PSGB Post-Doctoral Funding & Job Info

Details of funding bodies are given below – but check the websites for specific details of grants and fellowships.

BBSRC: Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

Polaris House
North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN2 1UH

http://www.bbsrc.ac.uk/

BBSRC funds research that is ‘aimed at increasing human understanding of how living organisms function and behave - from the level of individual molecules and cells to populations and ecological systems – and at providing knowledge that can be used to develop new technologies and products for medicine and industry, and for better management of natural resources.’ They offer David Phillips Fellowships for scientists who have demonstrated high potential during their research training and initial years of postdoctoral research (deadline end of November). They also offer Research Development Fellowships for younger members of university teaching staff who wish to devote themselves to full-time research (deadline end of November).

ESRC: Economic and Social Research Council

Polaris House
North Star Avenue
Swindon SN2 1UJ

Tel: 01793 413000
Fax: 01793 413001

http://www.esrc.ac.uk

The ESRC thematic priorities include psychology and human behaviour. They offer a Post-doctoral fellowship scheme, providing funding for post-docs for 1 year after submitting their PhD.

MRC: The Medical Research Council

20 Park Crescent,
London, W1B 1AL.

Tel: 020 7636 5422

http://www.mrc.ac.uk/

The MRC ‘aims to improve health by promoting research into all areas of medical and related science’. They offer Research Training Fellowships for post-doctoral scientists early in their career to gain specialised or further research training (with particular emphasis on clinical psychology) – these run for up to three years with the opportunity to spend up to one year in a research establishment overseas or in UK industry (deadline end of January). They also offer Career Development Awards for post-docs with more than three years experience – they run for four years, which can include up to one year in a research establishment overseas or in UK industry (deadline mid December).

The Wellcome Trust

183, Euston Road
London, NW1 2BE

Tel. 0171 611 8438

http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/

The Wellcome Trust aims 'to foster and promote research with the aim of improving human and animal health'. They offer Research Career Development Fellowships (four years) for post-docs with three to six years experience. They also offer Career Re-entry Fellowships (four years) for postdocs who have decided to recommence a scientific research career after a break of normally at least two years. They also offers Advanced Training Fellowships (up to four years) for scientists with at least 2 years post-doctoral experience to undertake training and research in another lab. For all fellowships, preliminary applications can be made at any time. The Wellcome Information Service Databases on Medicine (WISDOM) has additional info on sources of biomedical funding and job vacancies. They also offer International Research Fellowships for young UK scientists with less than three years of postdoctoral experience to undertake postdoctoral work overseas. Support is provided for up to four years, with two to three years overseas and the remaining time in the UK (deadline early July).

NERC: Natural Environment Research Council

Polaris House
North Star Avenue
Swindon, SN1 1DE

Tel. 01793 411 500

http://www.nerc.ac.uk/

NERC aims ‘to promote and support, by any means, high quality basic, strategic and applied research, survey, long-term environmental monitoring and related postgraduate training in terrestrial, marine and freshwater biology and Earth, atmospheric, hydrological, oceanographic and polar sciences and Earth observation’. The NERC Research Fellowship scheme ‘aims to support a small number of outstanding environmental scientists to establish and develop a research career’.They offer Postdoctoral Fellowships (3 years + 2 extension years) for environmental scientists early in their career and Advanced Research Fellowships (5 years) for postdocs with at least 2 years experience (deadline mid September).

The Royal Society

Carlton House,
London,

Tel. 0171 389 5561

http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk

The Royal Society offers Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowships (4 years) for postdocs with no more than four years experience and University Research Fellowships (5 years with possible extension) for research in the natural sciences. The Royal Society also run various International Exchange Programmes which support collaborative research with countries such as South Korea, Malaysia, Japan, South Africa and Brazil. They also offers small grants for travel to international conferences and for other research expenses.

Daphne Jackson Memorial Fellowships Trust

http://www.daphnejackson.org/

These fellowships (part time for two years) are aimed at scientists returning to work after a career break of at least three years.

