Details: The Science and Technology Facilities Council offer 10 Fellowships each year to early-career researchers under STFC remit (including astronomy, solar and planetary science, particle physics, particle astrophysics, cosmology, accelerator physics, and nuclear physics). A quota system applies for each university and so the department runs an annual internal selection process for this scheme. Funding is available for 5 years including applicant's salary, and limited research expenses and travel funding. From 2023 applications are submitted through the new TFS portal (rather than JeS). Further information is available on the funder's website and on the 2024 call page.
Eligibility: Applicants should hold a PhD (or significant equivalent relevant experience) and show leadership potential. Whilst there is no restriction on the number of post-PhD years of experience required to apply, applicants should refer to STFC's competency profile to determine they are at the correct career stage and bear in mind that successful applicants in previous years typically have 4 or more years of post-PhD experience at the time they would take up the fellowship (so at least 3 years at the time of the application submission). Applicants are not eligible if they hold a tenured academic position at lecturer level or equivalent and if offered an academic position prior to the offer of the fellowship, will be ineligible to take up the fellowship. Applicants can be of any nationality and the scheme is eligible for a Global Talent visa.
Additional information: STFC are supportive of fellowship holders working in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes career breaks, support for people with caring responsibilities, part-time working, flexible working arrangements and alternative working patterns. Applications are welcomed from those seeking to resume a research career, following a period of absence from active research of, normally, at least one year. The break may have been due, for example, to long term illness, injury or disability, family or caring responsibilities, parental leave, personal reasons, working in non‐academic employment etc. If this applies to you then you could consider applying for the STFC Return to research support bursary. STFC encourage applicants who have had substantive breaks from working or other factors that have affected their research output to disclose this in the Résumé for research and innovation (‘Additions’ section) of the application. Information provided will be used only to make appropriate adjustments when assessing an individual’s track record, productivity and career progression.
Oxford Physics process: Due to the STFC departmental quota, an internal selection process is in place and applicants are asked to submit an expression of interest (EOI) to be considered to apply through Oxford Physics. EOIs will be assessed based on the STFC's assessment criteria for the scheme*. For the 2024 round, the departmental limit is 8 places and 1 for applicants under John Adam's Institute remit (accelerator science).
What to do if you are interested (2024 call): Interested applicants should submit an EOI to the Research Facilitation team at fellowships@physics.ox.ac.uk by 23.59pm on 1st July 2024 to be considered to apply through Oxford Physics. Your EOI should contain a one-page outline of the proposed research, your CV and publication/other research outputs list. Please cc in your Oxford Physics sponsor (an Oxford Physics academic who supports your application). If selected to apply you will also need a second reader for your application (a second academic in the department who supports the application process in addition to your main sponsor).
The department is welcoming of EOIs from all applicants and individuals from underrepresented groups in physics are particularly encouraged to apply. Should any candidates have difficulty in securing a sponsor within the department or need further guidance on this please contact the facilitation team and we will endeavour to support you. Similarly, if there are any additional factors or circumstances that you wish to be considered during our assessment of your EOI – this might include (but is not limited to) career breaks, caring responsibilities, part-time working, disability etc – or if you are likely to need any specific support or accommodations during the application process, please communicate this to us (in confidence if required): fellowships@physics.ox.ac.uk.
Training for selected candidates: We will be holding 2 workshops to assist selected applicants with the application process and so those submitting an EOI are asked to note the below times (the content of the sessions is the same, there is only need to attend 1 session).
In person for those local to Oxford- Thursday 1st August 10am - 11.30am
Online - Friday 2nd August 3pm - 4.30pm (UK time)
Timeline (2024):
- 1st July - EOI deadline for internal selection (see above).
- Mid-Late July - Results of the EOI selection announced.
- 1st/2nd August - application workshops for selected candidates.
- 7th August - Send initial costing requests to Research Facilitators.
- 14th August - Send first draft of your application to Research Facilitators and your sponsor and second reader.
- 17 September - Confirm your application is complete to Research Facilitators for final checks and internal approval.
- 24 September - Applications to be submitted to Research Services on TFS.
- 1 October, 4pm - Research Services to make final submission to STFC on TFS.
*Assessment criteria:
- The excellence of the research achievements of the applicant
- The potential of the individual to lead their research discipline
- The capability to maximise the potential of others and the ability to be, or become, a clear communicator and disseminator of knowledge
- The excellence, timeliness, feasibility, distinctive vision and importance of the proposed research
- Strategic value within the STFC programme.
Further guidance and useful information for applicants: Once we have selected candidates to support, we will be able to send out our internal guidance documents and we also provide training for this scheme (dates above).
The interview stage is an important part of the selection process so if you are invited for interview please notify the facilitation team and your local academic contacts as soon as possible so that mock interviews can be arranged in advance of the real interview. You will likely also be sent reviewer comments to respond to 3-6 months after your application submission. Please share these with your Research Facilitator and your sponsor for their feedback on your response prior to submission.