Imperial College Research Fellowships 2025 (Funded)

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About Imperial College Research Fellowships

These fellowships are open to individuals who have recently completed their PhD and are ready to begin establishing their own independent research careers. With four years of salary support, generous research funding, and access to one of the most dynamic academic communities in the world, ICRFs are an exceptional opportunity for emerging researchers to launch high-impact careers.

Whether your work spans engineering, natural sciences, design, or interdisciplinary areas - and whether you are based in the UK or overseas - this fellowship provides a strategic platform to develop as a leader in your field.

Location 

Fellowships must be based at Imperial College London (any of its campuses) or at fieldwork locations.

Fellows may spend up to twelve months in total visiting other research institutions and/ or in industry including overseas; the maximum time spent at any one institution being six months.

• School: Imperial College London

Benefits of Imperial College Research Fellowships

Salary

In most cases, salary will be offered at point 17 of the Imperial College London Research pay scale, in the Research Associate salary band (the current 2024/25 salary for this grade, based in London, is £48,056 per annum).  In exceptional circumstances, candidates may negotiate a higher starting salary, within the Research Associate salary band. The maximum salary in this band is £56,345 (2024/25). Pay and progression will be in line with College pay and recognition policies.

Research Costs

Up to £30,000 (or £45,000 if fully justified by the nature of the research) total toward research and travel costs.

Other Benefits 

Bespoke career development and cohort activities from the Early Career Researcher Institute (ECRI).  A range of staff benefits, including a generous holiday leave allowance, enhanced Maternity/ Shared Parental Leave provision at up to 18 weeks of full-pay, opportunities for hybrid working, access to professional and confidential help from the College's Employee Assistance Provider Confidential Care, a College-wide Parents’ Network and advice and support on childcare and eldercare through My Family Care.

Imperial College Research Fellowships Requirements

They encourage applications from people from a diverse range of backgrounds.

• Candidates should have a PhD. In exceptional cases, applicants applying to Imperial College Business School are permitted to apply before the submission of the PhD. For applications to the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Faculty of Engineering and Faculty of Medicine, a PhD must have been submitted before an application is made. For these faculties, candidates should have passed their viva before the final ICRF Selection Committee meeting on 11 December 2025. In all cases, the PhD must be awarded before the start of the fellowship.
• ICRFs are for early career researchers who have not achieved research independence. It is recognised that different research areas have different career trajectories but to ensure that candidates are at the targeted career stage, all applicants are expected to be a maximum of PhD+4 years (calculated from the PhD defence date to the application deadline); many successful candidates are 0-2 years post-PhD. Extensions to this maximum time period will only be considered in circumstances that support our commitment to diversity, a positive research culture and non-traditional career paths, e.g.
  • Career breaks for parental leave/sickness leave
  • Discipline hopping
  • Career change outside of research

A total of 4 years post-PhD research experienceaccounting for these circumstances is still the maximum permitted. Candidates should contact[email protected] should they wish to discuss further.

• By way of context, this opportunity is equivalent to the Leverhulme Trust’s Early Career Fellowship, EPSRC Postdoctoral Fellowship and the Wellcome Early Career Fellowship schemes. Candidates who hold or have held relatively early post-doctoral fellowships (such as the EPSRC Doctoral Prize) are eligible to apply but candidates who have previously held intermediate level fellowships, such as an EPSRC Early Career Fellowship or an MRC Career Development Award, are NOT eligible.
• Candidates that hold or have held a lectureship are deemed ineligible on the basis that they have already met the end goal of this opportunity.
• Please note the salary offered is on the Research Associate scale. For 2024/25, this ranges between £48,056 and £56,345. If your salary requirements are higher than the maximum available with this scheme, you may wish to consider other schemes more suited to your experience such as the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships or other intermediate fellowships. 
• Imperial is one of the world’s most international universities and almost 60% of our current ICRFs have non-UK nationality.  ICRF candidates can thus be UK nationals or international applicants. Those who are not automatically entitled to work in the UK can find a guide to visa information on Imperial’s Human Resources Immigrationwebpages and you will, of course, be required to provide evidence of your eligibility to work in the UK before commencing any fellowship offered.

