Funding to support ambitious research and innovation across UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)’s remit. You must be an early career researcher or innovator who is either:
- looking to establish or transition to independence
- developing their own original and ambitious plans within a commercial setting
You must be based at, and have the support of, an eligible academic or non-academic institution eligible for UKRI funding.
There is no minimum or maximum project cost. UKRI will fund 80% of the full economic cost (FEC).
Your project can last for up to four years, with the option to apply to renew for a further three years.
Who can apply?
Fellowships must be held at a UK-based organisation that meets the following criteria:
- a UK-based organisation currently registered as eligible to apply for funding from UKRI
- any non-academic organisation eligible to receive subsidies from the UK government that will provide an innovation or research environment
- before applying for funding, check the Eligibility of your organisation. Academic-hosted applicants should apply via the UKRI Funding Service and non-academic hosted applicants (including Catapults) via the Innovation Funding Service
UKRI has introduced new role types for funding opportunities being run on the new Funding Service.
For full details, visit Eligibility as an individual.
Who is eligible to apply
Early career researchers and innovators who are either transitioning to or establishing independence, or developing their own original and ambitious plans within a commercial setting. There are no eligibility rules based on whether you currently hold a permanent or open-ended position or job role.
To assess and justify your suitability, go to supporting documents in the ‘Additional information’ section and read the person specification annex in the guidance document.
For applicants based in academic organisations, there is a fixed cap on the number of applicants who can apply from each institution. Full details are provided in the ‘Additional information’ section. Please ensure you notify your host organisation of your intention to apply and allow time for internal shortlisting processes.
UKRI cannot confirm eligibility prior to submission.
Who is not eligible to apply
You are not eligible to apply if:
- you have already achieved research or innovation independence (for example, by securing funding aimed at this career stage, or by already managing your own significant programme of work within a business)
- you are a senior academic or innovator
Equality, diversity and inclusion
We are committed to achieving equality of opportunity for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.
We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances.
The fellowship offers flexibility to support outstanding individuals who are:
- from diverse career backgrounds
- returning from a career break or returning to research or innovation following time in other roles
- wishing to work part-time or in job shares in order to combine the fellowship with personal responsibilities
- coming to the UK from abroad. Researchers and innovators are eligible for a Global Talent visa under the ‘exceptional promise’ category for future research leaders. They must have the support of their host organisation
For this funding opportunity, joint applications on a job-share basis are permitted. If your application is a proposed job share, please state this where relevant in your application and set out your proposed arrangements in the Applicant capability to deliver and Career development sections. Both applicants for any joint applications will be able to list themselves as the ‘fellow’. The team should choose one of the fellow’s organisations to be responsible for submitting the grant application and administering the grant should the application be successful.
Find out more about equality, diversity and inclusion at UKRI.
What we’re looking for?
Aim
This funding opportunity aims to:
- develop, retain, attract and sustain research and innovation talent in the UK
- foster new research and innovation career paths including those at the academic, business and interdisciplinary boundaries, and facilitate movement of people between sectors
- provide sustained funding and resources for the best early career researchers and innovators
- provide long-term, flexible funding to tackle difficult and novel challenges, and support adventurous, ambitious programmes
In your application, you must clearly demonstrate and articulate the following:
- what you are hoping to achieve with and how will you deliver your proposed work
- why you are the right individual to successfully deliver the proposed work
- why this fellowship is the right way to develop your career and how you will use it to benefit others
- how the host organisation will support your fellowship
- what the ethical and RRI implications and issues are relating to the proposed work
- what you will need to deliver your proposed work and how much it will cost
Scope
Applications are encouraged from the entirety of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) remit. We welcome and encourage applicants from remits including the arts, humanities and social sciences and the five critical technologies as set out in the Department for Science and Innovation’s Science and Technology Framework.
Fellowships can also lead and develop innovation. We define innovation as the practical translation of disruptive ideas into novel, relevant and valued products, services, processes, systems or business models, making them readily available to markets, government and society, creating economic or social value from ideas.
Future Leaders Fellowships (FLF)’s are personal awards to support fellows to develop as impactful and influential research or innovation leaders.
You are encouraged to think broadly about the type of activities you may pursue as part of your research or innovation objectives. This could include:
- time for work in other environments
- developing international links
- developing new skills (for example, in policy or commercialisation)
You should also consider what career development support opportunities are appropriate. This could include mentoring and professional training and development, and relevant training courses that will underpin your future career ambitions and learning. A clear programme of skills development is an essential component of this fellowship.
