To enhance our support for both internal and external applicants to prestigious personal awards, the College of Medicine and Health has established a dedicated College Fellowship Academy.
The Fellowship Academy aims to attract the next generation of talent seeking personal awards. The Academy will focus on postdoctoral talent development to secure external research fellowships and equivalent awards, such as MRC Career Development/Clinician Scientist Awards, NIHR Advanced Fellowships, UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships, equivalent Wellcome schemes, and ERC Starter Grants. This also includes the pump-priming programmes such as the Birmingham Springboard fellowship.
The Fellowship Academy will:
- Provide applicants with advice and guidance (e.g. grant clinics, signposting, bid building, interview preparation and post-award mentoring)
- Liaise with programme managers of the relevant funding bodies (e.g. planning and hosting multi-funder events)
- Provide overarching career guidance and care of a growing cadre of externally funded fellows across the College
Key People
While fellowship success entails many transferable skills, there are considerable nuances specific to the different career paths, disciplines and funding bodies which need individualised attention. The leadership team of the Fellowship Academy has a broad range of experience with different funding bodies and fellowship schemes.
Director of Fellowship Academy - Professor Aga Gambus
I have been fortunate to have held a number of fellowships throughout my career; successfully competing for a Sir Henry Wellcome Postdoctoral Fellowship after my PhD, which I followed with an MRC Career Development Award, a Lister Institute for Preventive Medicine Prize and a Wellcome Investigator Award. Equally, I have also had my share of failures, e.g. having been interviewed for MRC Senior Investigator Fellowship in 2019 and ERC Consolidator Grant 2019 and 2020.
I now have significant experience on the other side of the table, too, having acted both as reviewer and on grants and fellowship panels funders across the UK and in Europe, specifically:
1. BBSRC Committee C/D, Pioneer Awards Panel - 2022 - ongoing
2. Wellcome Trust DSV1 - Molecular Mechanisms 2022 and October 2023 - ongoing
3. UKRI Future Leaders Fellow panel member and interviewer - 2023 - ongoing
4. BBSRC Committee C/D, Pioneer Awards Panel. 2022 - ongoing
5. Genetics, genomics and RNAs” of the French National Research Agency (ANR) - 2019-2021
6. French ATIP-Avenir LS1 panel - 2022-23
Meet Professor Gambus
Deputy Director of Fellowship Academy - Professor Helen McGettrick
I a
m a passionate advocate for mentoring and facilitating career development across a researcher’s life-course, and as previous Versus Arthritis Career Development Fellowship awardee I have personal experience of the challenges involved in transitioning to become an independent PI. I have also had my own experience of failure, having been interviewed for a Kennedy Trust Senior Fellowship in 2018.
During my tenure as England Representative on the British Society of Immunology (BSI) Members Forum (2018-2022), we shaped the society’s five-year national strategy for supporting immunology research, creating a roadmap for career development across immunology-based sectors and introducing the BSI Career Enhancement Awards to enable capacity building within the UK Immunology Community. Moreover, I act as a external Career Development/Fellowship mentor for ECR members of BSI and British Society for Rheumatology.
I also have gained significant experience has a grant/fellowship reviewer and am a member of a number of funding panels with the UK and Europe:
1. UKAN - MyAGE – Management Committee - 2024 - present
2. Royal Free London– Research Panel Member - 2023 - present
3. European Commission Expert Panel Member and Rapporteur (H2020-DIAMOND) - 2023 - present
4. Versus Arthritis – Priorities 2023, 2024, 2025 – Accelerating Diagnosis and Treatment Funding Recommendation Panel - 2022-present
5. Arthritis Research UK - Career Development Fellowship Committee - 2022 - present
6. Arthritis Research UK - Foundation Fellowship Committee - 2022 - 2023
7. Arthritis Research UK - PhD Studentship Committee - 2017 - 2022
8. European Commission Expert Evaluator, Panel Member and Rapporteur (H2020-MSCA-IF) - 2016 - present
9. Arthritis Research UK - College of Experts - 2016 - present
Meet Professor McGettrick
Discovery Science Lead - Professor Dylan Owen
I 
was originally a physicist and am now jointly appointed between the College of Medicine and Health and the School of Mathematics having originally started by lab at King’s College London with an ERC Starter Grant. My lab was later funded from a number of BBSRC grants focussed around data-driven biology, technology development and interdisciplinary science.
