Independent research fellows call
Career Opportunities in Life Sciences
We offer an attractive and flexible fellowship scheme for Independent Research Fellows with substantive external funding to join the Faculty of Life Sciences as Principal Investigators. For Fellows bringing in 4-5 years of external funding (on qualifying schemes), the Faculty will either fund 1 to 2 years additional support at the end of their Fellowship, or support outstanding candidates for 1-2 years before their fellowship is awarded. This scheme reflects our desire to ensure that Fellows can perform to their full potential and develop highly competitive biology research programmes. Throughout the 6-year period fellows benefit from close mentor support, with formal reviews at 3 and 5 years.
The Faculty has an enduring record of recruiting outstanding scientists to undertake fellowships in Manchester, with an excellent track record in retaining independent fellows as permanent academic members of staff. In 2011 three of the four nationally awarded BBSRC David Phillips Fellowships went to scientists in the Faculty of Life Sciences.
About the Faculty
The Faculty is the largest, and one of the most successful, unified research organisations of its kind in Europe with research spanning the entire spread of life sciences from molecules to cells to organisms and environmental sciences. RAE 2008 confirms that the Faculty is amongst the UK’s research elite in biology. The research quality of the Faculty was assessed to place us within the top two or three institutions within the UK for the Units of Assessment (UoA) to which our staff were returned (Biological Sciences, UoA14, and Preclinical & Human Biological Sciences, UoA15).
Successful candidates will be sponsored to apply for independent, externally-funded research fellowships (most of which are open to international applicants). The Faculty of Life Sciences offers an excellent research environment comprising over 200 independent group leaders housed in purpose-built laboratory and office space (most are less than 7 years old) fostering interdisciplinary collaborations. Research is facilitated by superb core facilities and services (with state-of-the-art equipment) supported by 60 Experimental Officers/technicians. New independent fellows are given lab and office space, prioritised for PhD studentships, given access to support staff and inclusion on funding bids.
To be considered for this scheme prospective fellows should send a brief curriculum vitae (indicating any previous fellowship applications) and a one page summary of their research interests to fellowships.lifesciences@manchester.ac.uk.
The next deadline for applications to this scheme is 30 March 2012. For further information or informal discussions at any time contact the specific Research Group Leader or the Fellowship Recruitment Coordinator (Professor Chris Grant).
Interested?
Other information that may be of interest can be found by clicking on the + / - to expand the boxes below.
+ / - Application process
After submission of a CV and research proposal (submission should be made to fellowships.lifesciences@manchester.ac.uk), potential candidates may be asked to submit letters of reference and may be invited to visit the Faculty to talk about their research and career plans with possible sponsors.
Once sponsorship has been agreed by the Faculty Research Team, potential fellowship candidates will receive advice for their external funding application on: suitable funding sources; effective CV content; the application process; costing the grant and core research facilities.
+ / - Mentoring for new Fellows
All research fellows in the Faculty of Life Sciences are offered the opportunity to have a dedicated mentor, who will be a more experienced member of Faculty academic staff. The mentoring programme matches new Fellows with a mentor who will: provide one-to-one advice and guidance on all aspects of academic life (for example grant writing, recruitment and supervision); act as an independent advisor to your career progression; and help with integration into the faculty and promote collaboration.
+ / - The New Academics Programme
The New Academics Programme (NAP) is an Higher Education Academy (HEA) accredited suite of training and development provided to all new fellows and academic staff. The aim of the programme is to provide key information to allow new academic staff to integrate and progress within the Faculty. The NAP sessions provide the opportunity to meet and talk with senior academic and administrative staff within the Faculty.