Attracting your own research funding: writing & applying for fellowships

A career in research is exciting, varied and gives you the opportunity to be at the cutting edge of discovery in your chosen field, but it is a highly competitive environment and researchers from all over the world aspire to reach the top of the profession. If you are aiming for a career in research it is crucial to publish regularly, be independent and attract your own funding. You can start to do this early in your research career: if you are awarded a postdoctoral fellowship, not only will you stand out from the crowd, but you will demonstrate that you can propose innovative projects that attract research funding - this is a key requirement for a successful academic career.

How do you go about the process of applying for your own postdoctoral research fellowship? There is more to it than filling in an application form: you will have to propose and design an innovative project, identify a senior researcher to advise you and approach them about being involved in your project, convince the application reviewers that you are the right person, name referees and more. In order to be successful requires planning and preparation and you will need to use your network and be proactive.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to:

• an understanding of what steps are involved when applying for a fellowship, time frames and how to apply.

• Planned out a project and application strategy.

Presenter information:

Dr Joanna Young

Dr Joanna Young, Director of Electv, a training company specialising in workshops for researchers.

The Researcher Development Framework (RDF) attributes developed during this session are relevant to the following sub-domains:

Domain B: Personal Effectiveness

B3: Professional and Career Development

Domain C: Research Governance and Organisation        

C3: Finance, Funding and Resources       

Accessibility Adjustments and Alternative Format requests: If you require any accessibility adjustments or have any questions about this session, please contact the the Academy's RD team Researcher@liverpool.ac.uk at least 7 days before the session date so that your requirements can be referred to the facilitator(s) who will make every effort to address them where possible.

Academy Researcher Development Inclusivity Statement: The Academy is committed to providing an environment which recognises and values people's differences, capitalises on the strengths that those differences bring to the institution and supports all staff and students in maximising their potential to succeed. In line with the Academy's firm commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, we offer all postdoctoral and research-related opportunities to develop and network irrespective of a researcher’s gender, ethnicity, age, self-identification, disability, religious affiliation, or any other criteria used to separate and define.

Academy Code of Conduct: All events organised or facilitated by The Academy follow a Conduct of Conduct irrespective of the number of participants or session format. The Academy thanks all participants in advance for your cooperation to help ensure a safe and constructive environment for everybody. The Code of Conduct is available at: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/researcher/development/conduct-events/

Important: We take your privacy very seriously and will only use your email address to send you information about this session. Thereafter, we will contact you only where you have given us permission to do so. After that, you can opt-out at any time of receiving our communication by simply sending an email to researcher@liverpool.ac.uk

Stay in Touch: For the latest news and information about research staff development opportunities and resources follow @LivResearcher on Twitter and the hashtag #LivUniRD. Further details about the University of Liverpool's Researcher Development activities can be found on the Researcher Hub: https://www.liverpool.ac.uk/researcher/