1. AHRC Fellowships Scheme
Katherine Warren
Strategy and Development Manager
8 November 2012

2. Changes to the Fellowships scheme
• Revised in line with AHRC’s Delivery Plan to
enhance the development of research leadership
• More flexible in the range of activities supported
and length of award
• Research excellence remains the core
requirement
• AHRC to work in partnership with researchers
and their Research Organisations to develop
leadership capacity and capabilities
• Move away from ‘completion’ – projects at an
earlier stage of development which will lead to
substantial outputs

3. Changes to the Fellowships scheme
• Move to longer and larger awards
• Minimum duration of 6 months
• Maximum duration of 18 months for
standard route and 24 months for early
career
• Full economic cost of between £50,000
and £250,000
• Annual budget remains at £8m but fewer,
more prestigious awards will be made

4. Aims of the Scheme
• To provide time for focussed individual research
as well as collaborative activities
• To support research projects which have the
potential to generate a transformative impact on
their subject area and beyond and/or are of
exceptional intellectual scope and importance
• To develop capacity for research leadership
• To sustain and enhance research capacity on
areas which may be under-supported
• To support AHRC in delivering its strategic
priorities and national capability needs

5. Additional aims for early career route
• To develop the experience and capabilities of early
career researchers in a crucial phase of their
careers as they establish themselves and develop
beyond doctoral and immediate post-doctoral
work
• To enable the production of high quality
innovative research that moves significantly
beyond doctoral projects
• To provide opportunities to develop research
management skills, including – where appropriate
people management through supervision of a
Research Assistant

6. Eligibility for the early career route
• At the point of application, applicants must be:
• within eight years of the award of their PhD or
equivalent professional training
• OR within six years of their first academic
appointment
• In addition, they must have at least two years of
post-doctoral experience in an academic/research
environment or an equivalent level of
professional/practice experience
• These durations should exclude any period of
career break (e.g. maternity leave, sick leave)
• They must have an existing contract with the HEI

7. Time Commitment
• Fellows can commit 100% of their time to a
Fellowship for a maximum of 12 months
• Awards over 12 months in duration must include a
part-time element, during which the Fellow should
be actively engaged with the research culture of
the HEI (e.g. teaching, admin, research)
• Time commitment may vary over the duration of
the award, but the minimum average over the
lifetime of the award must be at least 50% of their
normal contracted hours
• During periods of 100% commitment, no other
activities are permitted with the exception of
some post-graduate supervision

8. Collaboration
• Proposal must outline both the individual research
to be undertaken and the collaborative activities
that will help to develop research leadership
• For example:
• research networking or similar activities
• knowledge exchange activities
• public engagement activities
• interdisciplinary engagement
• shadowing, placement or visiting roles
• supervision of a Research Assistant
• producing collaborative outputs

9. Leadership activities
• Developing research leadership a key element of the
scheme, a compelling case should be made
• Leadership role should be commensurate with career
stage but reflect on development opportunity
• Some examples include:
• providing intellectual leadership
• shaping research agendas
• developing emerging areas, methods,
approaches
• interdisciplinary collaboration
• encouraging new partnerships, including
international and non-academic

10. Research Organisation commitment
• RO needs to demonstrate that it has been highly
selective in the applications submitted
• Provide evidence of commitment to career
development before, during and after the
Fellowship
• Strong institutional support an important criterion
• Head of Department statement required
• Mentor statement for early career applicants

11. Assessment and Peer Review process
• Proposals can be submitted at any time
• Assessment process should take about 30 weeks
• Start date should be no earlier than 9 months
after submission and no later than 18 months
• Proposals will be assessed by 3 peer reviewers
• PI Response stage
• Introduction of a single moderating panel which
will look at proposals across all subject areas
• At least 4 meetings a year

12. Additional information
• AHRC will continue to use highlight notices to
encourage applications in areas of strategic
importance, national capability or emerging
priorities
• Fellows expected to work more closely with AHRC,
by attending events for Fellows, participating in
training and development activities, contributing
to peer review etc
• Two pilot leadership training courses have taken
place. Will be offering training to all ECRs
• Do not propose to impose limits on the number of
proposals submitted by HEIs but will keep this
under review

13. Additional information
• Number of applications has been lower than
expected
• Interested to hear from HEIs about:
• the internal selection processes that
have been put in place
• what proportion of proposals are being
approved for submission to AHRC
• how leadership is being approached
• what plans are being put in place to
support the career development of
fellows

14. Any questions or
comments?