FAQs

Applicants should complete and submit an online application form via the Imperial Jobs website. The next deadline for submission is Monday 21 August 2023 (23:59 BST).

For further information about the eligibility requirements, please see the 'How to apply' section on the Information for Applicants webpage.

Note that Departments may set their own internal deadlines that precede the official College deadline: please check internal deadlines with the relevant Department. Contact details can be found here.

For further information about the eligibility requirements, please see the 'Who can apply' section on the Information for applicants webpage.

The timeline for the 2024 ICRF competition (for fellowships starting in 2025) is:

Note: it is not possible to defer offers of fellowships for future years

As part of the application process, it is your responsibility to find a sponsor. Applications that are not fully supported by an identified Sponsor will not be considered.

Sponsors must be senior, permanent members of staff within the Academic or Research Families at Imperial College, most likely Principal Investigators, and must be in a position to provide equipment and space to Imperial College Research Fellows. Honorary members of staff are not eligible to be Sponsors. Please see Finding a sponsor for further support. 

It is each applicant's responsibility to find a suitable sponsor to support their application. The Imperial website provides a good resource to help you identify the right person. Please see Finding a sponsor for further support.

Sponsors are required to promote your growth and independence by acting as a mentor and contributing to your career development. It is also the responsibility of Imperial College London Sponsors to ensure that you have met all regulatory and legal requirements in order to conduct the research, and that all necessary licenses and approvals have been obtained before the research commences.

Your sponsor (and co-sponsor where appropriate) is also responsible for providing relevant equipment and space for your research proposal and to ensure that there are no additional costs for the College.

Please see Information for sponsors for further infomration.

Where it is justified in the application, you may spend up to twelve months in total visiting other research institutions and/ or in industry including overseas. Six months is the maximum time which can be spent at any one institution. Where this is requested, evidence must be provided to reflect each partner's willingness to host the fellow. Exceptionally, if a co-sponsor is based at The Francis Crick Institute then the full twelve months can be spent there and the partner's willingness to host is covered by the specific additional form (Francis Crick Institute Co-sponsor Details).

No further funds are available for travel or subsistence above the research expenses awarded as part of the Fellowship so if you undertake visits which were not planned at proposal stage, you may need to secure funding from another source.

Departments participating in both the general ICRF scheme and AI in Science ICRFs.

For candidates that indicate their application as AI in Science, the application process is no more or less competitive than the general ICRF scheme. In other words, candidates will not affect their chances of securing an ICRF by tagging their application as being AI in Science. If candidates are not selected as part of the AI in Science theme, then their ICRF application will nonetheless be considered as part of the general ICRF scheme without prejudice. Candidates from these departments should select the AI in Science theme if they want the particular benefits associated with this theme.

Departments only participating in the ICRF competition under the AI in Science Theme.

Candidates should note that there are three AI in Science ICRFs with one anticipated for each of the Faculties of Medicine, Natural Sciences and Engineering.

As a sponsor you can only support one fellowship application and sponsor one fellow at any one time. If you are approached by more than one applicant, you will need to make a decision based on the quality of the applicants and the scientific quality of their proposed research.

You are not obliged to accept a request to be a sponsor. If you chose not to sponsor an applicant, it is at your discretion whether you provide feedback about your decision.

It is the responsibility of the applicant to find sponsorship. If you are interested in becoming a sponsor and can identify potential applicants, you could encourage them to apply for the scheme. If you have you any questions or would like to discuss how you can best support the Imperial College Research Fellowship scheme, email researchfellowships@imperial.ac.uk.