Early Independence: Ernest Rutherford Fellowships 2026
A fellowship for early-career researchers building an independent STFC research niche.
This is an Early Independence Fellowship for researchers aiming to establish their own research niche and independence. It supports excellent investigator-led research across the breadth of the STFC remit.
The fellowship is for people who hold a doctorate or can evidence equivalent research experience, including researchers, innovators, research technical professionals and research software engin…
In scope: excellent investigator-led research that affords scope for original work and aligns to STFC strategic objectives and core business areas: astronomy, solar and planetary science; particle physics; particle astrophysics; nuclear physics; accelerator science; computational science; and quantum technologies. Multidisciplinary applications crossing into other research council areas are welcome where the primary focus falls within STFC remit. Projects may develop original theoretical and analytical outputs, or design and build experiments, instrumentation or software that fundamentally underpin and further research in STFC core business areas. Not funded: mentoring time; publication costs for peer-reviewed journal articles and conference papers; and costs for PDRAs or PhD students. The fellowship is for an independent research project.
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