Early Career Fellowship Workshop Dr Guillaume De Bo Royal Society - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Early Career Fellowship Workshop Dr Guillaume De Bo Royal Society University Research Fellow 04/02/2016

Background • 10/2004-02/2009 PhD (Louvain, Belgium): Organic synthesis • 04/2009-12/2010 Postdoc (Louvain, Belgium): Polymers • 01/2011-09/2012 Postdoc (Edinburgh): Orga/Supra • 09/2012-12/2015 Project Manager (Manchester): Orga/Supra • From 2016 Royal Society University Research Fellow

Rejection: part of the process! Unsuccessful applications (06/2013-06/2015): • Lecturer : Cambridge, Sheffield, York, Bristol, Manchester , Oxford, Nottingham, Durham, Cardiff • Fellowship : EPSRC ECF 2014 (6/6/3), RSURF 2014 (2 nd round) Move on! Get feedback!

RSURF 5-year Fellowship (+3) = Salary + consumables/travel (13k y1 then 11k/y) Very competitive: 400 applicants for ~35 fellowships/all sciences Long process : ≥1 year between application and start of fellowship Three rounds: 1. General Panel 2. Expert Panel 3. Interview Application : • Research proposal (3 pages) • Scientific abstract (1800 characters) • Lay report (3500 characters) • Finances, Host institution…

RSURF application: a long process Timeline 1y before: get ready 6m-3m before: prepare your application 3m before: get admin sorted Mid-September: Application December: 1 st round results (General Panel) Feb-March: 2 nd round results (Expert panel) April: Interviews May-August: Results

Preparing the ground (1y+) • Publications : quantity/quality • Visibility : conference, review/opinion, blog… • Institution: best place to hold your fellowship? • Ideas : original, ambitious

Preparing the application (6-3m) • Research proposal (3 pages) – Short! Based on one main idea. – Ideal project: crazy but looking realistic – Different from supervisors work but you within your expertise • Scientific abstract (1800 char.) and Lay report (3500 char.): – Important to be catchy from the first sentence – Get the referee to read your proposal (400 applicants) • Finances : 11k/y: consumables, equipment, travel. • Host institution : why is it a good place for your project? • Keywords: help to chose referees. Get people to read it!

Submitting your application (3m) • Key people : get in touch with – Head of School – Head of Admin – Research support Manager/Officer • Support letters : HoS, 2 referees • Deadline : Host institution submits your application!

After submission • Submission : September • General Panel : – Scientists from various background – Look for originality, ambition – Results in December • Expert Panel : – 3 referees in your field – Results in March • Interview – 30 min – Starts with general statement – 2 panel members ask most Q, mainly about the proposal

Results • In May or later if on the reserve list • If unsuccessful : ask for feedback and try again • If successful : well done! Enjoy!

Good luck! guillaume.debo@manchester.ac.uk