Friday 20th of September, 09:30 - 12:30, Bayes Meeting room 1.35

Facilitator: Dr Joanna Young, Electv Training

Attracting funding is a key part of a career in research or translation. If you are aiming for a career in research it is crucial to publish regularly, be independent and attract your own funding. If you are looking to pursue translational opportunities it is also vital to be able to apply for funds and grants.

Luckily, you can start to do this early in your research career: if you are awarded a postdoctoral fellowship, not only will you stand out from the crowd, but you will demonstrate that you can propose innovative projects that attract research funding - this is a key requirement for a successful academic career.

How do you go about the process of applying for your own postdoctoral research fellowship? There is more to it than filling in an application form: you will have to propose and design an innovative project, identify a senior researcher to advise you and approach them about being involved in your project, convince the application reviewers that you are the right person, name referees and more. To be successful requires planning and preparation and you will need to use your network and be proactive.

In addition we will touch on knowledge exchange and enterprise thinking: how could you translate your research in a way that attracts the interest from external organisations such as industry/ NHS/ charities?

This half day workshop will include case studies, individual exercises and the instructor’s own experience of successfully obtaining a postdoctoral research fellowship.

At the end of this workshop participants will have:

• an understanding of what steps are involved, time frames, what a fellowship involves, international options, how to apply, the different types of fellowships available;
• considered knowledge exchange and enterprise thinking for their project;
• planned out a project and application strategy using the unique Electv® funding planning tool.