There are a range of fellowships offered by funding bodies, charities, and institutions. See our External Fellowship Funding pages.
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships
We are currently accepting expressions of interest for Round 10 of the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships.
Future Leaders Fellowships support early career researchers and innovators with outstanding potential to lead ambitious research and innovation programmes across UKRI’s remit. Fellowships provide long-term flexible funding to tackle difficult and novel challenges and support adventurous, ambitious programmes.
More details can be found on the UKRI Website.
We are keen to attract a broad pool of potential applicants from across the University and beyond. The University can submit four applications in this round, so there will be an institutional sift process.
If you're interested in applying, please contact a School Research Director or the Faculty Associate Dean of Research (ADR) as soon as possible to check that your research aligns with its strategic aims and to access support for preparing your expression of interest (EOI).
The deadline for submitting your EOI to the Faculty ADR, Maria O'Connell, is Monday 21st March 2025 at 9am.
The Faculty of Science sift panel will assess EOIs against the selection criteria of: research & innovation excellence; applicant and their development; impact and strategic relevance of research; fit with host School’s strategy and environment. The strongest candidates will be invited to give a short online presentation on their research followed by Q&As on 1-3 April 2025. The panel will then recommend up to four preferred candidates to go through to the university sift which will take place by 14th April.
UKRI’s submission deadline is 18 June 2025.
School Research Directors:
School of Biological Sciences: Alexei Maklakov (a.maklakov@uea.ac.uk)
School of Chemistry, Pharmacy & Pharmacology: Leanne Stokes (l.stokes@uea.ac.uk)
School of Computer Sciences: Steven Hayward (steven.hayward@uea.ac.uk)
School of Engineering, Mathematics & Physics: Mark Blyth (m.blyth@uea.ac.uk)
School of Environment Sciences: Iain Lake (i.lake@uea.ac.uk)
Faculty ADR: Maria O'Connell (m.oconnell@uea.ac.uk)
NERC Independent Research Fellowship
The 2025 Application Round is now closed. Further details on future rounds will be published in due course.
The Fellowships support outstanding early career postdoctoral scientists to pursue ambitious, cutting-edge research and build a career as an independent research leader.
Fellows will join a vibrant and supportive community at UEA in which high-quality, innovative research flourishes across a broad range of Schools and strategic research themes. For more information see Science Fellowships at UEA.
Leverhulme Trust Early Career Research Fellowship
The 2025 Application Round is now closed. Further details on future rounds will be published in due course.
This scheme aims to provide career development opportunities for those who are at a relatively early stage of their academic careers, but who have a proven record of research. The expectation is that Fellows should undertake a significant piece of publishable work during their tenure, and that the Fellowships should lead to a more permanent academic position either within the same or another institution.
Applications will be considered in all subject areas with the exception of research studies of disease, illness and disabilities in humans and animals, or research that is intended to inform clinical practice or the development of medical applications.
The scheme is based on a pattern of joint support whereby the Leverhulme Trust will contribute 50% of the Fellow's total salary costs up to a maximum of £28,000 in each year of the award, and the balance is to be contributed by the host institution.
If you have a fellowship idea, please do discuss this with the Research Director in the School. They will provide further guidance on our application process.
For more information about the Fellowship scheme:
Early Career Fellowships (Leverhulme) and ECF Guidance for applicants 2025 (Leverhulme)
Information about the Faculty of Science and its constituent Schools:
Faculty of Science (uea.ac.uk)