ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowships 2023

Overview

The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is pleased to announce the sixth call for applications to its Postdoctoral Fellowship (PDF) scheme, which will open on 1st November 2022. The scheme is aimed at providing a career development opportunity for those in the immediately postdoctoral stage of their career, to provide the opportunity to consolidate their PhD through developing publications, their networks, and their research and professional skills. The PDF call forms part of ESRC’s strategy to support early career researchers and will be delivered through our national network of Doctoral Training Partnerships (DTPs) which encompasses 73 research organisations across the UK.

The grants provide funding for up to one year full-time, or up to two years part-time* to give fellows time to prepare for a successful career in research either within or beyond academia. A limited amount of teaching will contribute to the professional development of the fellow and therefore grant holders can set aside up to six hours per week (pro rata) to teaching-related duties during the fellowship, including training and class preparation time.

The fellows must be located on an accredited DTP pathway. Through being embedded within a high-quality environment for research and training, the fellows will have the opportunity to undertake a varied programme of activities supporting their continued development for careers both within and outside of academia. The Midlands Graduate School Doctoral Training Partnership is one of the DTPs participating in this round and is now inviting applications for ESRC funded PDFs to be based at one of its partner institutions (including here at the University of Nottingham). We therefore encourage proposed mentors here at Nottingham to identify eligible applicants for this scheme. Applicants and their mentors at Nottingham will be expected to be aligned to one of the Nottingham Midlands Graduate School Training Pathways.  Each pathway has an academic contact who can provide further support in terms of the content and remit of pathways. A list of pathways and pathway contacts can be found here. 

*Part-time grants are intended for applicants whose normal working hours are part-time and not for applicants who wish to hold the fellowship and continue other employment. The exception to this is applicants whose PhD was necessarily undertaken on a part-time basis alongside permanent part-time employment . Applicants in this position can continue to hold their part-time employment alongside the fellowship but all other fellows must spend 100% of their working time (whether full-time or part-time) on the fellowship and cannot take any secondary paid employment during the course of the grant.

Eligibility

In summary, to be eligible to apply to the University of Nottingham, applicants must:

• Have completed their PhD at a research organisation (RO) that is part of a DTP or CDT
• Be aligned to a pathway offered by the University of Nottingham (please see here for the pathways offered)
• Have been awarded a PhD or have passed their viva voce with minor amendments by the application deadline of 23rd March 2023 and have been awarded their PhD by the fellowship start date of 1st October 2023 
• Have no more than 12 months active postdoctoral experience since passing their viva voce (allowing for career breaks) by 23rd March 2023*
• Have a mentor based at the University of Nottingham. The mentor should have experience and a strong interest in the applicant’s field of research but should not normally be the applicant’s PhD supervisor.

Permanent members of staff in an academic position with a research component are not eligible for this scheme.

*If a candidate has previously been employed on a part-time basis, that employment can be calculated on a pro-rata basis.

We ask that all applicants ensure their eligibility to the scheme.  Further details on eligibility can be found in the call specification: https://www.ukri.org/opportunity/esrc-postdoctoral-fellowships/

School of Psychology Internal Process

For applicants applying to the School of Psychology at Nottingham, the following internal process of support has been put in place for this scheme: 

Further details on the call can be found via the Midlands Graduate School ESRC DTP website here.