College of Science & Engineering

Process for Postdoctoral, ECR and senior fellowship applicants

To ensure applicants receive appropriate support and to ensure the quality of Fellowship proposals all applicants must follow the process detailed below.

This information covers:

• The difference between a Fellowship proposal and a research project proposal
• The annual schedule of the main fellowship schemes – these are primarily Postdoctoral fellowships.
• The processes for Post-doctoral, ECR and senior applicants
• The template for Post-doctoral and ECR applicants
• Details of the support available for Fellowship applicants from the College of Science & Engineering

The difference between a Fellowship proposal and a Research project proposal

A Fellowship proposal should be multi-faceted. In addition to the research programme, applicants will have identified training and development needs to achieve their academic and personal goals. Fellowships are awarded based on the strength of the candidate as well as the research vision – a fellowship is an investment in the person.

A research proposal is self-contained with clearly defined objectives and outcomes.

It is expected that preparing a strong Fellowship application will take most people approximately four months, so please factor this, and any deadlines, into your planning.

No application should be submitted without input and support from both your School and from the College.

Annual schedule of the main fellowship schemes

Here you will find details of the main fellowship schemes and links to the funder webpages/guidance.

• Annual Schedule for Fellowship Opportunities
• College timeline for Leverhulme, RS URF, STFC ERF and RAEng Fellowships 2023

Postdoctoral and Early Career Fellowship approval/support process

1. Postdoctoral and Early Career Researchers interested in applying for a Fellowship must identify an experienced academic member of staff who will support you through the process of developing and submitting a fellowship application. Visit the school web pages to view the research strengths and academics working in fields relevant to the research you wish to undertake https://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/scienceengineering/
2. You must contact scieng-submit@glasgow.ac.uk to indicate that you intend to apply for a fellowship and identify the academic who will support you through the process. Please ensure that the supporting academic is copied into the email.
3. You should complete the CoSE Fellowships Template and submit to the supporting academic, with your CV*. Please provide a link to the assessment criteria for the specific scheme when submitting to your supporting academic. The detail you provide in this template will be material that you can include in your fellowship application.
4. The supporting academic will review your template and discuss your plans/vision with you. The supporting academic should consider if the application is appropriate as a fellowship application. Supporting academic can use the questions in the “Fellowship conversations” document to help consider the strength of the proposal, while reviewing against the scheme criteria.
5. If the supporting academic is content that the proposals is strong and has a high chance of success, they should complete the supporting academic statement box on the Fellowship template advising why this is a strong proposal and why they will support it.
6. Please submit your fellowship template with the supporting academic statement to scieng-submit@glasgow.ac.uk/your Research Development contact.

   Note: a) If the fellowship you’re applying for is less than 5 years the application will be sent to the school contact (as per the table below) for approval. b) If the fellowship you’re applying for is 5 years or more, the application will be sent to the school contact and the Head of School. A decision will be taken on whether you will be approved to apply for LKAS leadership funding.

7. For Fellowships of less than 5 years, the School contact should advise the Research Development Manager if the template is approved.
8. For fellowships of 5 years or more, the Head of School/School Contact should advise the Research Development Manager if the template is approved, and if the candidate is approved to apply for LKAS Leadership funding. The Head of School/School contact will also advise which of the continuation options has been agreed. For continuation options please see the LKAS terms and conditions.
9. Your research development contact will advise the outcome of the School Contact / Head of School review.

Please note that there are timelines for the main fellowship schemes: Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowships, Royal Society University Research Fellowships, RAEng Research Fellowships, STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowships

Once approved

The Research Development team will work with the applicant and their supporting academic to prepare their proposal. Postdoctoral applicants will be assigned a Project Coordinator who will work with them to develop the costing and all financial and approval aspects of the fellowship proposal. ECRs should contact their Project Coordinator as soon as they are approved to proceed.

If approved to develop a full application, applicants should aim to have their proposal reviewed by their supporting academic and at least one other academic.

If you do not know who a supporting academic could be, your Head of Research Group / Section Lead / Head of Research Division may be able to help you identify a suitable person. The second reviewer might be from outside your immediate research field to provide a different perspective. The proposal should also be reviewed by a member of the Research Development Team who will consider elements of the proposal such as Career Development, Advocacy, Narrative CV and Impact. They will also work with you to develop a letter of support. We have template letters of support for most fellowship schemes.

