Research fellowships: what they are and the main UK schemes

A research fellowship is a funded award that pays all or part of your salary for a fixed period while you lead your own research. You hold it at a host university or organisation. Some also pay for costs such as equipment, travel or a research assistant.

The best-known UK research fellowships are for early-career researchers, and most set a window after the PhD. Those windows run from ‘still finishing your PhD’ to eight years of research experience, and the awards last from one to eight years. They’re also very competitive: the Royal Society made offers to 6.3% of eligible applications for its University Research Fellowship in 2025/26. Your subject and the time since your PhD decide most of which schemes you can apply for.

What is a research fellowship?

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) describes fellowships as awards that let you focus on a project. The project must need at least 12 months of your time, working between half-time and full-time. They pay all or part of your salary for the length of the fellowship, and some cover part or all of your project costs.

So a fellowship is a job, but one you win yourself. You apply with a project, and if you succeed, the money pays the university (or business) that employs you while you do it. Before you can apply, you need a host organisation: the place where you’ll be based, which has to support your application.

UKRI groups its fellowships into three types. Career transition fellowships help researchers establish their independence or move into leadership. The Daphne Jackson fellowship sits here too: it’s for people returning after a break of two or more years for family, health or caring reasons.

Capacity building and discipline transition fellowships support people changing discipline, or developing skills after their doctorate or in a priority research area. Sector transition fellowships move knowledge between sectors: policy fellowships, for example, place researchers in a UK or devolved government department for 18 months.

This guide focuses on the early-career fellowships most people mean by the term.

Research fellow vs postdoc: what’s the difference?

The difference is whose project it is. A fellowship funds your project, with your name on the award, and some funders call these postdoctoral fellowships. A typical postdoc is a job on someone else’s grant, working on a project they designed.

Common mistake: assuming every ‘Research Fellow’ job advert is a fellowship. Universities also use Research Fellow as a job title for researchers employed on a grant, so the title alone doesn’t tell you. Our guide to UK academic titles explains where it sits among the other grades.

The difference matters for eligibility, too. You can’t apply for the Royal Society’s University Research Fellowship if you already lead a research group, hold an external award as principal investigator, or hold a permanent or tenure-track academic post. The Leverhulme Trust’s Early Career Fellowship excludes anyone whose postdoctoral posts to pursue their own research project add up to three years or more. Leverhulme counts the full length of each post, so one year into a three-year post of that kind already rules you out.

Who can apply? Qualifications and eligibility windows

Every scheme in the comparison table below asks for a PhD, or experience that the funder accepts as equivalent. Some take you while you’re still finishing your PhD, such as the 1851 Research Fellowship and the Royal Society’s Career Development Fellowship. Others accept equivalent experience instead. Wellcome takes at least four years of research experience equivalent to a PhD, as long as you haven’t started one, and doesn’t count research done during a bachelor’s or master’s degree.

Is a research fellow the same as a PhD? No. A research fellow has usually already finished a PhD. One UKRI scheme works the other way: the Medical Research Council’s clinical research training fellowship pays registered healthcare professionals without a PhD to do one.

Most schemes then set their own window, and they count from different dates:

If you’re finishing your PhD or recently finished: the 1851 Research Fellowship takes candidates with a recent PhD, or finishing one in the year they apply. They should normally have no more than 2.5 years of postdoctoral experience by 31 January of the award year, counted from passing the viva. Wellcome’s Early-Career Award needs your viva passed when you submit and allows up to three years of postdoctoral experience.
If you’re up to about four years out: the Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship allows up to four years between submitting your thesis for the viva and its closing date. It counts from submission, not from when the PhD was awarded. For 2027, that means you must have submitted on or after 18 February 2023. The Royal Academy of Engineering counts four years and six months back from its expression-of-interest deadline to the award of your PhD.
If you’re three to eight years out: the Royal Society’s University Research Fellowship asks for between three and eight years’ research experience since your PhD was awarded.

UKRI’s Future Leaders Fellowships work differently. The round 11 call set no limit on years since the PhD. Instead, you must be moving to or establishing independence. You can’t apply if you’ve already achieved it (for example, by winning funding aimed at this stage) or if you’re a senior academic. It doesn’t matter whether you already hold a permanent post.

Most of the schemes in the table with a time limit say they allow for career breaks, but each draws the line in its own place. Leverhulme considers a case for a break, but doesn’t count time spent working outside academia as one. The 1851 Royal Commission lets you explain career breaks and time in industry. The Royal Academy of Engineering takes parental leave and other extenuating circumstances, such as extended sick leave or caring responsibilities, into account.

