ECRs: Positioning Yourself for a Fellowship

Kay Guccione

Last week Dr Kay Guccione (Sheffield) spoke to the Early Career Researcher Network about the difficult task of positioning yourself for a fellowship when you’re just starting out. Her insights came from a project she had undertaken, ‘Fellowship Ahoy!’, which looked at the key behaviours of those who had been successful in securing a fellowship.

“I was frustrated at hearing people who had worked really hard say, ‘I was just really lucky’” she began. ‘It’s not all about luck, individual agency is a major component in recent models of academic and researcher development.’

Bonfire of the Sanities

Since the EU Referendum last year, there has been a lot of uncertainty about what it will mean for UK academics. In the last edition of the Research Services' newsletter, Research Active, we looked at known unknowns, and why European funding is crucial to the University—and the UK as a whole.

Current Situation

The EU has made it clear that, until the UK actually leaves the Union, it is still a full Member State, with all ‘rights and obligations’: ‘UK legal entities [are eligible] to participate and receive funding in Horizon 2020 actions,’ it confirmed.

Notes from Wellcome Trust Visit

The self-styled 'largest owner of marinas in the UK' came to the University last month to talk about what was on the Wellcome horizon, but also offered help and advice for potential applicants.

Roger Blake, the External Liaison Manager, and Paul Woodgate, the Portfolio Developer for Humanities and Social Science, started by outlining some recent and imminent changes at the Trust.

Responding to Reviewers' Comments

Prof Sally Sheldon

Yesterday we re-ran a session for the Early Career Researcher Network on 'Getting Published: targeting top journals and writing book proposals.' It was led by Prof Sally Sheldon (KLS) and Prof Mick Tuite (Biosciences). I've written up some notes from it before, but I wanted to add to these by highlighting an important aspect of the process: how to respond to reviewers' comments. 'We don’t take it seriously enough,’ suggested Sally, and yet it's crucial if you want to get published - or funded.