School contacts for Fellowship outline review and approval

Experienced researchers intending to apply for a Fellowship

It is strongly recommended that experienced researchers/Professors request feedback from colleagues before submitting a fellowship application. You should also advise the Research Development Team that you intend to apply for a fellowship. Ideally the team would be given a few weeks to be able to provide feedback.

The RD team will provide support around elements of the proposal such as Impact, Career Development, Advocacy, Narrative CV and and Responsible Innovation. They will also work with you to develop a letter of support.

Contact

Anyone with questions about the process or individual fellowships should contact the Research Development Manager by emailing scieng-submit@glasgow.ac.uk or by contacting their school RD point of contact.

* Where the external fellowship requests a Narrative CV as part of the application process, we do not expect a narrative CV to be provided with the completed template, unless you already have one prepared.

Support available from UofG / CoSE for potential fellowship candidates

• Fellowship seminars – College Research Support and Research Development run events Nov/Dec to raise awareness of opportunities, requirements and have case studies from successful fellows.
• Timeline of fellowships; deadlines for main fellowship schemes, and when to make contact to get support to apply.
• Contact the Research Development Managers at any time to discuss opportunities and requirements.
• Examples of successful proposals are provided to applicants (RAEng, URF, Leverhulme, EPSRC)
• CoSE PDRA Fellowship peer mentoring programme – runs Jan-May. This gives potential candidates the opportunity to develop a proposal and get feedback. Since 2015, of 120 participants 31 fellowships were awarded, and 28 participants have secured lectureships.
• There are hints and tips documents for applicant: for track record, for fellowship applications, for general grant writing.
• We have template letters of support for RAEng, RS URF, EPSRC, RAEng Intelligence Community fellowships, UKRI Quantum Fellowships.
• The Research Development team works with candidates providing iterative feedback on their applications.
• Embedding impact in your research proposal – focuses on EPSRC research proposals.
• Workshop on narrative CVs, and online course with tips for writing Narrative CVs.
• Embedding career development in your research proposal – crucial to Fellowship applications. Seminar delivered by Elizabeth Adams and Katrina Gardner, Careers Manager.
• If applicants are successful and invited to an interview, they will be provided with Pitch Training and mock interviews.
• Candidates applying for 3year+ fellowships can apply for Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Leadership funding which provides £100k of additional funding for the fellowship. In some instances, e.g. Leverhulme Trust Fellowships, LKAS is required as matched funding if the external fellowship isn’t fully funded/has a salary cap.
• The content for the Early Career Development Programme is available to all ECRs, PDRAs and PhDs – this covers general information on fellowships, writing proposals, planning your career, engaging with industry, with policy makers and government, Public Engagement and Impact, IP and commercialisation, Responsible Innovation… view the programme.

If you are interested in applying for a fellowship but are not ready to submit a template, please get in touch with the Research Development Team so that they can share upcoming events/workshops with you. Contact Scieng-submit@glasgow.ac.uk

Process for Postdoctoral, ECR and senior fellowship applicants

To ensure applicants receive appropriate support and to ensure the quality of Fellowship proposals all applicants must follow the process detailed below.

This information covers:

• The difference between a Fellowship proposal and a research project proposal
• The annual schedule of the main fellowship schemes – these are primarily Postdoctoral fellowships.
• The processes for Post-doctoral, ECR and senior applicants
• The template for Post-doctoral and ECR applicants
• Details of the support available for Fellowship applicants from the College of Science & Engineering

The difference between a Fellowship proposal and a Research project proposal

A Fellowship proposal should be multi-faceted. In addition to the research programme, applicants will have identified training and development needs to achieve their academic and personal goals. Fellowships are awarded based on the strength of the candidate as well as the research vision – a fellowship is an investment in the person.

A research proposal is self-contained with clearly defined objectives and outcomes.

It is expected that preparing a strong Fellowship application will take most people approximately four months, so please factor this, and any deadlines, into your planning.

No application should be submitted without input and support from both your School and from the College.

Annual schedule of the main fellowship schemes

Here you will find details of the main fellowship schemes and links to the funder webpages/guidance.

