Imperial strives to ensure the diversity of our candidates and we reflect this ethos in the way we promote, recruit, and select people for the ICRF programme.  Diversity not only benefits Imperial but it positively helps the sector to better represent the communities that are served.  To that end, we encourage applications from people from a diverse range of backgrounds

• The ICRF scheme supports the College’s Academic Mission.  Candidates who contribute to the development of Imperial’s Academic Strategy theme areas and cross-cutting sub-themes will be prioritised for award
• Candidates should have a PhD. In exceptional cases, applicants applying to the Faculty of Engineering and Imperial College Business School are permitted to apply before the submission of the PhD, but any offer of funding will be dependent on the PhD being awarded before the start of the fellowship. For applications to the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Faculty of Medicine, a PhD must have been submitted before an application is made and the PhD must be awarded before the start of the fellowship
• Candidates should have no more than four years post-doctoral research experience in an academic environment (calculated from the PhD viva to the application deadline.  Exceptions include discipline hopping, where there must still be less than four years post-doctoral research experience in the discipline of the proposed fellowship; career breaks and career changes, where time spent out of the academic research environment will not be counted in the four years.  Exceptions based on discipline hopping will be considered on a case-by-case basis. Candidates should contact researchfellowships@imperial.ac.uk should they wish to discuss further
• There are no restrictions on nationality; however you will be required to provide evidence of your eligibility to work in the UK before commencing any fellowship offered

The following Departments are not supporting applications to the 2021 ICRF competition (for fellowships starting in 2022).  Candidates interested in applying for a fellowship to these Departments are invited to explore other opportunities.

1. Department of Chemistry
2. Department of Mathematics
3. Department of Life Sciences
4. Centre for Environmental Policy
5. Institute of Clinical Sciences
6. Department of Chemical Engineering
7. Dyson School of Design Engineering

• Fellows are provided with career development and cohort activities, and are expected to engage with these opportunities
• Where appropriate, fellows are expected to have obtained any necessary licences and regulatory approvals prior to the start of the fellowship
• Fellows are encouraged to apply for additional sources of funding to allow them to build further their research programme
• To allow fellows to focus on establishing their research, there are no obligatory teaching or administrative duties associated with these fellowships. However, if desired, such duties can be negotiated with the host department.  Fellows are advised to speak with their sponsor to discuss the value of and potential for teaching opportunities
• Fellows may co-supervise PhD student(s) while undertaking this fellowship
• Fellows may spend up to 12 months in total visiting other research institutions and/or in industry including overseas; the maximum time spent at any one institution being 6 months.  Where this is requested, evidence must be provided to reflect the partner’s willingness to host the fellow
  
• Fellowships must be based at Imperial College London at any of its campuses or at fieldwork locations
• At the end of the fellowship, fellows are expected to be able to show that they have the potential to be an independent leader in their area of research and have the skills and experience to apply for more advanced (intermediate level) funding schemes, such as the Royal Society University Research Fellowship, EPSRC Career Acceleration Fellowship and BBSRC David Phillips fellowship

• Applications must be supported by a sponsor who is a senior, permanent member of staff within the Academic and Research Family at Imperial
• Sponsors are limited to supporting a single fellowship application in each competition and may sponsor one Imperial College Research Fellow at any one time
• Applicants from Imperial are required to move from their existing sponsor/supervisor to a new sponsor for their ICRF, to increase both their independence and their breadth of experience
• Sponsors are not obliged to accept a request for support.  If they choose not to support a potential applicant it is at the sponsor’s discretion if they choose to give feedback
• Sponsors will be required to commit to and fulfil the following obligations with the support of their host Department:
  • Provide relevant equipment and laboratory space for the applicant’s research proposal and ensure that there is no additional cost burden on the College
  • Recognise that the fellowship is to promote the growth and independence of the applicant.  This includes mentorship activities and contributions to career development as well as appropriate assignation of authorship
  • Understand the funding provided to fellows does not fund the full economic cost of research, only the directly incurred costs of the research project will be provided. These are costs that are explicitly identifiable as arising from the conduct of the project, are charged at cash spend and supported by audit records
  • Ensure that, before any research funded by the fellowship commences and during the full award period, all the necessary legal and regulatory requirements in order to conduct the research are met, and all the necessary licences and approvals have been obtained
  • Undertake the statutory obligations of ending a fixed term contract which include support with redeployment or the funding of any redundancy costs
• Where an interdisciplinary project is proposed, it is possible to include additional sponsors but there is a requirement for a lead sponsor

A small number of fellowship positions are available with the following co-sponsors.  These co-sponsors may bring additional expertise, networking and outreach opportunities, as noted below.  As with Imperial sponsors, external co-sponsors are limited to supporting a single fellowship application in each competition and may co-sponsor one Imperial College Research Fellow at any one time.

The Francis Crick Institute

Candidates may apply for a fellowship that is co-sponsored by the Francis Crick Institute.  Candidates wishing to apply for a fellowship that is co-sponsored by the Francis Crick Institute will require both a Francis Crick Institute sponsor and Imperial sponsor. The co-sponsors will both need to commit to fulfil the following obligations:

• Recognise that the fellowship is to promote the growth and independence of the applicant.  This includes mentorship activities and contributions to career development as well as appropriate assignation of authorship
• Understand the funding provided to fellows does not fund the full economic cost of research, only the directly incurred costs of the research project will be covered.  These are costs that are explicitly identifiable as arising from the conduct of the project, are charged at cash spend and supported by audit records
• Provide access to relevant equipment and laboratory space as described in the application form
• Note that approval for the application must be sought from Crick Finance

For further queries, contact crick@imperial.ac.uk.

The Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre provides a tailored programme of support for the ICRFs. This includes a Welcome Dinner, Development Day, CPD Day and 2-day funders retreat. ICRFs are also provided with 1:1 support from the Head of Postdoc and Fellows Development. Other development opportunities include writers retreats, the ‘Managing your first research group’ and Leadership in research’ programmes.

Applicant briefings (optional)

The Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre will be running ICRF briefings to help candidates prepare applications. Further details are below, including a sign-up link. The PFDC will be delivering a general session, as well as a women- and a BAME-specific session. 

• ICRF Briefing – 7 July 2021, 9.30-10.30 (Sign-up for ICRF Briefing)
• ICRF Briefing (BAME) – 12 July 2021, 10.00-11.00 (Sign-up for ICRF Briefing – BAME)
• ICRF Briefing (Women) – 12 July, 14.00-15.00 (Sign-up for ICRF Briefing – Women)

Step 1:  Contact proposed sponsor and proposed host department

Candidates interested in applying are required to contact their proposed sponsor and proposed host department as early as possible, to discuss their intentions to apply and to obtain information about any additional departmental deadlines and local processes. All applications made to the ICRF scheme will require Departmental approval, and so early contact will also give Departments the opportunity to consider and prepare for providing this approval. Candidates should refer to the departmental information below (see 'Imperial Departments and key contacts) for more information.

Step 2:  Submit application

Applications must be submitted via the College’s careers website.  The following forms will be required as part of your application.  The Department approval obtained in Step 1 must be recorded on the ‘Research Proposal and Budget’ form of the application material.‌

• Applicant details (Word) (required)
• Research proposal and budget (Word) (required)
• Imperial sponsor form (Word) (required)
• Francis Crick Institute sponsor form (Word) (optional)
• How to apply guidelines (Word)

Candidates are encouraged to write in the first person and to avoid the use of gender pronouns.  Attachments uploaded as part of the application should be named in the following format ‘Applicant details_SURNAME’, ‘Imperial sponsor form_SURNAME’ etc. (rather than providing the first name, which can indicate gender).

Step 3: Confidential reference letter

• This letter is mandatory
• Each application must be supported by a confidential reference letter, usually from the applicant’s current institution.  Where the current institution is Imperial, the confidential reference letter must be provided by someone other than the proposed sponsor or proposed host Head of Department.  As this is a confidential letter, it must be submitted directly by the referee to the ICRF Office (researchfellowships@imperial.ac.uk) by Monday 23 August 2021 (11.59pm BST).  The letter will then be matched to the application by the ICRF Office
• Candidates are encouraged to share this guidance with those providing letters of support, noting in particular the recommendation to use ‘they/them’ language (rather than gender pronouns) or to refer to the candidate as ‘Dr SURNAME’ (rather than providing the first name, which can indicate gender)
• Applicants should use this section of the ‘Applicant details’ form to provide the name of the referee, to aid the ICRF Office when matching the letter and application 

The College is a proud signatory to the San-Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), which means that in hiring, promotion and research funding decisions, we evaluate applicants on the quality of their work, not the impact factor of the journal where it is published. More information is available on the research evaluation webpage.

• The ICRF scheme supports the College’s Academic Mission.  Candidates who contribute to the development of Imperial’s Academic Strategy theme areas and cross-cutting sub-themes will be prioritised for award
• Preference will be given to candidates whose career trajectory demonstrates their suitability to this scheme and who are yet to be considered independent researchers, but are on track to gain this through the support and training that this fellowship opportunity offers
• Candidates who have already demonstrated research independence, though a track-record of winning external fellowships (e.g. EPSRC Early Career Fellowship, BBSRC David Phillips fellowship) and grant funding, are not likely to be successful
• Applicants who wish to discuss their suitability to this scheme are encouraged to contact the ICRF Office for further guidance

Applications will be reviewed by a three-stage process:

Stage 1: Faculty Review Panel. Once received, applications that are eligible and complete will be reviewed by one of four Review Panels (Faculty of Engineering; Faculty of Natural Sciences; Faculty of Medicine; and the Business School) depending on the host department of the named sponsor.  Review Panels will typically include a representative from the proposed host department.  The Review Panel will select candidates for interview based on the following criteria:

1. Standing of the applicant
2. Scientific merit of the proposed research
3. Alignment to the Imperial Academic Strategy
4. Appropriateness of the sponsor and host laboratory
5. Benefit of the scheme to the candidate

Due to the expected volume of applications, Imperial is unable to provide feedback for the applications that are not selected for interview.

Stage 2: Faculty Interview Committee. Applicants who are selected by the Faculty Review Panels will be invited to present their proposal to the Faculty Interview Committee where they will be ranked in order of competitiveness.  For those applicants selected for interview, the host department representative(s) on the Faculty Interview Committee reserve the right to request up to two additional external references of their choice in support of the application. 

Stage 3: Imperial College Research Fellowship Selection Committee.  The final selection of fellows will take place at the Imperial College Research Fellowship Selection Committee based on Faculty ranking, competitiveness and availability of funds.

Consideration of the application by Imperial College London does not guarantee that support will be offered.

The timeline for the 2021 ICRF competition (for fellowship starting in 2022) is:

• Closing date for applications: Monday 23 August 2021 (11.59pm BST)
• Faculty Review Panel shortlisting: September to October 2021 
• Interviews: November 2021
• Results of Selection Committee announced: December 2021
• Start date for fellowships: between 1 August 2022 and 1 December 2022 
• It is not possible to defer offers of fellowships for future years