Royal Society Wolfson Fellowships and Visiting Fellowships 2023 - Round 1

Please be aware that this call is being demand-managed. 

 

The University is allowed to submit a maximum of one (or exceptionally two provided we can make a strategic case) proposals to each of the Fellowship and Visiting Fellowships schemes. The school is asked to select up to one candidate in either or both categories for this round and submit an intention to nominate to College by 10am on 19 October 2022. 

Visit the funder website for further details of the schemes: 

Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship

Royal Society Wolfson Visiting Fellowship

 

Internal Process

The School needs to submit to College the name of the supported candidate/s by mid-October, this means that we should receive the required applicant details below significantly before. 

 

The Wolfson Fellowship scheme is support for an academic hire at professorial level. If you would like to propose a candidate, please get in touch with Bryne, Gabi and Research Support Team

• Bryne Ngwenya Bryne.Ngwenya@ed.ac.uk
• Gabi Hegerl  Gabi.Hegerl@ed.ac.uk
• Research Support Team researchorg.geos@ed.ac.uk

 

The Wolfson Visiting fellowships are for people to come to Edinburgh for 1 year to do some collaborative research. If you would like to nominate somebody, please get in touch Gabi Hegerl and Research Support Team

• Gabi Hegerl  Gabi.Hegerl@ed.ac.uk
• Research Support Team researchorg.geos@ed.ac.uk

 

As in previous rounds, funding is available to attract outstanding international researchers to the UK, through one of two schemes:

1. A 5-year Wolfson Fellowship award of up to £300,000 (which can cover e.g. salary enhancement of up to 20%, research expenses (@100% fEC), research assistants (@80% fEC), 4-year PhD studentships, other justified research costs), enabling UK institutions to recruit international research leaders wishing to relocate to the UK.

(Note: basic salary, pension and NI must be paid for by the host and if salary enhancement were requested this would need to be maintained beyond the award period; Visiting Fellow alumni (see 2) are eligible to apply).

2. A Visiting Fellowship award of up to £125,000 (can cover e.g. bursary for visiting fellows up to £80,000, research expenses including small equipment up to £10,000, other justified costs), providing support for an excellent international researcher to spend a sabbatical period, of 1 year full time or spread over 2 years (with normally a minimum 3 month visit period), at a host UK university to develop collaborative research links for mutual benefit.

For each, candidates should be exceptional researchers at the peak of their career or established researchers whose career is on a steep upward trajectory.  For this round, the 5-year Fellowship should commence between 1 April 2023 and 31 October 2023, whilst the Visiting Fellowship should commence between 1 April 2023 and 31 July 2023. 

 

Applicant details required:

Each application should include:

 

Applicant Career Summary

• Title of Current position
• Current Employer
• Current Department
• Current Position
• Field of Specialisation

 

Personal statement (500 words)

Detailing qualifications, research career to date and aspirations in the long term, including how this Fellowship will enable this. Please ensure that it includes information about achievements in making your research more accessible to non-specialist audiences.

 

Applicant Career History

• List of posts and dates in reverse chronological order to provide evidence of academic merit.
• Details of authors, titles and references for up to ten of the best publications in refereed journals, in reverse chronological order. These should include not only the best but also those most relevant to the application to support the case.
• Brief details of current and any relevant previous research funding and other income for research, indicating source and value (GBP, approximately) in reverse chronological order.

 

Impact of COVID-19 (500 words)

The Society appreciates that the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on researchers and their work will be varied. Please provide a summary of how the pandemic has affected your research activities. This can include but is not limited to: delays in publishing/submitting a key paper(s) (please note preprints can be included in your publications list), pause on experiments/research plans, reduced ability to work due to additional caring responsibilities.

 

Research Proposal

• Project Title (20 words).
• Proposed Start Date: The award should commence between 1^st April 2023 and 31^st October 2023 (5 year Fellowship) or 1^st April 2023 and 31^st July 2023 (Visiting Fellowship). 
• Lay Summary of proposed project (250 words). This should explain the applicant’s choice to work in this subject area and what it is about the proposed research that they find particularly exciting, interesting or important. Please also explain the potential impact or wider benefits to society of your research. Please note Royal Society Panel members place importance on this part of the application.
• Research Proposal (2000 words or 4 A4 pages (min. font size Arial 10) – 5 year Fellowship, 1000 words or 2 A4 pages (min. font size Arial 10)  – Visiting Fellowship) . You should outline the nature of your research, and explain the potential impact or wider benefits of your research. Your statement should also provide justification for the award and detail the difference securing this award would make to you and your long term research vision. This should include, but is not limited to, the following:
  • Clear specification of the context and research objectives of the proposed study.
  • Description of the methodology to be used and an indication of the milestones and timescales.

 

At this nomination stage a brief draft School statement (up to 500 words) is required which addresses:

• the need for this award, indicating what difference it would make for the nominated applicant to be recruited to/hosted by your organisation and what impact the nominated candidate will have on the host School/University and the discipline, both within the UK and beyond. (There should be a clear case as to why the Royal Society Wolfson Fellowship/Visiting Fellowship is needed by the host organisation and why they are attracted to host and UK)
• whether an offer has been made/accepted
• a statement as to how the nominated applicant’s research falls within the strategy of the School
• commitments made by the organisation to evidence the strategic importance of the research field
• list of further actions taken from the university/department in order to recruit the nominated applicant.
• detail of any other kinds of support that will be provided to the nominated candidate

 

Assessment criteria

• Applications will be assessed internally against the RS criteria:

  • The research track record of the candidate (taking into consideration any career breaks). Candidates should be exceptional researchers at the peak of their career or established researchers whose career is on a steep upward trajectory.
  • The strength of the strategic case for the nomination and fit to the institution’s scientific strategy.
  • The high quality and originality of the candidate’s proposed research vision and the contribution that the researcher can make to the furtherance of UK research in their field as well as potential benefit to the UK science base.
  • 5-Year Fellowship: The host organisation’s support commitments including support of the researcher’s longer-term and broader career development.
  • Visiting Fellowship: The mutual benefit to the host organisation and researcher, including potential to develop ongoing international collaborative links, share ideas and practice. The Panel would like to see details of the candidate’s collaborations during the visit and the benefits for the UK host institution
  • Visiting Fellowship: The host organisation’s support commitments.