Our winning proposals: Future leaders need their A game

Lock down every aspect of a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship bid to secure a win

Top tips:

• Take your time over major early-careers grants bids; the best ones will have gestated over years, and the application alone may take around six months to complete.
• Find preliminary peer reviewers from outside your field and who are willing to pick holes in your bid.
• All sections must be completed to an exceptional standard in major bids; there are no sections that can be breezed through.
• Consider talking with human resources staff in your university to get a better understanding of what leadership is.
• Bids must contain an element of daring and uniqueness or they will not stand out.

UK Research and Innovation’s Future Leaders Fellowships offer up to seven years’ funding of up to £1.2 million, allocated on a 4+3 basis, with a review in the fourth year. They are open to early-career researchers anywhere in the world who have secured the support of a UK institution, where they will be based. The aim is to enable fellows to establish their independence in research or innovation.