The MRC offers fellowships to support a range of career points. See the MRC fellowship overview for further details.
Reviewers will assess the alignment of the applicant’s experience with the fellowship scheme’s aims, evidence of the applicant’s ability to carry out the proposed project and evidence of clear research training and career development plans. This will be dependent on the level of the scheme.
Early-career: Consolidation and exploration
Applicants should have delivered previous research projects and have evidence of outputs. They should have plans for a coherent and integrated training programme.
Transition to independence
Applicants should have the potential to become independent researchers by having clear research plans that are distinct from their current group / leader and citing outputs from their research experience to date to demonstrate their readiness to develop. Applicants will generally have experience of more than one research environment.
Transition to leadership
Applicants should have a track-record of nationally competitive research and already be independent and effectively leading a research team. They should demonstrate the potential to become a leader in their field.
At all levels applicants should state their career aspirations and describe how the fellowship will enable them to realise them.