Nominations sought: Royal Society Faraday Discovery Fellowships

 
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Opening on 14 August 2024, The 2025  Faraday Discovery Fellowships are long-term grants from The Royal Society which are designed to support emerging researcher leaders (ie mid-career) in undertaking high-quality original research.  The deadline for applications is 3pm on 2 October 2024.  This department (and our wider Division) welcomes Royal Society Faraday Discovery Fellows: invitation from Professor James Naismith.

 

The Scheme

The Faraday Discovery Fellowships are supported by a £250M fund from the Department of Science Innovation and Technology - the grants will be large and investigator-led, each awarded to a single Principle Investigator to enable them to establish an outstanding team of researchers to address challenging research questions.

Applications from all scientific areas covered by The Royal Society remit will be welcomed.  Two examples provided by The Royal Society to help applicants are below, but they are merely examples - applications that do not fit under the headings are also very welcome:

  • Frontiers of Science: for example research into quantum, materials, earth observation, engineering biology and understanding the microbial world; and 
  • Science for Resilience and Prosperity: such as research into batteries, AI, Net-Zero, waste, future telecoms, scarce resources, protecting planetary life support systems, life in extreme environmental conditions, and science & engineering of cutting-edge technologies.

The Royal Society will assess applications in all areas of STEM purely on the basis of the track record of the candidate and the quality and vision of the proposed research.

 

Aims of the Faraday Discovery Research Fellowships:

  • Support emerging research leaders to be based in the UK - both attracting outstanding mid-career researchers from overseas and retaining outstanding researchers in the UK, as well as their groups/teams;
  • Fund high-quality original research - providing long-term funding to enable talented mid-career researchers to focus on their research vision and address the most challenging research questions (including supporting translation or commercialisation where those are part of their long-term vision for their research);
  • Develop world leading research groups/teams in the UK - providing long-term, stable levels of support to enable UK-based Principle Investigators to establish world-leading groups/teams and pursue their research; and
  • Train the next generation - supporting the development of the next generation of research leaders in their field through a programme of training and support for members of the research group (including early career researchers, PDRAs, PhD students and technicians) funded on the grants.

 

What is on offer:

Applicants can apply for up to £8M over 10 years.  if applicants require less than the maximum value, they should request only the funding required (all funding requests will need to be justified).  See the online guidance for more information:  Royal Society Grant Funding Guidance.  

 

Application and assessment process: read the online guidance.

If you have any queries about the scheme, and/or how to apply, please contact the Royal Society by email: faraday@royalsociety.org.  

 

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Diversity:

The Royal Society encourages applications from the widest range of backgrounds, perspectives and experiences.  Part-time working, sabbaticals and secondments can be accommodated.  Guidance is available for flexible working and paid leave.