Our Nottingham Research and Anne McLaren Fellowships produce the next generation of outstanding research leaders. Find out more about our fellowships and how to apply. Here, Professor Dame Jessica Corner reflects on the schemes – and outlines why outstanding early career researchers from across the university and beyond should consider applying.

I am delighted that the university has opened recruitment for its next cohort of research fellows – but, from a personal perspective, also a little sad.

Being involved in the recruitment and interview process for Nottingham and Anne McLaren research fellows has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my time at Nottingham.

Attracting and retaining exceptional talent

Our highly competitive fellowship schemes bring exceptional talent to the university; it is also wonderful that researchers already here are successfully applying to these schemes and choosing to build their careers at Nottingham.

Some 56% of our new cohort is joining us from renowned research institutions including Oxford, Cambridge, the Max Planck Institute, Exeter, Queen Mary University of London and University de Liege.

And thanks to the support of colleagues who mentor and inspire our early career researchers (ECRs), we recruit outstanding people internally, with four from the Faculty of Engineering, one from Arts, seven from Medicine and Health Sciences, three from Science and two from Social Sciences in the current intake.

Fellows are essential to our research mission

Our fellows are essential to our mission of delivering exceptional research that transforms lives in the UK and across the world.

And our fellowship schemes are central to one of the key ambitions of our research strategy – to develop a research environment and culture that is inclusive, supportive and enables high-quality, high-performing research.

Feedback from our fellows reaffirms our collegiate approach to research, passion for interdisciplinary working and commitment to supporting pioneering thinkers who are establishing their careers:

“This is the perfect environment to maximise the potential impact of my research”

“One of the things that most attracted me to Nottingham was the strong emphasis placed on cross disciplinary scholarship”

“An incredible opportunity to pursue an independent research project…the link to a permanent position following the fellowship represents genuine investment in early-career scholars”

We have worked hard to improve the diversity and gender-balance of our fellows, and while there is never room for complacency, the scheme has enriched our research community.

As we embark on a new recruitment round, please do share details of our Nottingham and Anne McLaren Research Fellowships, and support ECRs as they consider the next steps of their careers and seizing such fantastic opportunities.

As a reminder, we have two fellowship schemes, each offering the same package of support:

• Anne McLaren Fellowships are aimed at outstanding female postdoctoral researchers in science, technology, engineering and medicine, who are at the early stage of their academic careers and wish to establish a research career in the UK
• Nottingham Research Fellowships are aimed at outstanding postdoctoral researchers who are at the early stage of their academic careers from all academic disciplines represented at the university

Read profiles of our researchers

Our fellowships actively supports applicants from diverse career paths and backgrounds, including those returning from a career break or from other roles. We also support applications from those wishing to work part-time in order to combine the fellowship with personal commitments.

Our new cohort of fellows are now joining the university – we have profiled some of them on our fellowship pages, where you will also find profiles of current and previous fellows.

I will certainly miss the buzz of meeting such exceptional researchers and working with the academic mentors and dedicated colleagues from Professional Services who have helped make these schemes such a success.

But I will watch our fellows’ careers with interest – and some pride – as they deliver transformative discoveries that will help shape the future and answer some of our most complex challenges.

Find out more

Find more information on fellowships and how to apply
email: fellowships@nottingham.ac.uk

Professor Dame Jessica Corner, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange, is joining Research England in October as Executive Chair, responsible for its critical role in providing more than £2 billion annually in grant funding to English universities for research.

Read Dame Jessica’s further reflections on her time at the University of Nottingham.