This scheme is for outstanding scientists in the UK at an early stage of their career who have the potential to become leaders in their field. Applicants must not hold a permanent academic position, nor have previously held an independent research fellowship and must have between 3 and 8 years experience since your PhD at the close of the round. The scheme is open to applicants of all nationalities.

Funding is available for 8 years and includes the applicant's salary and generous funding towards research expenses (including students and PDRAs) as outlined in the funder guidance/website. Applications are submitted through the Royal Society's application portal - Flexigrant.

Deadline and timescales (2023)

Applications are now closed for 2023, the next call is expected to be held in Summer 2024. Please email fellowships@physics.ox.ac.uk to register your interest if you'd like to be notified by email when the next round is announced. The below outlines the internal process from the 2023 call for information. 

  • 5 July 2023 - Internal EOI Deadline. Send a one-page outline of the proposed research, CV and publication list to the Facilitation Team (fellowships@physics.ox.ac.uk) for Departmental approval to apply. Please cc in your Oxford Physics sponsor and let us know the name of your second reader for the proposal (a second internal academic). 
  • Mid-Late July - Results of the EOI selection announced. We support a limited number of applicants to apply through Oxford Physics and so we carry out an internal selection process by academic panels at the EOI stage. 
  • Late July - Training for successful EOI applicants. 
  • Late July - Successful EOI applicants to start application in Flexigrant. Give Research Facilitators access under the 'Research Support' role (grants@physics.ox.ac.uk). Invite the appropriate Head of Sub-Department and your referees.
  • 31 July - Send costing requests to Research Facilitators 
  • 7 August - Send first draft of your application to Research Facilitators and your sponsor and second reader.
  • 24 August - Confirm your application is complete to Research Facilitators for final checks and internal approval.
  • 31 August - Applications to be submitted to Research Services on Flexigrant.
  • 7 September, 3pm - Research Services to make final submission to Royal Society on Flexigrant. 

Guidance and useful information

Once we have selected the candidates to support, we will be able to send out our internal guidance documents and we also provide online training for this scheme.

Your application must contain a statement of support from both the Head of Department and two nominated referees. One should be someone who has worked closely with you and one should be external to your current research group. One should be from outside of your chosen host institution and should ideally be international.

Important: both referees (and the Head of Department) must sign in to Flexigrant to directly upload their statements of support, so you must make sure you've invited them from within the portal and that they are able to log in and complete the references at least a few days before the funder deadline. The portal will not allow your application to be sent through the mandatory institutional approval steps until all components are marked as complete.

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.