1 BBSRC Fellowships 2009 Skills and Careers Unit

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BBSRC FellowshipsBBSRC Fellowships

20092009

Skills and Careers UnitSkills and Careers Unit

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* David Phillips Fellowship* David Phillips Fellowship

* Institute Career Path Fellowship* Institute Career Path Fellowship

BBSRC David Phillips FellowshipBBSRC David Phillips Fellowship

Prof. David Phillips – a highly distinguished biophysicistProf. David Phillips – a highly distinguished biophysicist• 11stst degree in Physics, PhD in crystallography (Cardiff) degree in Physics, PhD in crystallography (Cardiff)•Worked with Bragg, Perutz, Kendrew to determine 1Worked with Bragg, Perutz, Kendrew to determine 1stst protein protein 3D structure (myoglobin). 3D structure (myoglobin).

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BBSRC Delivery PlanBBSRC Delivery Plan

• BBSRC Delivery Plan 2008-11: “Delivering Excellence with Impact”– ‘Skills and Training’ positioned under Economic Impact

Previous (07-08) 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11

Studentships £42.0M £43.7M £47.0M £51.1M

Fellowships £5.3M £6.7M £8.9M £10.5M

• Important to thinking about the flow of skilled people into bioscience research “cradle to grave”

• Flow of people into academia and out into other sectors – thinking about the broad economic and social impact of trained people

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• Purpose:

– To support outstanding bioscientists in the early stage of their research careers who wish to establish themselves as independent researchers

• Institute Career Path Fellowship

– Same duration, terms and conditions, etc, but held at BBSRC sponsored institute in areas of strategic importance for institute skills base

– Institute guarantees permanent position subject to satisfactory progress

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• Full details available in the BBSRC Fellowships Guide:www.bbsrc.ac.uk/funding/fellowships/fellowship_handbook.pdf

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• Number and Duration

– Normally 8-10 David Phillips Fellowships awarded each year, and 2 Institute Career Path Fellowships

– 5 Year duration, with 2 year further extension for exceptional fellows

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• Science areas

– David Phillips fellowships can be an any area of BBSRC’s remit, but priority is given to those in BBSRC’s strategic priority areas; see:

www.bbsrc.ac.uk/funding/priorities.html

Research priorities:• Ageing research: lifelong health and wellbeing • Bioenergy • Global security • Living with environmental change • Nanoscience through engineering to application: bionanotechnology • Systems approach to biological research • Synthetic biology • Technology development for bioscience • Animal health • Crop science (food security)

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• Science areas

– The target areas for Institute Career Path Fellowships vary each year.

– For the 08/09 competition proposals were invited from early-career researchers wishing to be based at the Institute of Food Research (IFR) or Rothamsted Research (RRes). The applicant’s research programme had to fit with the Institute’s Strategic Plans.

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• Eligibility

– Maximum 10 years of active research in postgraduate research plus postdoctoral research employment as at 1 October.

– In addition, applicants will normally have a minimum of 3 years of active postdoctoral research experience.

– “Active” means that periods of maternity/paternity leave, or career breaks don’t count

– No restrictions on nationality

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• Salary

– No fixed maximum starting salary; it is determined in agreement with Research Organisation’s salary scales

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• Research Support Grant

– No maximum limit, but typically will be around £600k - £1m over five years

– Will cover staff post– Awarded under “full economic cost” principles– Family friendly: Fellows can go part-time, or suspend

their fellowship for maternity break.

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• 2008/09 Fellowships Competition

– David Phillips scheme: 90 Applications (61 male; 22 female; 7 not disclosed); .. DP fellowships awarded (.. male; .. female)

– ICPF: 4 applications (3 male; 1 female); 1 fellowships awarded (1 male)

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• Competition Process

– Applications considered by BBSRC’s Training Awards Committee (TAC)

– Call for applications in September; November deadline– Initial sift in December– References sought up on those that make it through

the sift– Shortlisting in March– Interviews in April– Award taken up anytime before following January

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• Assessment Criteria

1) Candidate:

– Research achievements to date;– Number and quality of publications;– Personal achievements eg. prizes, awards, honours,

presentations, student supervision, collaborations etc.

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• Assessment Criteria

2) Proposed research programme

– Relevance to BBSRC’s mission; – Scientific quality of the proposed research; – Choice of host institution; – Scientific independence.

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• Post-Award Support and Monitoring

– BBSRC Induction Seminar– Further Fellows’ workshops planned– Mentor assigned from TAC– Mentor visits the fellow at their workplace within the

first two years– Annual Reports discussed at TAC, with feedback

given to fellow– Mid-term presentation given to TAC– Biennial BBSRC Fellows Conference

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• Comments from a recent Fellow:

“I am very grateful for this opportunity; it has now put me in an almost unique position for interdisciplinary research …

The personal contacts provided by the fellowship conferences and the good work of [the BBSRC fellowships team] always gave me confidence that BBSRC was supporting me and would help if unexpected problems had arisen.”

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Challenges and Advantages of Challenges and Advantages of the Fellowship Routethe Fellowship Route

– It’s your research, you’re the boss– You need to recruit and manage the staff– Can be difficult to establish your

independence alongside colleagues you have worked as a postdoc

– From an employment perspective, you will normally be on a fixed-term contract

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Other Fellowships BBSRC contributes toOther Fellowships BBSRC contributes to

• BBSRC/RSE Enterprise Fellowships– www.bbsrc.ac.uk/business/people_information/

index.html

• Royal Society Industry Fellowships– www.royalsoc.ac.uk

• Human Frontier Science Programme– www.hfsp.org

• Daphne Jackson Fellowships– Research Council funded fellowships for returners:

www.daphnejackson.org

Documents

1 BBSRC Fellowships 2009 Skills and Careers Unit