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.
About Warwick Medical School
Warwick Medical School offers an excellent and supportive environment for research scientists embarking on an independent career.
Our researchers are responding to health challenges from basic sciences to health and social care delivery and seek to identify and answer fundamental questions on the origins, detection, prevention and treatment of human disease. Our approach prioritises cross-cutting, interdisciplinary collaboration across traditional speciality boundaries. We help shape health policy and extend our strategic working with our partner NHS Trust and health and social care partners to accelerate patient-facing research and maximise our impact on human health and wellbeing.
We are home to several internationally leading research programmes including our flagship discovery science Centre in Mechanochemical Cell Biology and clinical-facing Early Life/Reproductive Medicine. Our Clinical Trials Unit is one of the UKs largest based on NIHR awards, designing and delivering world class large scale multi centre studies to transform the lives of patients, and Warwick Evidence & Screening lead in setting national policy on how we screen and treat all UK patients.
To unlock the impact potential of WMS research through translation of research findings into practical human health benefits we recently established a Warwick Institute for Translational Medicine (warwick.ac.uk/ITM). We are developing Translational Health Missions to tackle disorders and conditions in the Health of Women, Mental Health, Infectious Disease and Musculoskeletal / Cardiac systems.
Developing the next generation of scientist, researcher and clinical academic is at the heart of our strategy: we deliver the leading MRC-funded Doctoral Training Partnership in Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research and a growing NIHR Integrated Academic Training programme. WMS 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 actively promotes a positive research culture.
What we can offer
Warwick Medical School 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 WMS 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 Warwick Medical School
Together with the School of Life Sciences, WMS runs 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 institutional 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
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.
Please contact WMSgrantssupport@warwick.ac.uk for more information
Expression of Interest
If you are interested in joining WMS on an independently funded fellowship, please submit an Expression of Interest and CV, using the following templates to Caroline.J.Watson@warwick.ac.uk
Some final advice for planning a Fellowship Proposal
Fellowship schemes are highly competitive, 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 WMS?
- Have you identified a suitable supervisor, mentor or collaborators in WMS?
- Will your application benefit from any infrastructure or facilities available in WMS 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 information can be found on the LAMS PostDoc Society Fellowships page
Meet some of our WMS Fellows:
Nicole Robb
Royal Society Dorothy Hodgson Fellowship
Through this Fellowship, Nicole aims to understand how viruses replicate to provide new targets for anti-viral drugs.
Andrew Bowman
Wellcome/Royal Society Sir Henry Dale Career Development Fellowship
Andrew is exploring how the core histones are assembled into nucleosomes to create a platform for higher order chromatin structure.
Farha Naaz
Human Frontiers Science Programme
Farha is looking at whether cargoes bind to motors of opposite polarities at the same time, and mechanical, or biochemical regulatory mechanisms trigger switching the transport direction.
Muhamed Farhan Alanie
NIHR Doctoral Fellowship
Muhamed’s Fellowship will look at the benefits and risks of using a tourniquet in shin and ankle fracture surgery.