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions don’t count career breaks or years outside research towards their limit. The Royal Society (for its University Research Fellowship) and Wellcome also allow for breaks.

The main UK early-career research fellowships compared

This table compares nine schemes from each funder’s own page, checked on 10 November 2026. Dates move every year, so check the scheme page before you plan around one.

Scheme	Subjects	Career stage	Length	What it pays	Next deadline
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship	Any area UKRI funds, in universities or business	Moving to or establishing independence; PhD or equivalent experience	4 years, with an optional 3-year renewal (up to 7)	80% of the full economic cost; no minimum or maximum	Round 12 expected to open February 2027 (deadline not yet set)
Royal Society University Research Fellowship	Natural sciences, including engineering and maths	3 to 8 years’ research experience since the PhD	8 years (years 6 to 8 after a review)	Up to £1,907,400	Closed 9 September 2026; next expected July to September 2027
Royal Society Career Development Fellowship	Natural sciences; a pilot for researchers of Black heritage	PhD by the start date; under 24 months postdoctoral	4 years	Up to £703,800	18 November 2026
Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship	Engineering	PhD awarded no more than 4 years 6 months before the expression-of-interest deadline	5 years	Up to £800,000 (80% of a project costed at up to £1 million)	2026/27 expressions of interest closed (deadline was 25 June)
1851 Research Fellowship	Physical and biological sciences, maths, applied science, engineering	Recent PhD or finishing one; normally up to 2.5 years postdoctoral	Not stated on the scheme pages	Full payroll cost plus £10,000 a year expenses (life sciences can apply for £10,000 more)	20 January 2027, midday
Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship	All subjects except studies of disease, illness and disability, and research aimed at clinical practice	Thesis submitted for viva no more than 4 years before the deadline; no full-time permanent academic post	3 years	100% of salary costs in year 1 (up to £56,000), 50% in years 2 and 3 (up to £28,000 a year), host pays the rest; plus up to £6,000 a year for research	Opens 1 January; closes 18 February 2027
British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship	Humanities and social sciences	Viva between 1 April 2024 and 1 April 2027 (2026 round); never held a permanent academic post	3 years	80% of the full economic cost	Closed 30 September 2026
Wellcome Early-Career Award	Any discipline, if the research could improve human life, health and wellbeing	PhD with viva passed, or 4 years’ equivalent research; up to 3 years postdoctoral	Usually 5 years	Your salary plus up to £400,000 for research	Apply at any time
Marie Skłodowska-Curie European Postdoctoral Fellowship	Any	PhD by the deadline; up to 8 years’ research experience since it; no more than 12 of the last 36 months in the host country	1 to 2 years	Living and mobility allowances, plus research and training costs	2027 call expected 7 April to 8 September 2027

Source: each funder’s own scheme page, checked 10 November 2026 (linked in the text or listed under Sources).

The quickest way to use the table is by subject. If you work in the natural sciences or engineering, the Royal Society, Royal Academy of Engineering and 1851 schemes are built for you. If your work relates to health, look at Wellcome. If you work in the humanities or social sciences, look at the British Academy and Leverhulme schemes. Future Leaders and Leverhulme are open across most subjects, and the Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowships across all of them.

UKRI’s research council fellowships

The research councils also run their own fellowships, listed on UKRI’s fellowship opportunities page. For example:

EPSRC postdoctoral fellowships (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council): mathematical sciences only, up to three years full-time
Ernest Rutherford Fellowships (Science and Technology Facilities Council): salary and project costs for five years
NERC independent research fellowships (Natural Environment Research Council): salary and project costs for five years
MRC career development fellowships (Medical Research Council): salary and project costs for up to five years

What does a research fellowship pay?

Where a UK scheme says how your salary is set, it follows your host’s normal pay scales. Wellcome asks for your salary to be based on the host organisation’s pay scales.

The 1851 Royal Commission expects fellows to start at a point on the postdoctoral pay scale that suits their experience. Leverhulme asks host universities to agree a starting salary in line with their salary policy. For how the national pay spine and university grades work, see our guide to university lecturer salaries.

The headline figures in the table aren’t what you take home. They cover your salary plus, depending on the scheme, project costs, staff, equipment and a share of the university’s overheads.

What this means for you: ‘80% of the full economic cost’ means the funder pays 80% of the project’s full cost. That cost includes your salary and the university’s overheads, and the award doesn’t cover the other 20%.

