STFC Fellowships

Fellowship opportunities in Astronomy, Solar and Planetary Science, Particle Physics, Particle Astrophysics and Nuclear Physics

Ernest Rutherford Fellowships

*The next call will be announced in June 2012*

The Ernest Rutherford Fellowship scheme was announced on 29 March 2011. The Fellowships will enable early career researchers with clear leadership potential to establish a strong, independent research programme. They will encourage talented researchers in UK universities to remain in the country and at the same time attract outstanding overseas researchers to the UK. This new scheme replaces and builds on STFC's Advanced Fellowship programme.

Each Fellowship will last for five years, with 12 being offered annually. Fellows will receive support for their salary and be able to bid for significant additional funds to support their research. When the scheme reaches its full cohort of 60 Ernest Rutherford Fellows in 2016, the funds available for this additional research support will total £3M per year.

• View the Ernest Rutherford Fellowships guidance (PDF - 332kB - link opens in a new window)
• View the guidance on department fellowship application limits (PDF - 53kB - link opens in a new window)

Fellowship Panel

The 2011 Ernest Rutherford Fellowship Panel membership.

Funding for returners

STFC provides support for people seeking to return to careers in research in the following ways:

• Returner Fellowships. These are additional fellowships on top of the normal awards that can be awarded to outstanding candidates returning from a career break or from working outside academic research. See the Ernest Rutherford Fellowships guidance (PDF - 332kB - link opens in a new window).
• Return to Research Bursary (link opens in a new window). Up to six bursaries a year are available to support the development of a proposal suitable for submission to the STFC Fellowship scheme.
• Daphne Jackson Fellowships (link opens in a new window). These are part-time flexible fellowships awarded for up to two years.

Previous Fellowship schemes

• Advanced Fellowships (link opens in a new window) 
• Postdoctoral Fellowships (link opens in a new window) 

Contact the Fellowships Team for further information.