Fellowship Opportunities

Applications for Research Fellowships

Candidates wishing to select Imperial High Energy Physics as their host institution are advised to contact a member of academic staff in their area of interest to discuss your application. You are encouraged to contact us early for initial discussions to maximise the support we can give you and also because this is a two way process and you need to assess if we’re the right fit for you. If you and a member of academic staff agree to put you forward to the Head of Group they will work with you to prepare the required paperwork.

To ensure submission of high quality, competitive proposals, the Department runs a competitive internal selection process with deadlines for Research Groups to submit their supported nominated candidates to the Department. The High Energy Physics Group therefore in turn also has deadlines to consider and select our supported candidates into this process. Requests received after these dates will not be considered.

We strongly encourage applications from all backgrounds, especially those historically underrepresented in Physics. The majority of the schemes we support applications to can be held part time for personal circumstances such as caring responsibilities or disability/chronic health conditions. Applications are welcome from applicants who are returning from a career break or those working outside of academia. We are an IoP JUNO Practitioner and an Athena Silver SWAN Award winner reflecting our commitment to building a supportive, inclusive and highly motivated community. See our EDI webpage for more information and further resources/support for working at Imperial on our Opportunities page.

We want to make our application process as inclusive and accessible as possible so if you experience any barriers that we may have overlooked please tell us and we can make adjustments.

We also recognise the unequal impacts of the impact that COVID-19 related disruption might have had. Where disruptions have occurred applicants can highlight this within their application if they wish.

If you are approved to submit a formal application the Department will assist you throughout the application process. We set internal submission deadlines which are substantially earlier than the sponsor deadlines to allow for sufficient preparation and approval time, you will be advised of this and you can also see the deadlines on the application guidance webpage.

The Imperial Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre provides a host of ongoing support from preparing the application to mock interviews available to anyone who is applying through Imperial. You are strongly encouraged to take advantage of this support in conjunction with that from your host Research Group. For more information applicants should read the guidance on their webpages and contact pfdc-support@imperial.ac.uk.

We’ve successfully supported many research fellowship applications. See Summary of started researcher fellowships in High Energy Physics from 1 August 2013.

The common schemes we participate in are listed below. For a currently closed calls the last nomination deadline is given as an indication of when the next might be.

Eric and Wendy Schmidt AI in Science Postdoctoral Fellow, a Program of Schmidt Futures

  • Closed.
  • This scheme is managed by Imperial.
  • It is expected that next call (Wave 4) will open in July 2024
  • This scheme is applied for through the Imperial recruitment system Talentlink, You must have an Imperial mentor to apply but the Department shortlisting is done after the application deadline.

Imperial College Research Fellowships

  • Closed. Physics only accepted applications for ICRFs supported by Schmidt
    Futures under the AI in Science Theme.
  • Group quota two
  • Group expression of interest deadline was 3rd August 2023.
  • College deadline was 21st August 2023.

Marie Sklodowska-Curie Postdoctoral Fellowships

  • Open.
  • Department quota – none.
  • Confirmation to the Department (via phys-ra@imperial.ac.uk) and ECAS Part A completed 4th September 2024.
  • Imperial participates in the standard European Fellowship mode of the MSCA PF scheme but does not participate in the Global Fellowships mode.
  • Check the Imperial's EU Team webpage with advice and information to help applicants. Some areas of the webpage require an Imperial login, ask your sponsor to share the information. You can also contact the team with questions mscapostdocfellowships@imperial.ac.uk

Royal Astronomical Society Fellowships

  • Closed (will open again in 2024).
  • Department quota – five.
  • Nomiations closed 26th September 2022.
  • Nominations consist of CV, publications list and a one page outline.

Royal Commission 1851 Research Fellowships

  • Closed.
  • Department quota – five.
  • Nominations to the Group closed 29th November 2023.
  • Nominations consist of CV, publications list and a one page outline.

Royal Society Career Development Fellowship

  • Closed.
  • Department quota – none.
  • Nominations to the Group closed 29th November 2023.
  • Nominations consist of CV, publications list and a one page outline.

Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowships

  • Closed.
  • Department quota – none.
  • Nominations deadline was 11th September 2023.
  • Nominations consisted of your CV, publications list and a one page outline.

Royal Society Newton Fellowships

  • Closed.
  • Department quota – five.
  • Nominations to the Group closed 26th January 2024.
  • Nominations consist of CV, publications list and a one page outline.

Royal Society URF

  • Open (call opens 11th July 2024)
  • Department quota - 12
  • Please contact an academic in your area of interest.
  • Community nomination deadline 27th June 2024
  • Nominations consist of your CV, publication list and a Request for Support from Imperial Physics form-URF. The latter is being updated for 2024 and will be available shortly.

STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowships

  • Open (call expected to open 3rd June 2024)
  • Department quota - seven set by STFC
  • Please contact an academic in your areas of interest.
  • Community nomination deadline 27th June 2024
  • Nominations to the Department consist of your CV (STFC format), publication list and a Request for Support from Imperial Physics form-ERF. The latter is being updated for 2024 and will be available shortly.

UK Research and Innovation Future Leaders Fellowships

  • Closed.
  • Round 9 is only open to Imperial Physics academic/proleptic staff
  • College deadline 18th March 2024 midday to submit online form

UKRI Stephen Hawking Fellowship

  • Open.
  • Department quota - none.
  • Please contact a member of staff in your area of interest.
  • Nomination paperwork is CV, publications list and brief research proposal.
  • Scheme has moved to The Funding Service as part of EPSRC Fellowships.