The Guggenheim Foundation

90 Park Avenue,
New York, NY 10016.
USA.

http://www.hfg.org/

‘The Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation sponsors scholarly research on problems of violence, aggression, and dominance.’ They provide Research Grants for the direct costs of research, including fieldwork costs, the expenses of library and archive work, essential assistance, and survey, subjects, and materials costs. The applicant’s salary may also be included.

The Leverhulme Trust

1 Pemberton Row,
London EC4A 3BG

Tel: 020 7822 5220

http://www.leverhulme.org.uk

The Trust offers Early Career Fellowships (2 years) for those with a proven record of research who do not hold or have not held a full-time established academic post in a UK university or comparable institution. The scheme is based on a pound-for-pound system: the Trust pays half of the Fellow's total salary costs and the host institution (which could be abroad) pays the other half (deadlines Jan – March each year).

Fulbright Commission

Fulbright House
62 Doughty Street
London WC1N 2LS

Tel: +44 020 7404 6880

http://www.fulbright.co.uk

Awards are granted for research in the USA.

Human Frontier Science Program

http://www.hfsp.org/

‘The aim of the HFSP is to support basic research focused on complex mechanisms of living organisms; fields supported range from brain functions to biological functions at the molecular level. Particular emphasis is now placed on bringing scientists from fields such as physics, mathematics, chemistry, computer science and engineering together with biologists to open up new approaches to understanding complex biological systems.’ They offer Long-term Fellowships (3 years) for postdoctoral research in another country. Their web-site also provides a helpful links page reviewing other funding opportunities for specific countries.

Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

Jean-Paul-St. 12
D-53173 Bonn
Germany

http://www.avh.de/

‘The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation grants research fellowships and research awards to highly qualified scholars and scientists of all nationalities not resident in Germany, enabling them to undertake periods of research in Germany.’ Humboldt Research Fellowships are available for 6-12 months. Additional schemes are available for researchers of specific nationalities.

NATO Science Programme

Scientific Affairs Division
Boulevard Leopold III
B-1110 Brussels
Belgium

http://www.nato.int/science

They offer Advanced Fellowships (1 or 2 years) for postdoctoral scientists wishing to conduct independent research in NATO or partner countries. The schemes available depend upon the countries involved.

Fyssen Foundation

194, rue de Rivoli,
75001 Paris,
France.

http://www.fondation-fyssen.org

The FYSSEN FOUNDATION aims to ‘encourage all forms of scientific inquiry into cognitive mechanisms, including thought and reasoning, that underly animal and human behaviour; their biological and cultural bases, and phylogenetic and ontogenetic development’. Post-doctoral study grants are available to French nationals wanting to work abroad and to foreign scientists wanting to work in France.

JOBS

‘New Scientist’ jobs pages http://www.newscientistjobs.com/

‘Nature’ jobs pages http://www.nature.com/naturejobs/

‘Science’ jobs pages http://recruit.sciencemag.org/

Times Higher Education Supplement http://www.thes.co.uk

Jobs.ac.uk http://www.jobs.ac.uk

‘The Leading Recruitment Website for Academic and Associated Communities such as research staff in the public and private sector.’

Next Wave http://www.nextwave.org

‘Next Wave is a weekly online publication that covers scientific training, career development, and the science job market’.

Wildlife Conservation Research Unit (WildCRU) http://www.wildcru.org

Contains info about wildlife conservation as a career, info about volunteer work in the UK and overseas, and has jobs section.

Wildlife Society http://www.tws-west.org/jobs.html

USA jobs only.

Careers website at Strathclyde University http://www.careers.strath.ac.uk

Provides a useful ‘Guide to Jobsearch on the Internet’.

National Information Services and Systems http://www.niss.ac.uk/

The ‘Common Room’ gets you into links to vacancies.

Post-docs.com http://www.post-docs.com/

Database of postdocs and university positions in the USA.

Postdoctorate.net http://www.postdoctorate.net/

Provides advice on finding work in the USA and database with jobs in USA and other countries.