UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships

Apply to be hosted by the University of Edinburgh. Round 10 will open on 3 February 2025. Please read this page for further information on the Future Leaders Fellowships and begin planning ahead.

The information on this page is for FLF candidates who are currently external to the University of Edinburgh and wish to apply to be hosted by the University of Edinburgh.  If you are currently a staff member at the University of Edinburgh please refer to our demand management guidance on SharePoint below:

UKRI FLF Round 10 University of Edinburgh Demand Management information (ERO Hubsite)

Call opens: 3 February 2025

Funder deadline: 18 June 2025, 16:00 UK time

Round 10 will not open until February 2025, however we  encourage you to read through the information on this page and begin planning ahead.

 

Information event : UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships - Preparing your Round 10 Application at the University of Edinburgh

19 November 2024 | 15:30 - 17:00 | Online

Aimed at those ready to apply for Round 10 Future Leaders Fellowships, this event will help you to plan the writing of your proposal and prepare for the discussion you will need to have with your host organisation about how they will support your leadership and research plans. The event will include the timeline of the University’s internal selection processes and what you need to do to make sure your application is being considered. 

Call information

This cross-UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) scheme supports early career researchers and innovators with outstanding potential in universities, UK registered businesses, and other research and user environments including Research Councils' institutes and laboratories.

The support will enable each fellow to tackle ambitious and challenging research and innovation and develop their own careers.

Fellows will benefit from:

  • A scheme that is committed to supporting excellent researchers and innovators regardless of their background. Fellowships can be held on a part-time basis for personal commitments and/or as part of a job share. 
  • Networking across their cohort of some of the UK’s most talented researchers and innovators from different disciplines and sectors, putting them at the forefront of modern, interdisciplinary research.
  • A career boost, including time and investment for training and professional development, providing a route to an open-ended contract for academically hosted fellows (in line with organisational policies and practices).

Call pre-announcement information - UKRI website

Watch UKRI YouTube playlist – Meet the Future Leaders Fellows

Internal University of Edinburgh timeline

Information Event: UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships: Preparing your Round 10 Application at the University of Edinburgh19 November 2024, 15:30 (UK Time)
Call opening date3 February, 2025
University of Edinburgh online briefing sessionMid February, 2025
Deadline for submission to School/Centre/Institute (check details of local process well in advance)Variable, up to mid March 2025
Deadline for candidates with formal nomination from School/Centre/Institute to submit for internal selection25 March 2025, 11:00 (UK Time)
College panel meetings and outcome to applicantsW/C 31 March 2025
Candidates selected by College panels submit response to feedback and video pitch 28 April 2025, 11:00 (UK Time)
UoE Panel Meeting and outcome to applicants W/C 5 May 2025 
Deadline for full proposal to be submitted by applicants for ERO review and submission 11 June 2025
Full submission to UKRI 18 June 2025, 16:30 (UK Time)

Please refer to the internal process below.

1. Secure the support of your host School or Institute

The commitment required for fellows is substantial and only applicants with the backing of a host University of Edinburgh School or Institute will be eligible for our internal selection process.

As a first step please contact your relevant University of Edinburgh School/ Institute Research Office to register your intent to apply.

Find your School or Institute Research Office

Without the confirmed support of the School Director of Research or CMVM Institute Director, you will not be eligible to submit to the Colleges’ internal selection process.

Please also complete the Notification of Intent form, which includes a link to an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion monitoring form.

*You may or may not have provided demographic data to the University of Edinburgh at another time. However, this data is limited in completeness, and things can change over time. By completing this survey, you will enable us to develop insights into how effectively our internal selection process supports our diverse research community.  Furthermore, for Round 9 we are required to report to UKRI on our findings, and so our EDI form has been changed to reflect the data we need to provide. We do request that you please take the time (it should be no more than 5 minutes) to complete the EDI form linked to the Notification of Intent submission.

Complete Notification of Intent Form (MS Form)

2. College level selection process

All applicants who secure the support of a host School/Institute should complete and submit the following to the relevant College Research Office by 25 March 2025, 11:00 am. 

  • Summary (550 words)
  • Vision and approach (4 sides A4 + diagrammatic workplan)
    • What are you hoping to achieve with and how will you deliver your proposed work?
  • Applicant capability to deliver (1650 words)
    • Why are you the right individual to successfully deliver the proposed work?
  • Career development (1000 words)
    • Why is this fellowship the right way to develop your career and how will you use it to benefit others?
  • Host organisation support (1000 words)
    • How will the host organisation support your fellowship?
  • Resources (1000 words)
    • Indicate what you will need to deliver your proposed work.   

N.B. you do not need to provide a detailed costing.

Guidance on how to complete these sections may be found on the UKRI call webpage under "How to apply" 

Pre-announcement: Future Leaders Fellowships: round 10 (UKRI Website)

College Research Office contact details for submission:

College of Arts Humanities and Social SciencesCAHSS.CRO@ed.ac.uk
College of Medicine and Veterinary MedicineCMVM.CRO@ed.ac.uk
College of Science and EngineeringCSE.CRO@ed.ac.uk

 Outcomes from the College processes will be shared by 4 April 2025 to all candidates.


The Colleges will each prioritise up to 10 applications, which will go forward to the university-level panel for the final selection. In addition to the draft application detailed above, applicants who progress to this stage will be required to submit a 5-minute video pitch and given the opportunity to provide a statement responding to any feedback from the College panel.

Details of how and when to submit the video pitch and Response to panel comments will be provided to nominated candidates.

The outcomes of the University of Edinburgh internal prioritisation process will be shared by 9 May 2025.

Following selection we offer support to prepare the selected candidates’ full application for submission allowing time for local budget approval. This includes:

  • Access to current successful Fellows at University of Edinburgh, ask them questions and learn from their experiences. 
  • Proposal support: from 9 May 2025 until full submission, candidates will work with peer reviewers, their Research Funding Specialist and local research support to develop drafts of the full application and ensure financial and support commitments are appropriately considered and justified. 

Candidates are expected to seek and allow sufficient time for academic peer review, particularly senior academic colleagues.


Full proposals should be submitted on The Funding Service (UKRI’s electronic grant submission portal) by 18 June 2025, 4pm.

Unsuccessful candidates will receive feedback that aims to help with further development of their career plans.

If you don’t already have a system login you need to create an account well ahead of the deadline. Follow the guidance on the UKRI FLF webpages.

Candidates who are not selected by the University of Edinburgh will receive feedback that aims to help with further development of their career plans. 


The College panels will consist of Directors of Research and the Dean of Research.

The University panel will consist of representatives from the College panels, former UKRI FLF panellists, Deans of Research (or representatives) from each College and chaired by the Vice-Principal Research and Enterprise.

The criteria used will be those set by UKRI for the Future Leaders Fellowship call.


Documents

We will provide template documents to support your application. This will include the scoring spreadsheets that the panel will use to assess and rank applications.

 

For queries about the University of Edinburgh internal selection process, please contact Dr Anna Anderson, Clinical Research Funding manager, Edinburgh Research Office. 


This article was published on