The Newton Fellowships scheme aims to select the best international postdoctoral researchers and fund them to come and work in the UK for two years. It has been set up by the British Academy, Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering and is open to researchers in natural, physical and social sciences and the humanities.

The fellowship pays £24,000 in subsistence costs to the fellow, plus £8,000 per year for research expenses and a one-off payment of £2,000 for relocation expenses. It will also pay 50% of these direct costs to the host institution as a contribution to overheads. In addition to this, the fellow will receive an extra £6,000 per annum for up to 10 years after the end of the award as long as they remain in a research career.

Given these attractive conditions the awards are understandably highly competitive. The final statistics are not yet available for the first round, but we have been informed that there were over 700 applications and only 50 fellowships will be awarded, giving an estimated success rate of 7%.

The deadline for applications in this round is 12th January 2009, and fellowships must start by 1st September 2009. As an administrative note, although the applicant (prospective fellow) and co-applicant (UK based academic) apply together, the form must be submitted online and approved through the University’s central approval system.

If you are interested in finding out more about the scheme, visit the link above or contact the Research Office.