BBSRC Early Independence Fellowships

BBSRC Early Independence Fellowships

Supports early-career United Kingdom bioscientists with fellowships that build independent innovation leadership.

⚠ This may reflect a past cycle — verify the current call on the funder's site.

The BBSRC Early Independence Fellowships (renamed in 2024 from BBSRC Discovery Fellowships) are personal career awards for early-career researchers who hold a doctorate or equivalent and have demonstrated a trajectory toward independent research leadership within the biological sciences. The scheme runs annually; the 2026 round opened 11 February 2026 and closed 22 April 2026, with the next round (the 2027 cohort) expected to open in February 2027 based on established annual cadence. Applications proceed via the UKRI Funding Service through a two-stage outline-then-full process.

Approximately 15 fellowships are awarded per year from a total fund of £9,000,000, implying an average fellowship value around £600,000, though no per-award ceiling is stated. Each fellowship runs for three years at 80% full economic cost funded by BBSRC and 20% covered by the host institution. Part-time arrangements are permitted at a minimum of 0.5 FTE, with duration extended pro rata. Postdoctoral researchers and holders of training fellowships such as Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) awards are eligible to apply. The scheme requires applicants to demonstrate emerging independence and leadership potential, not merely strong publication records under a supervisor's direction.

Only researchers based at UKRI-eligible UK research organisations are eligible as fellows; the scheme is open to researchers across the full BBSRC bioscience remit covering plants, microbes, animals, humans, and enabling technologies. The contact for the scheme is postdoc.fellowships@bbsrc.ukri.org. Because the scheme is annual and competitive, with the ratio of approximately 15 awards from a large pool of early-career researchers in UK biosciences, applicants benefit from early identification of host institution support and a clearly articulated five-year independent research vision.