All Postdoctoral Fellows will need to identify, and gain the support of a mentor at their University of choice. The mentor should have a strong interest in the applicants area of research, but should not normally be the applicant’s PhD supervisor unless there are exceptional circumstances. The mentor should have appropriate skills and experience to assist the fellow in achieving their specific goals and aspirations for the year.

We anticipate most applicants will have one mentor, although a second is permitted where appropriate. Situations where a secondary supervisor might be considered more appropriate include:

• where the focus of the fellows research is inter- or multi- disciplinary in nature
• where the candidate wishes to spend a considerable length of time overseas
• where the candidate wishes to retain links to their prior research institute, or PhD Supervisor

We anticipate that Mentors and their fellows will meet for around 1-2 hours per week throughout the duration of the fellowship.

We anticipate that many applicants will identify potential mentors independently, or with advice from previous supervisors / academic contacts. However, should candidates need assistance in identifying a suitable mentor, we advise contacting the most appropriate Training Pathway Lead.

Please note: all mentors must be located in a department or school which is part of a recognised NINE DTP Training Pathway.

Applicants should familiarise themselves with the relevant HR policies of their proposed Research Organisation:

Durham

Newcastle

Northumbria

Queen’s University Belfast

Sunderland University

Teesside University

Ulster University

All prospective fellows should work to identify and describe the potential impacts of their research on policy and practice, and how these might be developed and maximised.

The evaluation of the research impact of the fellowship will be reflected within the assessment process, and will form a part of the academic review process.

It should be noted that funds will be made available to develop and deliver impact; candidates are strongly encouraged to make clear and well-considered plans of how they can best deliver impact within the year fellowship.

The ESRC provide a number of resources to assist applicants in preparing research proposals, providing guidance on the nature of research which is fundable, and considerations of ethics, impact and developing research collaborations.

All applicants are encouraged to visit the ESRC website Guidance for Applicants page; we further encourage use of the Impact toolkit when developing impact strategies.

This should be structured to include the following headings:

• Abstract/ summary of progress

Applicants should provide either a summary or abstract of their in-progress or completed thesis. This should be no more than one page and should include its main claims to originality and excellence, methodology used and significant findings.

• Impacts of your research

This section should describe the impacts your research has had or that you expect it to have. Impacts include the impact of completed research and any planned further limited research, the dissemination of its results and the building up of a publication track record, the development of the research field and the behaviour or understanding of users and policy makers. We are also interested in the impact the applicant’s training to date has had on their skills development and on their prospects for a successful academic career.

• Research-related achievements

This section requires a well-structured summary of ‘where you are now’ in your training and personal development. This will help reviewers decide whether an applicant is at a stage in their career development where a fellowship will have an important and lasting impact on their ability to work as a professional researcher.

• Planned programme of activities

This section should detail your planned programme of activities and the key milestones for these activities. Please note that the programme of activities should be tailored to support your longer term career aspirations whether you are aiming for a career in academia or a research career in the broader economy.

Fellows are not expected to undertake new research during an award. However, limited additional research directly linked to the PhD can be undertaken. The Fellowship does not have to be directly building on the work of the PhD; however it does need to follow on or be related to it.

The programme of activities should provide the fellows with time to communicate the research findings arising from previous doctoral work, build international networks to develop impact and further develop research, collaborate with users, learn the skills of writing for publication, and further improve their research and related skills.

We recognise that during the period of award a limited amount of teaching could be beneficial to the professional development of the fellows. Award holders will therefore be permitted to put aside a maximum of six hours per week (pro rata) to teaching including preparation time.

This statement should be used to break down and justify the resources required to undertake the research project.

• Explain why the indicated resources are needed, taking account of the nature and complexity of the research proposed. Note that it is not sufficient merely to list what is required.
• Break down of resources into the summary fund headings Directly Incurred, Directly Allocated and (where appropriate) Exceptions, as outlined in the proposal form. In addition, spend should be justified related to the following headings:
  • Overseas institutional visits (including any potential fieldwork costs)
  • Funding for networking
  • Training costs
  • Mobile equipment needs (i.e. laptop)
  • Impact-related costs
• In some cases, such as investigator time, use of internal facilities and shared staff costs (all likely to be Directly Allocated costs), the basis of the costing need not be justified, but the need for the resources does need justification.
• Estates and indirect costs do not need to be justified.

The CV needs to provide the date the PhD viva voce was passed, or the scheduled date for the viva voce, brief details of education to date, any awards received for work or training, previous employment history, and any conference papers or publications.

The list of publications should contain the bibliography for references cited in the proposal. The applicants own publications should include with their CV.

The head of department at the host RO must complete a statement confirming the RO’s support for the proposal. Host ROs must demonstrate their strong support for the proposal guaranteeing as a minimum that the named mentor will be available and that appropriate support facilities, including office space and appropriate computing facilities, will be made available to the fellow during the period of the award. In addition, the host RO will be expected to show they have a commitment to the support and promotion of early career researchers and lecturers.

The head of department statement should:

• confirm that the applicant would be accepted into the department for the purpose of undertaking the proposed programme of work;
• explain how the proposed programme of work would fit in with the department’s wider research programme;
• confirm that the applicant would have access to the same training and development opportunities open to permanent members of academic staff at the institution;
• confirm that the applicant’s work and progress would be subject to the same monitoring and appraisal as those of other academic staff within the host RO.

A combined mentor statement and CV must be included as an attachment to the proposal.

Fellows will be required to have a mentor throughout the period of the award and they should be identified at the time of applying. The mentor should ideally have research experience in the same field as the applicant but should not, wherever possible, be the PhD supervisor. The mentor will need to be a senior colleague within the host RO. The reviewers will emphasise the role of the mentor seriously and will look for strong evidence of support. Thus the mentor statement should demonstrate that the mentor:

• has considered the individual applicant’s needs carefully and tailored their programme of support to their individual needs
• will ensure the fellow is kept properly active and focussed throughout the year
• will also keep the fellow’s long-term career prospects clearly in mind.

The applicant must provide one referee statement to contribute to the assessment process. The referee may be the PhD supervisor, however if the supervisor is the proposed mentor, the referee statement should be from a second academic.

A work plan should be included to highlight key milestones for the programme of work.

It is a requirement of the ESRC Research Data Policy https://esrc.ukri.org/funding/guidance-for-grant-holders/research-data-policy/  that all applicants planning to generate data as part of their grant must include a Data Management Plan. The Data Management Plan should be used as an opportunity to describe how the data, ie primary input into research and first-order results of that research, are going to be managed – starting from planning for research and through the life-cycle of the grant until data is accepted for archiving by the UK Data Service.

The ESRC recognises the importance of research data quality and provenance. Research data generated by ESRC-funded research must be well-managed by the grant holder during the grant period to enable their data to be exploited to the maximum potential for further research.

If you are intending to visit an overseas institution within the period of the fellowship, a letter of support from the institution must be provided, supporting the visit in principle.

No other additional attachments will be accepted and your proposal may be returned or rejected if you include attachments that are not permitted under this call or if any of the mandatory attachments are missing.