Postdoctoral

There are two sources of funding available to support postdoctoral research in the group:

• research grants won by members of the group and used to employ postdoctoral researchers, and 
• ad hominem fellowships which are won by individuals outside Queen Mary, and used to fund their own research here. 

Grant-funded positions

Funding for postdoctoral research positions in the group comes from the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), the European Commission, the Royal Society, as well as from private Foundations. Unfortunately, the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) no longer includes string theory in their remit.  

Ad Hominem Fellowhips

There are also a number of Fellowships available to support postdoctoral research, and we encourage applications for these. Due to the competitive nature of these Fellowships we will only be able to support a very limited number of applicants for each. We will be making decisions on this four weeks prior to the closing date for each Fellowship. Potential applicants should contact us prior to these dates. If you know a particular member of staff please contact them directly, otherwise contact Dr Sanjaye Ramgoolam. Further information about these Fellowships can be obtained from the links below. 

EPSRC and STFC Postdoctoral Fellowships

As mentioned earlier, the EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) no longer funds research in string theory. In the past, the STFC (Science and Technology Facilities Council) offered two or three-year postdoctoral Fellowships. However, this programme was terminated a few years ago, and at the moment we do not know if it will be restarted. Please consult the STFC Postdocs webpage and the EPSRC Fellowships webpage for further information.  

Five-year Advanced Research Fellowships

The STFC also award a small number of five-year Ernest Rutherford Fellowships, with the possibility of them being extended if permanent jobs are offered by the institution at the completion of the award. More details of these awards can be found from the following links: STFC Fellowships.

The EPSRC also used to offer a small number of prestigious Career Acceleration Fellowships, however support for string theory and more in general theoretical particle physics is no longer available from this research council. 

Royal Society Fellowships

The Royal Society offers a number of prestigious Fellowships under three different programmes: 

• Royal Society University Research Fellowships, which are tenable for 5 years and renewable in two instalments up to 10 years. These are mainly for outstanding researchers at an advanced postdoctoral level. 
• Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowships, mainly designed for people who need flexible working patterns due to personal commitments. These are for tenable for four years. 
• Newton International Fellowships, two-year fellowships for non-UK outstanding researchers at an early stage of their career.

European Commission Fellowships

The European Union offers a number of prestigious Fellowships under several programmes, specifically: 

• Starting grants, for research leaders who wish to start or consolidate their research.
• Intra-european Fellowships for Career Development.
• International Incoming Fellowships.

Other Funding Opportunities

There are other opportunities for postdoctoral research funding at Queen Mary. These include:

• Royal Commission for the Exhibition of 1851 Fellowships (three-year fellowships, for early career researchers; subject to annual renewal).

• Boncompagni-Ludovisi Fellowships, for italian or swedish researchers. 

• Della Riccia Fellowships, for italian citizens. 

We warmly encourage outstanding researchers with the appropriate qualifications to apply for these Fellowships at Queen Mary.