RDS London Fellowship FAQs

All active researchers within the School of Life Course & Population Sciences are eligible to apply, provided you have the support of your line manager and have financial support for the period of the Fellowship.

The scheme is open to staff at all grades, though likely to have most relevance to those who have specialist research methods training and experience of planning and conducting applied health research yet haven’t applied for external research funding as a co-investigator or principal investigator.

If you have read both the guidance notes and these FAQs and still have concerns regarding your eligibility, please email Dr Peter Lovell, Director, RDS London before completing your application.

If you hold a permanent academic position, you are eligible to apply if you are able to demonstrate that the Fellowship would be the best way to support your career goals and chosen career route.

Both full-time and part-time staff are eligible to apply for the Fellowship.

In both cases, you will take 1-2 days out of your current work responsibilities to work within the RDS London team. The Fellowship scheme cannot be used to extend your contractual hours of work.

The scheme is open to both clinical and non-clinical applicants.

We welcome applications from staff who are educated to MSc level and above, have specialist knowledge of contemporary health research methods and some experience of conducting health services research.

Our Fellowship Scheme supports capacity development within the School of Life Course & Population Sciences, and as such is intended for individuals that are research active and have a clear idea of their future career path in research.

The Fellowship is a way to consolidate your specialist research knowledge and apply it to resolving issues that investigators face when preparing proposals.

Through working closely with the RDS London team of advisers, you will gain knowledge and insights into preparing high quality grant applications, putting you in a competitive position from which to apply for future Fellowship and grant funding.

The RDS London Fellowship Scheme has not been designed with this in mind.

Involvement in the scheme over a six-month period will allow you to experience a broader range of RDS work and be involved in consulting on a wide range of applications for different submission deadlines.

Award holders will need to start the Fellowship within two months of February 2022 subject to the School of Life Course & Population Sciences having funding in place for the duration of the Fellowship.

Each Fellowship will cover the full cost of employment up to 0.4 FTE (including National Insurance, pension, and London Weighting) at your current grade for the six-month period.

Your consultancy role within the RDS London team will replace some of your current research activities.

Costs associated with attendance at RDS fora or NIHR funding committee meetings are also included, though capped at £250 for the six-month period.

Applicants whose contract will end during the period of the Fellowship are not able to apply to this scheme.

The primary aim of the scheme is to support the development of researchers within the School by providing the knowledge and insights into preparing high quality grant applications.

Following completion of the Fellowship, the expectation is that you will continue your research role within the School, and use your experience of working within the RDS London team to increase your independence and help you prepare applications for funding as a co-investigator or principal investigator.

It may be possible (if allowed by the terms of your funding body) that part of the research funding may be put into abeyance for the period of the RDS London Fellowship and hence may be used to extend your current research contract.

We are expecting to award two-three RDS London Fellowships in this current round (5).

Your current line manager will retain the primary responsibility for direct management.

To ensure your development, one of our experienced RDS London advisers will be assigned to you as a mentor to provide support and guidance during the Fellowship.

To evaluate the effectiveness of the scheme, Fellows are required to complete a final report using a template that we will provide on commencement of the Fellowship.

Your report should refer to your reasons for applying for the Fellowship set out in the original application, your experience of working within the RDS London team, achievements and the implementation of your new skills, insights and connections on future plans that have emerged as a result of working with RDS London.

The report must be submitted within three months of the end date of the award.

Round 5 will launch on 7 December 2021. The application form is now available on our main Fellowship information page.

If you are having technical difficulties with the form please email us. If you need more support regarding the content of your applications, please email Dr Peter Lovell, Director, RDS London.

Unfortunately, submission deadlines cannot be extended. Please email us at an early stage of preparing your application if you are experiencing difficulties or have any accessibility needs.

The current submission deadline is 4 January 2022 and we expect successful applicants to commence the Fellowship at the beginning of February 2022.

Suitability for a Fellowship will be based on the views of your line manager, members of the School’s Executive Committee and the RDS London leadership team.

The final selection will be ratified by the Head of School.

See more in our guidance notes.

Formal written feedback will not be provided, though constructive feedback on how a future application could be improved will be offered through an informal discussion with Dr Peter Lovell, Director, RDS London.

There is no formal resubmission track that requires applicants to comment on how an application has been revised.

Any subsequent application will be treated as a new application and should be written with this in mind.