Research Leadership Awards

Please note that this round of the scheme is now closed.

This award scheme will be run again in the future, when this happens full details will be listed on this page and will also be posted out to all UK universities. For background information on the scheme as a whole and last year's application process please see below.

The Trustees have recognised that each stage in a research career can present challenges. A major concern is the encouragement of younger researchers who are still to make the change from post-doctoral activity to that of an established faculty member. This concern has prompted such initiatives as the European Young Investigator (EURYI) awards and those of the Research Councils. The Trust has its own Early Career Fellowships for which the high level of demand has provided ample confirmation of the need for support of this kind.

A different challenge is faced by those who have already built impressive records of research achievement but whose current levels of administrative load now tends to diminish further concentrated activity. This issue has also been recognised and has prompted the Research Council Senior Fellowships and the senior fellowship schemes offered by the British academies. The Trust’s Major Research Fellowships aim similarly to assist such fully established scholars.

Since these patterns of support do already exist for these groups, attention has been directed at another group whose challenges are no less demanding but whose needs have been less recognised, namely at those who have succeeded in beginning a university career but who are then confronted with the task of building a research team of sufficient scale to tackle an identified but distinctive research objective. The view of the Trustees is that the opportunities for the demonstration of research leadership, i.e., for the direction of an active group whose research convincingly represents a changing of the traditional landscape of research disciplines, are few when seen in the context of the current research funding provision. The result is that appointees of exceptional quality are prevented from advancing their research at the pace promised by their own talents and required by the demands of international competition.

Each award will be at a level of up to £800,000 in total for up to five years of work. The intent is that the funds be used to provide each awardee with ten ‘post-doctoral assistant years’ and ten ‘research student years’ for the grant period, though other patterns would be permissible. Associated costs can form up to 25% of the award.

The criteria for selection will include:

the ability of the award to bring about a compelling change in the wider shaping of research disciplines;
the capability of the applicant as demonstrated by existing research achievement and by the statement of the forward research objectives;
the fit of the research group to the institution’s stated research ambitions and the confirmation of this fit in terms of the support provided by the host institution for the group.

In keeping with these criteria, it is anticipated that applicants will have held a university post for at least two years. Correspondingly, the need for there to be compelling change in the disciplinary landscape makes the awards unsuited to applicants who have been sufficiently long in post for the trajectory of their research contribution to have become established.

The awards:

are each for a sum of up to £800,000;
are for the provision of research assistants and research students to build a research group under the direction of the grant holder;
are for research activity over a five year period;
are offered without restriction to subject area;
will be allocated with attention to three selection criteria, namely, first the record, promise and vision of the group leader, secondly the fit of the group’s research activity to the wider planning for the institution’s future research involvement and resources, and thirdly the extent to which the work of the group can be seen to bring about a fruitful reshaping of the disciplinary landscape.

In view of the required coordination between applicant and institution, the Trust is limiting the number of applications to one from each university. A fraction of the award (up to a maximum of 25%) can be used for associated costs as defined in the Trust’s Guide for Applicants (Research Project Grants) or on the Research Project Grants page on this site. The Trust is unable to make provision for overhead expenditures.

Any enquiries relating to the awards or to the procedures involved should be directed in the first instance to Gillian Dupin.