2019 Herchel Smith Postdoctoral Research Fellowships
Deadline: January 31, 2019.
The Fellowships are funded from the University’s residual share of Herchel Smith’s estate. These prestigious Postdoctoral Fellowships attract the very best young researchers to Cambridge. Each year the Univeristy offers between 7 and 8 awards to the outstanding researchers in the areas of biological and physical sciences.
The Fund Managers try to ensure that the terms and conditions of the awards match other leading UK Research Fellowships. It is important to the Fund Managers that Herchel Smith Fellows have the best Cambridge experience and try to arrange links with Colleges so that Fellows enjoy the benefits of access to inter-department contacts and college facilities.
The fields in which the Fellowships can be advertised fall mainly within the University’s Schools of the Biological Sciences and the Physical Sciences in view of Dr Smith’s stipulation that the awards should be in the fields of Pure Mathematics, Physics, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry or Molecular Biology and related fields in the Experimental Sciences. The Schools determine each year the fields in which awards should be advertised and the Managers determine the number of Fellowships to be awarded in these areas depending on the strength of the field of applications.
ELIGIBILITY
1. The Fellowships are open to all doctoral or equivalent graduates from any university
but normally excludes those who have obtained their PhD, or equivalent, from
Harvard or Cambridge Universities. Only when there were significant personal
mitigating factors will applicants with a PhD (or equivalent) from Harvard or
Cambridge be considered.
2. The Fellowships are open to all nationalities. Where relevant, candidates should note that it is their own responsibility to ensure that they have complied fully with UK
immigration and visa requirements prior to taking up a Fellowship.
3. Applicants must have received a PhD, or equivalent doctoral-level research degree.
If an applicant has not yet formally received their degree, they must present
evidence of having completed the academic requirements before commencing the
Fellowship.
4. There is no age limit but Herchel Smith Fellowships are restricted to those at the start of their research careers and applicants must normally be within three years of receiving their PhD degree on the date on which they would take up tenure of their Fellowship at Cambridge.
FUNDING
1. The initial annual stipend for a Herchel Smith Fellow will be determined in the light of experience but will be within the range of £32,236-£39,609 per annum for those
starting from 1 October 2019. This will be subject to annual review and adjustment.
Fellows will be employed on the University’s normal terms and conditions,
including pay, superannuation and National Insurance.
2. Fellows will be eligible to join the Universities Superannuation Scheme (USS) and encouraged to explore a nonstipendiary affiliation to a Cambridge College. Associated college affiliation expenses of up to £500 per annum can be reimbursed.
3. Fellows are eligible for an annual amount of up to £15,000 (£13,000 for the Fellowship in Pure Mathematics) to support direct research costs including equipment,
consumables, conference attendance and UK fieldwork. This grant is payable directly to the host department / laboratory every year, hence all normal research expense claims should be directed to them.
APPLICATION
Applications for 2019/20 are invited by the relevant department / school individually, by advertisement on the University job portal (www.jobs.cam.ac.uk) and must be submitted online. The specific subject application deadlines and links are enclosed below:
- Biological Sciences: Deadline 31 December 2018 (http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/19321/)
- Extreme Universe – Physics, Astronomy, Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics: Deadline 19 December 2018 (http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/19264/)
- Organic/Biological Chemistry: Deadline 21 November 2018 (http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/19095/)
- Pure Maths and Mathematical Statistics: Deadline 14 December 2018 (http://www.jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/19280/)
Informal enquires can be directed to paulina.pieprzyca@admin.cam.ac.uk while discipline-related enquires will need to be directed to the respective department. Candidates are encouraged to contact potential research supervisors before submitting their application and successful awards will be conditional upon acceptance by the respective supervisor and/or department.
OFFICIAL LINK
