Our intention is to grow our research power. That is a challenge under the current testing circumstances, at a time of major change of Higher Education in the UK and with numerous uncertainties over the coming years. However, our intention is well aligned with the national need: it is clear that top-grade researchers in almost every sphere will be required if the UK is to maintain its position not just as a leading academic nation, but also as an attractive place for inward investment and as a leader in many other ways. We at Bath are well-placed to attract outstanding researchers, to get them to consider coming to develop their careers at our University. We have a very strong reputation in selected areas of research, (as recognised by the research councils as well as by academics across the globe), combined with a very attractive location. We also have a very strong sense of community as a University, and our staff care deeply about the University and about each other.
The UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships https://www.ukri.org/funding/funding-opportunities/future-leaders-fellowships/ thus represent a great opportunity for us to work with UKRI to co-fund talented early career researchers and innovators right across the UKRI remit. The FLF model is based on support from UKRI being tapered gradually down from 100% (at 0.8 FEC of course!) over an initial four years, and then subject to review a further 3 years. Seven years of funding combined with a permanent position at the end make this an exceptionally attractive scheme for applicants. Applicants can bid for substantial funding through the scheme too. It is open to researchers without substantial pre-existing research commitments (ie, other grants). There will be six calls over the coming 3 years and the first is live right now, so this is both a short-term and a long-term opportunity to attract researchers to Bath.
Given the level of University commitment we will need to be confident that those applicants we support are academically excellent, will make good members of our university community, and are aligned to both national and University priorities, and so we envisage a strategic approach to identifying cases. However, this will be very competitive as a scheme, and so the first step is identifying and attracting the very best researchers to seek support from Bath for their bids. Please do click through the link above to learn more about the scheme, and think about who you might encourage to apply.
