Applications are now open for the RAEng/Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships 2020/2021. As academics progress through their careers from postdoctoral positions into more senior roles, their workload evolves to include more teaching and administrative responsibilities. As a result, they are left with less time to dedicate to research.
The RAEng/Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships aim to address this by allowing the academics to concentrate on full-time research and be relieved of teaching and administrative responsibilities. The purpose of the Fellowships is to cover the salary costs of a replacement academic who will take over the awardee’s teaching and administration duties for up to one year. The fellowships are funded by the kind support of The Leverhulme Trust.
Funding
- The fellowship contributes to the salary costs (including pension, NI and any pay awards) of an early-career academic who will take over non-research related activities of the awardee for the duration of the Fellowship. The salary costs will be payable at the first spinal point of lecturer pay scale at the host institution and are not calculated on the basis of full economic costs (fEC). In this round, the Academy’s contribution will be capped at a maximum of £55k per annum.
- Note: The costs submitted in the application form should be those that will apply when the Fellowship is anticipated to commence.
- An additional support fund of up to £2,500 is also available to the awardee to cover miscellaneous research costs, such as conference attendance and public engagement activities. The support fund must not be used to meet any institution overheads or indirect costs. If the support fund is requested, a full account of its use will be required at the end of the fellowship.
Eligibility
- Applicants should hold a permanent academic position at a UK University at lecturer, senior lecturer, reader level (or equivalent). Professors are not eligible to apply to this scheme;
- Applicants must be teaching an engineering discipline at undergraduate or postgraduate level;
- Applicants must be able to demonstrate a significant administrative workload, which prevents them dedicating as much time to research as they would like, and that they therefore merit being relieved of their teaching and administrative duties;
- The proposed research project can be in any engineering discipline. Engineering is defined in its broadest sense, encompassing a wide range of diverse fields, including computer science and materials.
- Awardees are required to devote all of their time to the Fellowship, as this is a full-time award.
- Applicants must demonstrate sufficient experience and academic status to merit the title Research Fellow.
- Any applications that are incomplete or do not adhere to the guidelines may be rejected.
How to Apply
The guidance notes for 2020/21 applications are available below for information – this will give some idea of what they are looking for in this round.
- Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships guidance notes
- Leverhulme Trust Research Fellowships guidance notes for reviewers
For more information, go to RAEng/Leverhulme Trust.