• Annual Schedule for Fellowship Opportunities
• College timeline for Leverhulme, RS URF, STFC ERF & RAEng fellowships 2023

Postdoctoral and Early Career Fellowship approval/support process

1. Postdoctoral and Early Career Researchers interested in applying for a Fellowship must identify an experienced academic member of staff who will support you through the process of developing and submitting a fellowship application.
2. You must contact scieng-submit@glasgow.ac.uk to indicate that you intend to apply for a fellowship and must must identify the academic who will support you through the process. Please ensure that the supporting academic is copied into the email.
3. You should complete the CoSE Fellowships Template and submit to the supporting academic, with your CV*. Please provide a link to the assessment criteria for the specific scheme when submitting to your supporting academic. The detail you provide in this template will be material that you can include in your fellowship application.
4. The supporting academic must review the template and discuss your plans/vision with you. The supporting academic should consider if the application is appropriate as a fellowship application. Supporting academic can use the questions in the “Fellowship conversations” document to help consider the strength of the proposal, while reviewing against the scheme criteria.
5. If the supporting academic is content that the proposals is strong and has a high chance of success, they should complete the supporting academic statement box on the Fellowship template advising why this is a strong proposal and why they will support it.
6. Please submit your fellowship template with the supporting academic statement to scieng-submit@glasgow.ac.uk/your Research Development contact.

   Note: a) If the fellowship you’re applying for is less than 5 years the application will be sent to the school contact (as per the table below) for approval. b) If the fellowship you’re applying for is 5 years or more, the application will be sent to the school contact and the Head of School. A decision will be taken on whether you will be approved to apply for LKAS leadership funding.

7. For Fellowships of less than 5 years, the School contact should advise the Research Development Manger if the template is approved.
8. For fellowships of 5 years or more, the Head of School/School Contact should advise the Research Development Manager if the template is approved, and if the candidate is approved to apply for LKAS Leadership funding. The Head of School/School contact will also advise which of the continuation options has been agreed. For continuation options please see the LKAS terms and conditions.
9. Your research development contact will advise the outcome of the School Contact / Head of School review.

Please note that there are timelines for the main fellowship schemes: Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellowships, Royal Society University Research Fellowships, RAEng Research Fellowships, STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowships

Once approved

The Research Development team will work with the applicant and their supporting academic to prepare their proposal. Postdoctoral applicants will be assigned a Project Coordinator who will work with them to develop the costing and all financial and approval aspects of the fellowship proposal. ECRs should contact their Project Coordinator as soon as they are approved to proceed.

If approved to develop a full application, applicants should aim to have their proposal reviewed by their supporting academic and at least one other academic.

If you do not know who a supporting academic could be, your Head of Research Group / Section Lead / Head of Research Division may be able to help you identify a suitable person. The second reviewer might be from outside your immediate research field to provide a different perspective. The proposal should also be reviewed by a member of the Research Development Team who will consider elements of the proposal such as Career Development, Advocacy, Narrative CV and Impact. They will also work with you to develop a letter of support. We have template letters of support for most fellowship schemes.

School contacts for Fellowship outline review and approval

Experienced researchers intending to apply for a Fellowship

It is strongly recommended that experienced researchers/Professors request feedback from colleagues before submitting a fellowship application. You should also advise the Research Development Team that you intend to apply for a fellowship. Ideally the team would be given a few weeks to be able to provide feedback.

The RD team will provide support around elements of the proposal such as Career Development, Advocacy, Narrative CV and Impact. They will also work with you to develop a letter of support.

Contact

Anyone with questions about the process or individual fellowships should contact the Research Development Manager by emailing scieng-submit@glasgow.ac.uk or by contacting their school RD point of contact.

* Where the external fellowship requests a Narrative CV as part of the application process, we do not expect a narrative CV to be provided with the completed template, unless you already have one prepared.

