1. What are sponsors looking for in research fellows?
Junior Fellowships Event
What are sponsors looking for in research fellows?
Melissa Bateson
Professor of Ethology, Institute of Neuroscience

2. Aims:
To present an insider’s view of how a fellowship selection panel works
To summarise the main considerations of a panel in assessing fellowship applications

3. Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowships
“This scheme is for outstanding scientists in the UK at an early stage of their research career who require a flexible working pattern due to personal circumstances such as parenting or caring responsibilities or health issues. ”

4. Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowships selection process 2013
72 eligible applications across all sciences received by Royal Society
Selection panel comprised of about 14 senior academics spanning all disciplines from psychology of particle physics
I covered neuroscience, psychology and behavioural ecology
Each application scored (1-7) by 2 panel members
Each panel member gets about 20 applications
Many will be well outside their area of direct expertise
First short list based on mean of 2 panel members’ scores
First short list of 25 applications sent out to external referees
3 external referees are selected by the panel members
External referees are experts in the area of the application
Second short list of 14 chosen using panel and referee scores
Second short list interviewed by the panel
Applicants invited to present a short (5 min) talk on their work at the start
Most appropriate panel member chosen to lead the questioning for each applicant
5 fellowships awarded = 7% success rate (8% in 2014).

5. Take home messages:
Most fellowship schemes are hugely competitive; you must be prepared for failure
A triage step will often be applied; panels will often use crude criteria to do this; if your CV is not competitive for your career stage, it doesn’t matter how good your project is…
Your project needs to be accessible to non-expert scientists
Your project needs to stand up to scrutiny by experts in your field
You need to come across strongly in interview

6. So what are panels looking for?
Ultimately, they want to give fellowships to those applicants that they think will be future research leaders in their fields.
Therefore, your job is to convince the panel that you have the makings of a future principal investigator.

7. Traits that panels want to identify:
Ambition to answer big questions
Creativity – novelty of approach
Clarity in both thought and writing
Productivity – how much have you done?
Scholarship – knowing your field and where you fit
Independence – how much of your track record is yours versus that of your current supervisor?

8. What they actually look at:
Publications
Other evidence of achievement (degree results, prizes, scholarships, grant awards etc.)
Where you have worked and with whom
The appropriateness of your chosen host institution and lab.
Your proposed project
Referees’ letters
Budget

9. Publications
These are the most important factor, and are often used in triage stages.
You must have sufficient first/senior author primary research papers to be competitive.
Reviews, commentaries and sole-author papers help demonstrate independence.
Having publications with people other than your supervisor/research group shows initiative and independence.
Impact factors and citations matter.
Take home messages:
Publication is the most important thing you can do to increase your competitiveness for fellowships.
Seek advice on your publication list before applying. There is no point in applying if you don’t have sufficient quality or quantity of papers.
Include journal impact factors and citation information in your publication list to help panels understand the impact of your work.

10. Other evidence of achievement
Excellent degree results, prizes, scholarships etc. all help to demonstrate your achievements
Any grant income that you have won is also very impressive and demonstrates ambition and independence
Invited talks at other institutions/meetings look impressive
Take home messages:
Make sure any awards are prominently listed in your CV and/or personal statement.
Investigate applying for external money; even small grants look good (e.g. travel grants, vacation scholarships for undergraduates etc.)
Take advantage of any invitations to present your work either at conferences or at other institutions.

11. Where you have been and plan to be
Scientists usually benefit from periods working in different labs.
Leaving the lab where you did your PhD is usually vital for achieving and demonstrating independence.
Panels will require a strong justification from someone wanting to stay in the same place for a fellowship.
Panels will assess the quality of your chosen host institution and lab in assessing your fellowship application.
Take home messages:
Consider carefully whether you should move labs or institutions.
If you are planning to stay where you did your PhD, is this really the best place to be? How can you develop and demonstrate independence from your supervisor?
Consider short-term visits to other labs if you have to stay.

12. Your project Panels will look for the following qualities:
A clearly articulated and important research question
Hypotheses and predictions that you will test
Novelty of the work
Appropriate, well-justified methodology
Feasibility and contingency planning for risky projects
Potential impact of the work both in your field and beyond
Clarity of writing
Take home messages:
Seek advice and input on your project ideas at an early stage (before you start writing).
Consider giving a talk about your proposed project to your research group/institute/post-doc association to get feedback
Have your project read by several other people including non-experts .

13. Referees
Letters from referees are important in helping to create the impression that you are a future research leader.
Panels will be impressed by referees from other institutions and especially from abroad, since this demonstrates the reach of your work.
Panels will be impressed by referees that they know or have heard of.
Take home messages:
Choose your referees carefully: the most important thing is that they say positive things about you!
If prominent people in your field know your work well and like it, then ask them if they will be a referee for you.
Be strategic: if you are applying for a Royal Society fellowship and you know an FRS, then ask them if they would be a referee for you.

14. Costs Most fellowships require you to cost your project.
Sponsors will typically set limits on what costs can be requested.
Most sponsors are interested in getting good value for money.
The panel I was on never discussed costs…
Take home messages:
Make sure your project is appropriately costed
Your institute research support officers can help with this.
Make sure all your requested costs are eligible.
Carefully justify any large costs.

15. A final note on eligibility
Most fellowship schemes have requirements
E.g. number of years since PhD
Check you meet these
Make sure that the date of your PhD and the number of years full-time equivalent you have worked in research since your PhD are clearly stated on your CV/application.

16. Any questions?