BRIGHTEST AND BEST NEW SCIENTISTS OFFERED ‘UNPRECEDENTED’ SUPPORT
14 September 2006
The brightest and best newly qualified scientists will no longer need to wait to pursue their own programmes of research thanks to an innovative Fellowship scheme launched by the Wellcome Trust, the UK’s largest independent funder of biomedical research.
The Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowships, for candidates with no more than one year of postdoctoral research experience, will help launch the independent research careers of a select few of the UK’s very best newly qualified scientists.
“At the Wellcome Trust we are keen to identify the brightest and best upcoming researchers, and to provide them with the opportunities and resources to fulfil their potential,” says Dr Sohaila Rastan, Director of Science Funding at the Wellcome Trust. “The new postdoctoral fellowships will provide talented young scientists with unprecedented freedom at an early stage of their careers to pursue their own programmes of research, working in the best laboratories in the UK and overseas.”
In addition to the Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowships, the Wellcome Trust is also launching a number of other innovative new funding opportunities. These include a competition for the award of PhD Programmes for Clinicians, aimed at delivering world-class training for clinicians beginning a career in research. The scheme recognises the need to encourage excellent research training environments and research opportunities – basic or clinical – that will appeal to clinicians drawn from across the range of specialities.
“It is extremely encouraging that a major funder such as the Wellcome Trust is offering scientists and clinicians in the early stages of their careers the opportunity to pursue world-class research,” says Professor Peter Rigby, Chief Executive, Institute of Cancer Research. “The Trust’s new schemes should help to ensure that the UK nurtures and retains the brightest and best researchers in biomedicine.”
Other new awards include the Flexible Travel Awards, which will allow more experienced scientists to travel to the best labs in the UK and overseas. This will considerably enhance opportunities for mobility, collaboration and interdisciplinary research.
Details of the new award schemes and other funding opportunities at the Wellcome Trust can be found online.
Media Contact
Craig Brierley
Media Office
The Wellcome Trust
T: 020 7611 7329
Notes for editors
1. The Wellcome Trust is the most diverse biomedical research charity in the world, spending about £450 million every year both in the UK and internationally to support and promote research that will improve the health of humans and animals. The Trust was established under the will of Sir Henry Wellcome, and is funded from a private endowment, which is managed with long-term stability and growth in mind.
2. Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowships
At present Research Career Development Fellowships are the first career awards available from the Wellcome Trust for postdoctoral researchers in biomedical science. However, we want to help launch the independent research careers of the UK’s very best newly qualified scientists as early as possible. We are therefore introducing the Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowships. These awards will give a select few of the brightest and best unprecedented freedom at an early stage of their careers to pursue their own programmes of research, working in the best laboratories in the UK and overseas.
We expect fellows to identify and tackle an important biomedical question and, naturally, we will be expecting them to make significant contributions to the knowledge base in their chosen areas.
Candidates should have no more than 12 months’ postdoctoral experience at submission of a full application (February 2007). The competition will be run on an annual basis and preliminary application forms will be available on the Trust website from 11 September 2006 and must be returned by 20 November 2006.
3. Flexible Travel Awards
We also feel there is an unmet need for funds to allow researchers at a later stage of their careers to travel for limited periods to different labs around the UK and overseas; so in order to enhance opportunities for mobility, collaboration and interdisciplinary research, we have introduced Flexible Travel Awards.There are two types of award:
Sabbatical Awards will be available for active researchers who hold an established post at an eligible institution in the UK or Republic of Ireland to travel to other laboratories for a period of six months to one year, to enrich their research expertise and initiate new collaborations.
Fellowships will provide personal support for up to two years for researchers to obtain experience either in a new discipline or in an emerging aspect of their own field. Candidates for fellowships should have at least two years’ postdoctoral experience; clinicians should have a National Training Number and have completed a PhD.
This scheme will be run on an open rolling basis.
4. Wellcome Trust Four-Year PhD Programmes
First introduced in 1994, Wellcome Trust Four-Year PhD Programmes have established enviable reputations, providing world-class research training and mentoring to outstanding graduates in the biomedical sciences. Currently, 14 programmes operate in 11 UK institutions. We will be launching a new competition for Four-Year PhD programmes from universities and medical/veterinary schools in the UK and Republic of Ireland and, of course, existing programmes will be eligible to apply for renewal in competition with applications for new programmes.
New awards will provide up to five studentships per annum for six years, with the first intake in October 2008 (renewed programmes will be for a five-year term with the first intake in October 2009). A preliminary application must be submitted by 1 December 2006.
5. PhD Programmes for Clinicians
Wellcome Trust fellowships support many of the UK’s leading clinical scientists. Currently most Wellcome Trust supported clinicians initiate their research career with a response mode Research Training Fellowship. To complement this support, in addition to the response mode RTFs, we will be running a competition to establish new PhD programmes to deliver world-class training for clinicians beginning a career in research.
We expect these programmes, which can be based in first class basic science labs or clinical labs, to provide excellent research training environments and research opportunities – basic or clinical - that will appeal to clinicians drawn from across the range of specialities. We envisage that most applications will be from academic institutions working, where appropriate, with their clinical partners.
Awards will be for a period of five years with an annual intake of students that reflects the availability of high quality training opportunities within the proposed programme. Again, a preliminary application must be submitted by 1 December 2006.