Some schemes also shift your salary onto the host over time. Leverhulme pays all of your salary in year one (up to £56,000) and half in years two and three (up to £28,000 a year). The host university pays the balance.

Future Leaders salary support is tapered, with the host paying a growing share. Academic hosts are also expected to confirm an open-ended post for you, to start during or at the end of the fellowship.

How competitive are research fellowships?

Very. The funders that publish figures show success rates in single digits:

Royal Society University Research Fellowship: offers to 7% of eligible applications in 2022/23, 6.4% in 2023/24, 6.8% in 2024/25 and 6.3% in 2025/26 (39 offers from 618 eligible applications in the latest year)
Royal Society Career Development Fellowship: 3% in 2024/25 and 7% in 2025/26
1851 Research Fellowship: around 2 to 3% per application, from 270 to 500 applications a round

Leverhulme doesn’t give a rate, but expects about 145 Early Career Fellowships in 2027.

These odds are a reason to apply to more than one scheme, not to give up. The 1851 Royal Commission says outright that telling it you’ve applied elsewhere won’t hurt your chances.

How to apply for a research fellowship

Start early: for some schemes, the deadline you see isn’t the first one you’ll meet.

Check your window today. Work out your dates against each scheme’s rule (thesis submission, viva or PhD award) and note any career breaks you can claim.
Find a host and a mentor early. Every scheme here needs a host organisation. Wellcome also asks for a sponsor at your host who guarantees space and resources, and a mentor.
Allow for internal selection. Universities can only put forward a fixed number of academic-hosted Future Leaders applicants each, so they run their own shortlisting first. The Royal Academy of Engineering also limits how many applications each host institution can submit. For Leverhulme, your host department must secure its share of your salary before the closing date.
Propose something new. Leverhulme says a common reason for rejection is a project that doesn’t move far enough beyond the PhD. The 1851 Royal Commission wants research ‘of your own instigation’, not a continuation of your thesis. Our guide to writing a PhD research proposal covers the basics a fellowship case builds on: the question, the gap and why it matters.
Think about moving. Leverhulme asks applicants who haven’t moved institution since their undergraduate degree to name a new host or explain why not. The 1851 Royal Commission prefers a move. Wellcome encourages a change of research environment, which can be a new group or department.
Prepare for an interview. Shortlisted Royal Society applicants are interviewed in person at the Royal Society. Wellcome interviews in London or remotely, and Future Leaders round 11 interviews are on Microsoft Teams.

Can international researchers apply?

Yes, for most of these research fellowships, but the rules differ:

Royal Society fellowships are open to any nationality, and award holders who need a visa can apply for a Global Talent visa through a fast-track endorsement. The Career Development Fellowship also needs you to be a UK national or to have studied or worked as a postdoc in the UK.
Future Leaders Fellowships: successful applicants who need a visa can be considered for a Global Talent visa, with their host’s support.
The Royal Academy of Engineering has no nationality restrictions, and the host institution arranges any work permits.
Wellcome guarantees successful applicants an endorsement for a Global Talent visa application.
The British Academy accepts British and EEA nationals, and anyone with a doctorate from a UK university. Others may be accepted if they can show a strong prior connection to UK academia.
Leverhulme needs you to hold a UK degree when you take up the fellowship. If you don’t, you need to hold a UK academic post at the deadline, and that post must have started at least four months earlier. Your main home must be in the UK for the whole fellowship.
Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowships can be held in the UK, which has been associated with the EU’s Horizon Europe programme since January 2024. You mustn’t have lived, worked or studied in the host country for more than 12 months in the 36 months before the deadline. So if you’ve spent more than 12 of those months in the UK, you can’t hold one here, though you could in another country. Our guide to the Marie Curie fellowship has more on the EU’s schemes.

Next steps

Start with the two facts that narrow the list most: your subject and your date. Then pick two or three schemes whose windows you meet and put their deadlines in your diary:

Royal Society Career Development Fellowship (researchers of Black heritage): 18 November 2026
1851 Research Fellowship: 20 January 2027
Leverhulme Early Career Fellowship: 18 February 2027
Wellcome’s Early-Career Award: apply at any time

UKRI expects to open Future Leaders round 12 in February 2027, with the deadline still to be announced.

Talk to your supervisor and your university’s research office early, because they’ll know the internal deadlines. A research fellowship isn’t the only route forward either: our guide to life after a PhD covers the other paths, in and outside academia.

Sources