Expectations 

• Fellowships must be based at Imperial College London (any of its campuses) or at fieldwork locations. If an ICRF is taking up the opportunity to spend up to 12 months visiting other research institutions and/or in industry; evidence must be provided to reflect each partner’s willingness to host the fellow. 
• There are no obligatory teaching duties associated with these fellowships. However, if desired, such duties can be negotiated with the host department.  Fellows may also co-supervise PhD student(s) while undertaking this fellowship. Fellows are advised to speak with their sponsor to discuss the value of and potential for such opportunities. 
• Fellows are expected to have obtained any necessary licences and regulatory approvals prior to the start of the fellowship (or at the very latest before the relevant work is started). 
• Fellows are provided with a tailored programme of support, career development and cohort activities via the Early Career Researcher Institute, and are expected to engage with these opportunities. 
• Fellows are encouraged to apply for additional sources of funding to allow them to further build their research programme. 
• At the end of the fellowship, fellows are expected to be able to show that they have the potential to be an independent leader in their area of research and have the skills and experience to apply for more advanced (intermediate level) funding schemes, such as the Royal Society University Research Fellowship.

Sponsorship 

Applications must be supported by a sponsor who is a senior, permanent member of staff within the Academic or Research Families at Imperial. Honorary members of staff are not eligible to be sponsors.

• Sponsors (and co-sponsors) are limited to supporting a single fellowship application in each competition and may sponsor (or co-sponsor) only one ICRF at any one time.
• Sponsors may be full-time or part-time members of staff.  If the sponsor is employed part-time, the candidate must enlist the support of a second sponsor, so that they will have access to full-time sponsorship support.
• Where an interdisciplinary project is proposed, it is possible to include additional sponsors but there is a requirement for a lead sponsor.
• Applicants from Imperial are required to move from their existing sponsor/supervisor to a new sponsor for their ICRF, to increase both their independence and their breadth of experience. Further, candidates must not select a sponsor (or co-sponsor) who has had a supervisory role in their career (post-PhD). 

Sponsors will be required to commit to and fulfil the obligations listed on the Information for sponsorswebpage with the support of their host department.

Sponsors are not obliged to accept a request for support.  If they choose not to support a potential applicant, it is at the sponsor’s discretion if they choose to give feedback

Opportunities for external co-sponsorship

Opportunities exist for co-sponsorship by staff members based at The Francis Crick Institute. The Francis Crick Institute Co-sponsor Details form is required to be submitted with your application.

Application Date and Process

Applicant briefings (optional but recommended)

The Early Career Researcher Institute will deliver ICRF briefings, designed to help candidates prepare their applications, for this year's call. The slots for this year's briefings are as follows, please register for the session you would like to attend: 

• 3 June 2025, 3-4pm. Register via Qualtrics
• 12 June 2025, 10-11am. Register via Qualtrics

Recordings will be available after the sessions.

Step 1:  Contact proposed sponsor and proposed host department

Candidates interested in applying are required to contact their proposed sponsor and proposed host department as early as possible, to discuss their intention to apply and to obtain information about any additional departmental deadlines and local processes. All applications made to the ICRF scheme will require departmental approval, and so early contact will also give departments the opportunity to consider and prepare for providing this approval. Candidates should refer to the departmental information below (Imperial Departments and Key Contacts) for more information. Note that some departments have their own internal deadline for an initial shortlisting of applications to decide which they will support for College-level submission. 

Step 2:  Prepare and submit application

Applications must be submitted via the Imperial Jobs website (ref: NAT01920).  The following forms will be required as part of your application; please follow the file naming conventions stated in the templates and upload as PDFs.  The Department approval obtained in Step 1 must be recorded on the ‘Research Proposal and Budget’ form.‌

Candidates are encouraged to write in the first person.

•  Section 1: Research Proposal and Budget (Word)(required)
•  Section 2: Imperial Sponsor Details (Word)(required)

Additional forms that must be uploaded as required:

• Additional Publications List (Word) (optional)
• Francis Crick Institute Co-sponsor Details (Word)(optional)
• Research Collaborator letters of support  (optional)

Where it is justified in the application, fellows may spend up to twelve months in total visiting other research institutions and/ or in industry including overseas; the maximum time spent at any one institution being six months. Where this is requested, evidence must be provided to reflect each partner's willingness to host the fellow and uploaded as a Research Collaborator letter of support. Exceptionally, if a co-sponsor is based at The Francis Crick Institute then the full twelve months can be spent there and the partner's willingness to host is covered by the specific additional form (Francis Crick Institute Co-sponsor Details).

