Terms and conditions

Conditions of award​

  • A minimum of half of the URF award (£10k out of £20k) must be used to buy out the University Research Fellow from teaching, assessment, administrative, and/or clinical duties, to allow them to dedicate time on the stated activity.
  • With prior agreement from the sponsor (normally the head of school), a maximum of half of the URF award (£10k out of £20k) can be used to cover expenses related to the URF’s stated project, including, but not limited to, travel, equipment, or other research related expenses.
  • It is expected that ongoing research commitments such as research council grants and supervisingPGR students during the award year must be continued.
  • Any changes of circumstance or topic must be reported to RIS as soon as possible.
  • URF resources must redound to the central URF budget and are not to be used by schools/departments for other purposes if the stated research cannot be undertaken as envisaged and agreed at time of award.
  • It is possible, but not normal, for a URF award to span two separate academic years if a case can be made that the school/department's teaching block structure is not readily alterable. Note that in such cases it is not possible for RIS to split the funding over two academic years, and different local provisions would need to be put into place.
  • A URF Report Form‌ must be submitted by the December following the completion of the URF period. URF Report form

Criteria for award 

​The selection process (see process flowchart) is governed by the following criteria. In some cases, Faculties or Schools may have their own additional criteria to guide the process.  

  • Quality, coherence, and feasibilityof the proposal
  • Significance of the expected outputs of the activity
  • As a guide, around 80% of fellowship awards within each Faculty would normally be expected to support these areas, with the remainder used to support other Faculty strategic priorities or REF pipeline building
  • Importance of the award relative to the applicant's career stage
  • Likelihood that the proposed activity will lead to securing external income in the future
  • Environmental sustainability of the proposed activity
  • EDI considerations

Given these criteria, unsuccessful nominations should not be interpreted by nominees as a negative judgment on the part of the selection panel. Many excellent proposals are unable to be funded given the competition and the need to fund a range of projects and a diverse and inclusive research community.