Support available from UofG / CoSE for potential fellowship candidates

• Fellowship seminars – College Research Support and Research Development run events Nov/Dec to raise awareness of opportunities, requirements and have case studies from successful fellows.
• Timeline of fellowships; deadlines for main fellowship schemes, and when to make contact to get support to apply.
• Contact the Research Development Managers at any time to discuss opportunities and requirements.
• Examples of successful proposals are provided to applicants (RAEng, URF, Leverhulme, EPSRC)
• CoSE PDRA Fellowship peer mentoring programme – runs Jan-May. This gives potential candidates the opportunity to develop a proposal and get feedback. Since 2015, of 120 participants 31 fellowships were awarded, and 28 participants have secured lectureships.
• There are hints and tips documents for applicant: for track record, for fellowship applications, for general grant writing.
• We have template letters of support for RAEng, RS URF, EPSRC, RAEng Intelligence Community fellowships, UKRI Quantum Fellowships.
• The Research Development team works with candidates providing iterative feedback on their applications.
• Embedding impact in your research proposal – focuses on EPSRC research proposals.
• Workshop on narrative CVs, and online course with tips for writing Narrative CVs.
• Embedding career development in your research proposal – crucial to Fellowship applications. Seminar delivered by Elizabeth Adams and Katrina Gardner, Careers Manager.
• If applicants are successful and invited to an interview, they will be provided with Pitch Training and mock interviews.
• Candidates applying for 3year+ fellowships can apply for Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Leadership funding which provides £100k of additional funding for the fellowship. In some instances, e.g. Leverhulme Trust Fellowships, LKAS is required as matched funding if the external fellowship isn’t fully funded/has a salary cap.
• The content for the Early Career Development Programme is available to all ECRs, PDRAs and PhDs – this covers general information on fellowships, writing proposals, planning your career, engaging with industry, with policy makers and government, Public Engagement and Impact, IP and commercialisation, Responsible Innovation… view the programme.

If you are interested in applying for a fellowship but are not ready to submit a template, please get in touch with the Research Development Team so that they can share upcoming events/workshops with you. Contact Scieng-submit@glasgow.ac.uk

College of Science and Engineering

Information for supporting academics - College Fellowships Process

The College of Science and Engineering expects each fellowship applicant to have a supporting academic who will ‘mentor/champion’ them through the application process.

The College application process can be found here.

If you are asked to become a supporting academic for a PDRA or ECR applying for a fellowship this document outlines what will be expected of you and provides some help to provide guidance and input to the candidate.

The aim of having a supporting academic for each candidate is to ensure the quality of each application we submit, and to provide a realistic appraisal and guidance to the candidate if there are areas they need to address before being ready for a fellowship proposal.

We need to address the number of fellowship applications coming forward that are not competitive for funding. The supporting academic has a crucial role in managing the expectations of the applicants.

The role of the supporting academic

College fellowship application process:

1. Discuss the candidate’s ideas for the fellowship and their future career plans – do these align with the fellowship scheme? a)We have created a document “Fellowship conversations” to help with this process. b) There is also a hints and tips for fellowship applications, is the candidate addressing these aspects in their plans?
2. Review their fellowship template – do you believe that their proposal has a high chance of success? a) Is the research they intend to undertake likely to be transformative? b) This is a key question, the Research Development Team, the Directors of Research can review a proposal and determine if it is well written but it is important that an academic close to the candidate’s field of research can determine if the research will be truly transformative.
3. Is the candidate a potential future research leader? a) Have they demonstrated leadership/management skills? b) This could be taking the lead on organising an event, identifying skills gaps in their CV and seeking the necessary training or experience, and would they be able to articulate their leadership potential in a candidate interview?
4. Supporting academic statement. a) Once you have discussed the candidate’s plans and reviewed and provided input to their fellowship application template – if you are supportive of their application please provide a statement of why you are supportive, focusing on the transformative nature of the planned research and the candidate’s suitability as a fellow. b) Submit the completed template to the school contact as per the college process. b) The school contact will review the template and advise if they are supportive of the candidate proceeding with the fellowship application, and an application for the Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Leadership Fellowships (University support of up to £100k for external fellowship applicants).

The full application process

If approved to proceed the candidate will be allocated a Project Coordinator (PC) and a Research Development (RD) contact will support them with costings and guidance on the process, and input to the application.

As supporting academic you should provide input on the research aspects of the proposal, and general guidance on writing funding applications. The Research Development team will contribute to ensure the career development, impact, advocacy (where relevant) aspects are addressed appropriately.

It is expected that the supporting academic, the PC and RD will work as a team to guide the candidate through the application process, ensure they meet deadlines and prepare all parts of the application.

These could be:

• Track record
• Case for Support
• Letter/statement of support (from Head of School/other)
• there are templates for these but the candidate should work on this and tailor it to their application. They should also include any support that they are getting from the school, e.g. the fact that you are working with them. They should also include the LKAS commitment and how they plan to use the Early Career Development Programme to advance their career, in addition to a more tailored career development plan integrated in to the fellowship application.
• Letters of support from external partners –
• often the applicant will have to draft templates for the partners and indicate the kind of support and the value of that support (£ either cash or in kind) to the partner to help them.
• LKAS application
• Justification of Resources
• JeS / other funder portal

Please note the support available from the College for fellowship applicants listed at the end of the College Fellowships Process.