The fellowship may be made up of a single programme of work, or multiple consecutive or concurrent interlinked projects, led by the fellow (known as a ‘Portfolio Fellowship’).
There is flexibility to alter the programme once a project is underway to ensure you can:
- react to the changing research landscape
- capitalise on advances in understanding
- react to changing business needs
In all cases, the work must allow you to fully develop your leadership potential and result in high quality research or innovation, or both.
Duration
The duration of this award is up to seven years.
Fellowships will be funded for four years in the first instance (or equivalent length of time extended pro rata for part-time applicants), with the option to apply to renew for a further three years during the last year of the fellowship.
Time commitment
FLF awards allow fellows protected time to concentrate fully on their research, innovation, training and development and establishing an independent position by the end of the award. In most cases a fellow is expected to spend 100% of their working time on their fellowship (which includes all activities associated with the fellowship).
If you are hosted by an academic organisation, you may spend up to six hours a week (pro rata for part-time applicants) on other commitments or related activities, provided they enhance career development.
Clinically active applicants (including veterinarians) can work up to 20% of their time (on average over the lifetime of the grant) on their clinical commitments. Exceptions are made for applicants undertaking patient-oriented research as part of their fellowship, who may undertake up to 40% of their time on these duties. This is not in addition to the six hours per week.
If you hold substantial ongoing research commitments as a result of participation in other grants, you must relinquish these in order to hold a UKRI FLF award.
Awardees will have the flexibility to develop a breadth of experience and partnerships, and secure further research or innovation funding later in the award but should ensure that these other activities do not compromise their focus, or achievement of the aims of the fellowship.
What we will fund
There is no limit to the amount of funding you can request under this scheme, but requests must be appropriate to the project, and you must be able to justify the amount you need to meet the objectives of your proposal. The Future Leaders Fellowships scheme has funded fellowships from £300,000 to over £2 million, and there is no preference for lower or higher cost proposals.
The fellowship will provide salary support. This is tapered throughout the fellowship, with host organisations required to commit to funding an increasing percentage of the applicant’s salary as the fellowship progresses.
The host organisation’s support should commit to the salary of the fellow. For academic applicants, the host should confirm an open-ended UK-based independent research or innovation position to be taken up during or on the completion of the fellowship (in line with organisational employment policies and practices).
Number of applications from academic host organisations
The Future Leader Fellowship scheme is highly competitive. Increasing numbers of applications in previous rounds led to the extension of timelines and an increased peer review burden on our research and innovation community. To administrate this funding opportunity in a timely manner, the number of applications which can be submitted by each academic host organisation is capped. Read the section on application caps for academic host organisations in the ‘Additional information’ section for more information.
It is the academic host organisation’s responsibility to ensure that applicants and research support staff have adequate time to work on their full submissions.
Inclusive selection process
For round seven of the Future Leaders Fellowships scheme, host organisations were asked to provide statements describing the inclusive process they used to select their chosen candidates. These statements contributed to an external review undertaken by the Careers Research and Advisory Centre (CRAC) titled ‘Inclusive selection and support for the Future Leaders Fellowships scheme – Investigation of current practice and identification of good practice examples’.
The UKRI response to CRAC report (PDF, 201KB) includes the implementation of a pilot, where academic host organisations wishing to submit applications to round nine of the Future Leaders Fellowships scheme must complete diversity monitoring templates to provide anonymised information on the number of prospective applicants by sex and gender, ethnicity, disability, and broad disciplinary groupings.
Hosts will also be asked to highlight any updates to their inclusive selection statements.
Further details of this requirement by host organisations for round ten and questions to consider for updates to inclusive selection statements are contained within the UKRI response which can be found in the ‘Additional information’ section. Host organisations should complete the excel template and submit via email to fellows@ukri.org
Information provided will not be used in the assessment or outcome of this funding opportunity. Full proposals submitted by host organisations that have not reported on this process will be rejected prior to peer review.
Supporting skills and talent
We encourage you to follow the principles of the Concordat to Support the Career Development of Researchers and the Technician Commitment.
Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)
UKRI is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our TR&I Principles set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.
As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.
Further guidance and information about TR&I, including where you can find additional support.
Visit funding web page
(https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/future-leaders-fellowships-round-10/)