Signatures are required from the applicant (Section 1), Head of Department (Section 1) and Sponsor (Section 2)

• Signatures may be electronic or original. Typed signatures are not accepted.
• Applications without the required signatures will not be accepted.

Step 3: Confidential reference letters

• Each application must be supported by two confidential reference letters. These are mandatory.
• ⁠One reference letter must be from the applicant's current institution. Where the current institution is Imperial, the letter must be provided by someone other than the proposed sponsor or proposed host Head of Department.
• The second reference letter should be from a referee who is well-placed to comment on the applicant's current abilities as a researcher. 
• As these letters are confidential, they must be submitted directly by the referees to the ICRF Office ([email protected]) by 23:59 (BST) on 18 August 2025. Letters will then be paired with the relevant application by the ICRF Office.
• Letters should be sent in pdf format using file naming convention ‘APPLICANT SURNAME_ Ref_REFEREE SURNAME'
• Applicants should use the relevant section of the online application form to provide the names of the referees, to aid the ICRF Office when matching the letters and application. 

Review Process

The ICRF scheme supports the College’s Academic Mission.  Fellows are expected to contribute to the development of Imperial’s Strategy.

• Preference will be given to candidates whose career trajectory demonstrates their suitability to this scheme and who are yet to be considered independent researchers, but are on track to gain this through the support and training that this fellowship opportunity offers.
• Candidates who have already demonstrated research independence, through a track-record of winning external fellowships and grant funding, are not likely to be successful.
• Applicants who wish to discuss their suitability to this scheme are encouraged to contact the ICRF Office for further guidance.

Applications will be reviewed by a three-stage process:

Stage 1: Faculty Review Panel. Once received, applications that are eligible and complete will be reviewed by one of four Review Panels (Faculty of Engineering; Faculty of Natural Sciences; Faculty of Medicine; and the Business School) depending on the host department of the named sponsor.  Review Panels will typically include a representative from the proposed host department and seek advice from subject experts.  The Review Panel will select candidates for interview based on the following criteria:

1. Standing of the applicant
2. Appropriateness of the sponsor and host laboratory
3. Benefit of the scheme to the candidate
4. Ability to communicate with a non-specialist audience and peer group scientists
5. Scientific merit of the proposed research
6. Alignment to the Imperial Strategy

Due to the expected volume of applications, Imperial is unable to provide feedback for the applications that are not selected for interview.

Stage 2: Faculty Interview Committee. Applicants who are selected by the Faculty Review Panels will be invited to present their proposal to the Faculty Interview Committee where they will be ranked in order of competitiveness.  For those applicants selected for interview, the host department representative(s) on the Faculty Interview Committee reserve the right to request up to two additional external references in support of their application.  The host Head of Department must provide a letter of support for candidates who progress to Stage 3, but this may also be requested by their Faculty at this Stage 2.

Stage 3: Imperial College Research Fellowship Selection Committee.  The final selection of fellows will take place at the Imperial College Research Fellowship Selection Committee based on Faculty ranking and competitiveness.

ICRFs supported by co-funders

Schmidt Sciences (AI in Science Theme)

ICRF applications where the candidates have indicated on their Section 1 form that they wish to be considered for support from Schmidt Sciences under the AI in Science Theme will follow broadly the same evaluation process. However there will be additional input into the evaluation from representatives of the I-X Centre for AI in Science in terms of ranking the AI in Science Theme proposals, with a particular emphasis on the fit to the AI in Science remit in addition to the above-mentioned criteria.

Applicants are reminded that if their chosen Department is only accepting applications for ICRFs supported by Schmidt Sciences in the AI in Science Theme, then they will not be eligible for funding if their proposal is not ranked sufficiently highly within the AI in Science Theme. Please check the 'Imperial Departments and Key Contacts' section below.

Other 2025 co-funders

The Rosetrees Trust is a valued partner of the Imperial College Research Fellowship scheme and is again participating for 2025. Please note that as part of the assessment process, your application may be shared, in confidence, with the Rosetrees Trust.  If you are selected as a candidate for Rosetrees funding, you will be informed of this prior to your interview and a member of the Rosetrees team may attend your interview. If you do not wish for your application to be shared with the Rosetrees Trust, please indicate this on your Section 1 form.

Application Deadline

18 August, 2025

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