Research and Innovation Services (RIS) is launching a 10-month Fellowship Academy to enhance the support for excellent researchers at the University of Bath with the potential to become world-leading academics. The academy has been developed to support individuals who will be ready to apply for a fellowship within one year of Fellowship Academy completion, in 2024.

The aims of the programme are:

• identifying and develop talented early career researchers that are the future academic leaders at the University of Bath
• creating a cohort of researchers that support each other
• enabling participants to benchmark their performance, career progression and skills
• supporting researchers in creating their research vision and working towards a future fellowship application to be hosted at the University of Bath

Please note, this academy is not appropriate for individuals who are in the process of applying for a fellowship. Please contact your relevant Research Development Manager for support.

Eligibility

This academy is open to early-career researchers (ECRs), research technical professionals (RTPs) and research software engineers (RSEs) who wish to apply for a fellowship to be hosted at the University of Bath within one year of Fellowship Academy completion, in 2024.

To be selected for this programme, ECRs, RTPs, and RSEs must demonstrate:

• they have an excellent, high-impact research idea that is suitable to be developed into a fellowship proposal
• they are on the cusp of research independence and ready to establish their own research programme/group
• Applicants should not hold or have held an equivalent competitive fellowship (excluding postdoctoral fellowships)
• Applicants who are on fixed-term contracts should be employed at Bath until at least April 2024*, or until their chosen fellowship award date

*Please contact your faculty/school contact if you have any queries regarding this

Please note, there are no restrictions on years since PhD completion and career breaks will be taken into account on any applications. However, we expect candidates to ensure their own eligibility for their preferred funding scheme.

Timetable and session themes

Dates and times to be confirmed. Sessions will be 1.5–2 hours in length. We aim to run all sessions in person, where guidelines and policies allow.

• W/c 5 December 2022: Academy cohort welcome
• W/c 9 January 2023: Programme introduction and buddy pairing
• W/c 6 February 2023: Am I ready to apply for a fellowship?
• W/c 13 March 2023: Why choose a fellowship and which one is for me?
• W/c 17 April 2023: Developing your research idea
• W/c 15 May 2023: How to write a competitive fellowship application
• W/c 19 June 2023: Creating leadership and career development plans
• W/c 10 July 2023: Narrative CV writing sprint
• W/c 7 August 2023: What are reviewers looking for?
• W/c 11 September 2023: Mock interview panel

Selection process

An internal selection process will be held within each Faculty/School. Please contact the relevant person for further details.