Applying for Fellowships
Henry Wellcome experience
Ben Wilson
[email protected]
Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral
Fellowship
• Early career award (<2 years post-PhD)
• Biomedical science or public health
• 4 years of funding
– £250,000
• Salary
• Research expenses
• Travel
“Offers recently qualified postdoctoral researchers the
opportunity to start independent research careers”
My background
• 2009 - 2014 – PhD in Neuroscience in Newcastle
• 2014 - 2016 – Post-doc in Newcastle
• 2016 - 2020 – Henry Wellcome Fellowship
– I stayed in Newcastle
• Go to the best place for the research
– New research sponsors
• Newcastle
• Leipzig, Germany
Lessons learned
• Timing
– The application takes longer than you think
– Be aware of internal deadlines and requirements
• Make use of the help that Newcastle offers
• Take advice, even when you don’t like it
• Discuss your proposal widely, for breadth of
ideas, opinions and insights
Preliminary application
• Very short (2 pages)
– However, this took me as much effort to write as
the full application
• I had a clear idea of the experiments I wanted to do
• But it took more effort to clearly lay out the impact and
implications
• Try and look at previous applications
• Again, take advice seriously
Full application
• Build on preliminary application
• Don’t repeat yourself or copy and paste
– Words are tight, and any redundancy is wasting a
chance to show something else to the
interviewers
– However, do restate key points from different
perspectives
• E.g., A project might have both basic science and policy
implications. Emphasise the value in that.
Full application
• In every section, think about what information
the reviewers want from a strong candidate
“In what way will the fellowship further the
applicants scientific goals and personal careers
aspirations”
– Use this as an opportunity to show them that you
are worth investing in
• The Wellcome Trust want to develop scientists as much
as they want to fund research
Interview
• Prepare thoroughly
– Mock interviews
– Think about answers to likely questions
– If the panel list is available, look at who will be
interviewing you
• There will be a lot of non-specialists, so be broad
• But the main interviewers will have read your
application in detail, so be prepared for in depth
questions
– Be aware of what you are walking into
Take home messages
• Prepare!
• At this stage, the Wellcome Trust want to
identify, invest in, and develop, potential
future scientific leaders
– Not just funding great research projects, but
people
• Cover both technical and scientific detail, and
place the work into a broader, more accessible
context
Questions?
[email protected]
Application
• Project
– Your own ideas, probably based on your prior
work
• Person
– They want to fund future scientific leaders (not
great technicians)
• Place
– Is Newcastle the best place in the UK/world to do
your project?