I hold a number of roles internally including chairing the Research Development Fund (RDF), CMH’s internal funding stream which prioritises pump-prime funding for future grant and fellowship applications. Externally, I sit on the interview panel for the Wellcome Career Development Awards (CDAs) in Arm 1 which mainly handles technology development applications and those related to molecular mechanisms.
I am also a member of the Talent Panel College (TPC) for the UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships and the expert review panel for Cancer Research UK multidisciplinary fellowships/grants was well as the pool of experts for BBSRC grant applications in committees C and D.
Meet Professor Owen
UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship
The UKRI Future Leaders Fellowships (FLF) scheme Round 10 will open in February 2025. The scheme supports early-career researchers and innovators in academia, business, and beyond to advance ambitious research and career development. Funding is awarded for an initial period of four years both to tackle ambitious and challenging research and innovation and to develop the fellow’s career. Funding can be extended for up to a further three years.
Since each institution has a capped number of applications, we are running an internal selection process to identify the proposals which should go forward for submission to UKRI.
We welcome expressions of interest (EOI) from both internal and external candidates. Internal candidates must submit their EOI 31st January. Before starting an EOI, external candidates should contact the Fellowship Academy for further information on the application process. External candidates must have registered their interest to apply with the Fellowship Academy by 3rd January 2025.
For further information about requirements for the EOI and the onwards process, please Contact us.
The Birmingham Springboard Fellowship
The Birmingham Springboard Fellowship is a new competitive scheme which aims to support high-calibre post-doctoral researchers to develop proposals for submission to prestigious fellowships schemes.
The postholder will work in a high-quality research environment and will be sponsored by a senior mentor for development of their independent research within the strategic areas of research in the College of Medicine and Health. The postholder is expected to submit their independent fellowship application within the first 12 months of appointment and if/as successful, move into the fellowship role on a new contract within the two years.
Recent Fellowship Successes
Upcoming Events
We will regularly update upcoming events and how we can support you. Please check regularly to see what might be most appropriate for you to attend.
125th Anniversary Fellows and Chairs
In 2025, we celebrate 125 years of University status by Royal Charter.
One of the ways we are celebrating the 125th anniversary is by significantly investing in the future by appointing 100 new Anniversary Fellows and 25 new Anniversary Chairs.
Applications are currently open and will close on Sunday 12th January 2025.
For more information, please visit our Birmingham Fellows and Chairs website:
125th Anniversary Opportunities
CMH Fellowship Academy - November and December 2024
We're delighted to kick off some of the new activities the Fellowship Academy has planned. We invite you to join us as we:
- Have a deeper dive into the different fellowship schemes available
- Hear from those who currently hold fellowships
- Look at how to best prepare yourself for a fellowship application
- Perform CV checks with FA leads
- Focus on narrative CV writing
- Show you how to access RSSD support and use worktribe
- Pitch-to-Peers
Register for the event
Internal Funding
Horizon Europe Development Grant
The University is offering development grants (up to £5,000) to support the participation of our researchers in Horizon Europe proposals across all activities of the programme.
Grants are meant to enable participation in Horizon Europe applications that would not otherwise be possible without the additional support.
The fund is intended to be agile and responsive with a quick turnaround for decisions and allocation of funds. It is open to all disciplines across all five Colleges without any predetermined allocation.
For further information on how to apply, please visit our SharePoint site:
Horizon Europe Development Grant
Research Development Fund
The Research Development Fund (RDF) provides financial support to underpin career development and research innovation within the College of Medicine and Health (CMH). This funding is a central College resource, overseen by a cross-College committee.
It is available to all research-active staff employed by the College except PhD and MSc students. We encourage applications for collaborative projects, but at least one applicant must hold a CMH appointment.
The initiative particularly aims to help early and mid-career researchers to generate the strong, novel data and high-impact publications that will provide a firm foundation for future grant proposals.
For further information on how to apply, please visit our SharePoint site:
CMH Research Development Fund
Contact and Further Information
For any queries regarding the new Fellowship Academy, please e-mail cmhfellowshipacademy@contacts.bham.ac.uk.
To give the Fellowship Academy feedback or to suggest workshops, support or resources that you feel would be beneficial please fill out our anonymous form.
CMH Fellowship Academy Suggestions Form
For further information on researcher training and development, please visit our Early Career Researcher (ECR) Hub.
Interested in joining the College of Medicine and Health? Please register your interest using our online form and see how the Fellowship Academy can help you with a fellowship application to join the college.
Register your interest