Overview

The scheme provides the opportunity for the best early stage post-doctoral researchers from all over the world to work at UK research institutions for a period of two years.

Applicants must have a PhD by the time the grant starts, but no more than 7 years active full-time postdoctoral experience at the time of application. You must be currently working outside the UK and not hold a UK citizenship. You must be able to submit a clearly-defined and mutually-beneficial proposal agreed with a host scientist here in Oxford.


Funding is for 2 years and covers the applicant's salary, research expenses and additional costs for relocation and visa (including dependents). From the 2023 call onwards, successful applicants will be employed through their host institution via a salary (previously fellowship holders were considered visitors to the department and paid a stipend). 
Applications are submitted through the Royal Society's application portal: Flexigrant. Further information is available on the Royal Society's webpages where there is additional information for applicants from specific partner countries.

Deadlines and Timescales (2024)

Applications for the 2024 round will reopen in January 2024 with an expected deadline around March 2024. 

Internal EOI deadline - All candidates interested in applying with Oxford Physics as their host institution are required to submit an expression of interest (EOI) comprising of the following documents by 31st January 2024. EOIs should be emailed to fellowships@physics.ox.ac.uk by the above deadline. EOIs will be assessed in line with the scheme assessment criteria which can be found in section 5 of the scheme notes

  • CV (please feel free to include details of career breaks or part time working to be taken into account when assessing career stage)
  • Publications and output lists
  • 1 page summary of the proposed research project
  • Please cc in your Oxford Physics sponsor 

Your Oxford Physics academic sponsor is the host academic you will be working with and will act as the co-applicant/UK sponsor for the application. Please make sure you have contacted them to confirm their support for your application prior to submission on your EOI.

Guidance and useful info

References are required from the UK Head of Sub-Department, your UK co-applicant, your current supervisor overseas and two nominated referees. The latter should be able to comment independently and authoritatively on your application. One must be nominated by yourself, and one by the UK co-applicant. Referees should not be from the same institution as the applicant or UK co-applicant, nor should they be your former or current supervisor. All referees must be invited to the application in Flexigrant and you must make them aware that they need to log in to the system and complete the reference online. You will not be able to submit your proposal for mandatory institutional approval until all elements, including references are complete, so please make sure your referees are able to complete the reference several days ahead of the funder deadline.