of research, whilst also providing personal and career development. There are many schemes covering different career stages and scientific remit, but most fellowships generally fall into one of the following categories:
- Postdoctoral Training Fellowships are aimed at researchers, often within~3 years of completing their PhD, to lead their own programme of research whilst based within an academic’s group
- Career Development Fellowships support researchers who are ready to make the transition to independence. It is normally expected that a Career Development Fellow will have established themselves as a leader in their field by the end of the Fellowship period
- Fellowships for Research Leaders provide protected time for research, reducing teaching or other administrative duties, enabling the delivery of research excellence.
Fellowships are highly competitive but can provide an excellent springboard for early career researchers to develop independence and establish their own programme of research. There are many Fellowship schemes supporting research within the Life Sciences with deadlines throughout the year.
The School of Life Sciences (SLS) offers a vibrant and supportive environment within a community of world-class scientists to undertake a period of Fellowship. We welcome enquiries from talented and driven researchers who are interested in joining SLS on an independently funded fellowship.
About the School of Life Sciences
The School of Life Sciences offers an excellent and supportive environment for research scientists embarking on an independent career. In REF2021, 90% of our research was rated as 'world leading or internationally excellent'. SLS’s innovative bioscience research spans six dynamic and highly collaborative Research Clusters, underpinned by a unique combination of world-class facilities and infrastructure including a new £54.3M Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research Building (IBRB), field and glasshouse facilities, and capabilities in imaging, proteomics and genomics.
Interdisciplinary research is strongly encouraged and enabled by our links with departments across the University of Warwick, particularly in the biological, medical, and physical sciences, mathematics and engineering. The cross-university Research Centres and Global Research Priorities further promote interdisciplinarity to address the challenges that we face globally.
SLS is committed to ensuring an open, inclusive, and supportive environment where everyone can achieve their goals. The School recently renewed its Athena SWAN Silver award and has an active Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Committee focussed on improving the culture and environment in the school for everyone.
What we can offer
SLS has a long history of supporting early career Fellows, helping them all build successful independent careers.
We are committed to supporting researchers from diverse backgrounds with clear fellowship plans throughout their application. We will provide the following support to give your proposal the strongest chance of success:
- Identifying appropriate funding schemes
- Provide advice on your CV, highlighting areas of strength and discussing how to improve other areas;
- Arrange a visit to SLS to present your plans, meet our academics and technical specialists, and have a tour of our facilities.
- Provide links to current and previous Fellowship holders, where possible
- Prepare critical and constructive feedback on your Fellowship application(s).
Applying for Independent Research Fellowships with SLS
If you are considering applying for an Independent Research Fellowship at Warwick, we first encourage you to contact individual staff members whose research area most closely matches yours and start a conversation about how your research interests complement Warwick's areas of strength.
2024 Deadlines
1. Expression of Interest
If you are interested in joining SLS on an independently funded fellowship, please submit an Expression of Interest and CV, using the following templates to
2. Supporting the Proposal development
Expressions of Interest will be reviewed using the following assessment criteria to make a decision on whether we can support your Fellowship application at this time.
- Research and Innovation Excellence
- Plans for the Fellow's Career Development
- Suitability of the research environment to the Fellow and research plans
Fellows will be supported throughout the development of their application(s):
- Dedicated Research Officer in R&IS to support the costings and approval process
- Support from technology managers to discuss any equipment access needs
- Internal review panel to provide feedback on your application.
2025 Deadlines
For Fellowship deadlines in 2025, the School of Life Sciences and Warwick Medical School (WMS) are introducing a Joint Review and Selection Process to identify suitable prospective Fellows and provide support in planning and preparing their application(s).
This will run twice a year in the Spring and Autumn to capture Fellowship deadlines due over the following 6 months.
Please be aware that some Fellowship schemes will be subject to additional insitutional selection processes depending on the requirements of the funder/scheme, e.g. UKRI Future Leader Fellowships.
More information on the Process can be found on the SLS-WMS Process for applying for Independent Research Fellowships page
Some final advice for planning a Fellowship Proposal
Fellowship schemes are highly competititve, but when planning your application we would encourage you to consider the following questions to help you plan a well-rounded proposal:
- What is your defined biological question and/or hypothesis based approach?
- What is the novelty, timeliness and expected impact of your proposed research?
- What is your unique selling point, perspective or approach?
- Do you have freedom to pursue this line of research? (e.g. agreement with a former supervisor and their support)
- How does the project proposal fit strategically with the School of Life Sciences?
- Have you identified a suitable supervisor, mentor or collaborators in SLS?
- Will your application benefit from any infrastructure or facilities available in SLS or Warwick?
- Does your CV demonstrate that your career is on an upward trajectory and that you are ready to embark on an independent research career at this point?
- What drives you to have an independent research career and are you able to articulate that?
Additional advice and sources of information can be found on the LAMS PostDoc Society Fellowships page
Meet some of our SLS Fellows:
Dr Fabrizio Alberti
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship
Through his Fellowship, Fabrizio will develop a platform to produce high-value chemicals in mushroom-forming fungi.
Dr Amol Bhandare
Epilepsy Research UK Emerging Leader Fellow
Amol is exploring the role of microglia and astrocytes in epilepsy, which are known to be involved in memory dysfunction and sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP).Dr Erin Connelly
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship
Erin's Fellowship is an international, interdisciplinary project exploring questions of ethnopharmacology and the antimicrobial efficacy of ingredients from historical and traditional medical sources.
Dr Emily Lane-Hill
Race Against Dementia Fellow
Emily's 5 year Fellowship will investigate the role of tau, a protein known to disrupt the function of neurons in the brain in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease.
Dr Joe McKenna
BBSRC Discovery Fellow
Joe is using high-resolution microscopy to study organelle dynamics within plant cells, in particular studiying how the endoplasmic reticulum interacts with the actin cytoskeleton
Dr Marie Holt
BHF Research Fellow
Marie's research focusses on how specific brain pathways control the normal healthy response to stress as well as the damaging effects of chronic stress