We are proud to support the Royal Society University Research fellowship programme, designed to aid researchers with 3-8 years post-PhD experience who do not hold a permanent academic post. This fellowship enables early career scientists to become leaders in their field.
Royal Society University Research fellowship
Status: Internal deadline for expression of interest: midnight (24:00) on 5 July 2026.
Application process: In preparation for this funding scheme opening we invite expressions of interest from those wishing to apply for a Royal Society University Research fellowship with our Physics and Astronomy Department.
"The Royal Society University Research Fellowship is unmatched as an early career fellowship and has provided me with 8 years of funding, resources and support to allow me to define an independent direction in which to take my research with a team of my own to see it through. With Manchester having one of the UK's leading particle physics groups, applying for the URF at Manchester has given me a great foundation on which to build my career".
Dr Alex Keshavarzi / Royal Society University Research Fellow
Initial enquiries
To ensure the submission of high-quality proposals, the department conducts an internal selection process for all major fellowship applications.
Initial enquiries should be sent to the staff member for your area of research:
- Accelerator Physics - Darren Graham
- JCBA: Cosmology - Michael Brown
- JBCA: Pulsar, Exoplanets and Time Domain - Ben Stappers
- JBCA: Galactic Astrophysics - Clive Dickinson
- JBCA: Extra-Galactic Astrophysics - Christopher Conselice
- Biophysics - Jian Lu
- Condensed Matter - Andrei Golov
- Nuclear Physics - Kieran Flanagan
- Particle (Experiment) - Andrew Pilkington
- Particle (Theory) - Jeffrey Forshaw
- Quantum Technologies for Physics - Mark Dickinson
- Soft Matter - Anne Juel
- Theory (excluding particle) - Ahsan Nazir
Expressions of interest
- Statement on the Department to be considered (either Physics and Astronomy, or Earth and Environmental Sciences, or both) and why.
- Confirmation that you are eligible for the scheme (check the Royal Society University Research fellowship website for eligibility details).
- A CV (maximum 2 pages), including:
- Research activity (clarifying contributions to teams where relevant).
- Career breaks where relevant.
- Teaching, service/leadership, industrial engagement/knowledge exchange.
- List of publications (list all publications, and identify your top 5 relevant publications with a less than 5-line explanation for each explaining why it is important and what your role was in the work).
- Outline research proposal (maximum 2 pages).
For the Royal Society URF the departmental panel will use the following criteria to assess your expression of interest:
- The scientific track record of the applicant commensurate with research experience: past achievements, research career to date, publication record, likely contribution to research field, future potential to become a research leader.
- The scientific merit, originality, significance and quality of proposed research project and likelihood of achieving goals.
- The suitability of Manchester for the research and alignment with Manchester priorities.
Expressions of interest should be submitted to frank.mcgrory@manchester.ac.uk and copied to the appropriate senior member of academic staff above.
If you are selected as a Manchester-supported candidate, we will work with you to prepare the full application.
Expected date Manchester will make offers to support: 17 July 2026.
We support a range of fellowships
Our Physics Department supports postdoctoral, tenure-track, and established researchers in their fields, including Computational and Data Science fellowships.