Indicative timelines: You should contact us at the earliest opportunity. A common mistake is not starting to develop your proposal early enough. You want your proposal to be the best it can be and internal and external review as well as costing agreements etc. take time. As a guide, if you have an idea and are ready to dedicate yourself to writing, you would still want a minimum of 3-6 months to put a proposal together, allowing an additional month for peer-review and revisions. Some fellowship schemes also have an internal demand management process, which will extend this period of development further.
Step 1 – Initial contact
We accept enquiries about fellowship proposals from internal and external candidates all year round. In the first instance please send a short academic CV and a one page expression of interest outlining your research plans and long-term goals to the Institute which your research best aligns to. The need for any co-funding or equipment must also be stated.
Our mentors will informally advise on career stage, fellowship scheme suitability, your fit within the Faculty as well as internal deadlines. At this stage, external candidates may also be invited to come and visit us and give a research seminar.
You may also wish to update your online profiles, including Google Scholar, Publons, ORCiD, Scopus author profile, Researchgate and LinkedIn.
Step 2 – Leadership Team evaluation
The Institute Fellowship Mentors will discuss the strengths and weaknesses of candidates that are suitable for a particular scheme, and their fit within their proposed Institute and wider Faculty. They will then decide whether to support an application further. All candidates will receive written feedback about the decision.
Step 3 – Mentoring
All candidates selected to proceed with an application will be assigned a dedicated mentor with appropriate research expertise. The mentor will help the candidate develop their proposal and negotiate the administrative side of submitting a proposal. The mentor will act as the first point of contact and coordinate the peer review of drafts of the proposal. If selected for an interview, the allocated mentor will liaise with the fellowship advisors to arrange a mock interview to take place and to prepare the candidate for interview.
Step 4 – Conclusion
If the fellowship application is successful, the assigned fellowship mentor will continue to advise the candidate with respect to Liverpool, setting up their lab and establishing themselves as an independent researcher.
On arrival, fellows will also be assigned a peer mentor through Faculty early career researcher networks and a mentor through the University of Liverpool’s mentoring scheme.
If the fellowship application is unsuccessful, assigned mentors, along with the broader fellowship mentoring team, will continue to support and advise candidates on alternative options and next steps.
Back to: Faculty of Health and Life Sciences