Support for early career researchers

Following consultation with the community (PDF - 15kB - link opens in a new window) and advice from the Education, Training and Careers Committee, STFC is able to announce that we will be providing funding from 2011 onwards for 12 advanced fellowships; 220 students per annum on average; 5 CASE students per annum. STFC will not be supporting any postdoctoral fellowships at this time. The situation will be revisited if the funding climate changes. STFC believes this will create a viable system to ensure the vital flow of new talent into science.

We will also examine whether it is feasible in future to provide an additional year of support, immediately post-PhD to provide early career support for the most promising researchers.

STFC has also recently launched a 'Return to Research' scheme for those who have been on a career break.

The December 2009 prioritisation of the STFC Science Programme by our advisory system recommended a 25% reduction in funding for the Education and Training Programme, mirroring the overall reduction in the programme since the 2007 baseline. This was recognised to be a necessary step to balance training with the scientific programme we fund. Since that decision was announced, STFC has consulted with the Departments who hold STFC studentships and fellowships on the best way to implement this, recognising that early career researchers are essential to the future of our scientific disciplines.

In the consultation, groups were asked to advise on the balance of funding between three types of support: PhD places, postdoctoral fellowships (aimed at those in the early stages of a research career post PhD) and advanced fellowships (for researchers with more than five years post PhD, already creating a strong research record but without a permanent post).

From the responses, Departments did not favour expanding Advanced Fellowships at the expense of the other schemes and were evenly divided on how to balance Postdoctoral Fellowships against the number of PhD places provided. The consultation reported into the Education, Training and Careers Committee whose recommendation to STFC has been accepted; that preserving the number of PhD places is highest priority for ensuring the future supply of researchers.

The selected outcome is to fund

• zero postdoctoral fellowships;
• 12 advanced fellowships;
• 220 students per annum on average;
• 5 CASE students per annum.