£250 million endowment for new Royal Society Fellowships

The Royal Society intends to deliver a new mid-career Fellowship, funded by a £250 million endowment from Government. The funding will support outstanding researchers and scientists for up to ten years to pursue ground-breaking discovery-led research in STEM subjects.

The new Fellowships, which will launch in 2024 will be called the Royal Society Faraday Discovery Fellowships.

President of the Royal Society, Adrian Smith said; “The Faraday Discovery Fellowships are a welcome addition to the UK’s science funding landscape. The Government’s £250 million endowment shows a real commitment to the kind of secure, long-term investment that is vital to the UK’s success.”

“The UK is a world leader in research and to maintain and build on that success we have to be able to attract and retain outstanding talent. Supporting the best people and their teams to pursue their research will deliver breakthroughs that will benefit everyone.”

Fellowship awards will be made on the basis of excellence and it is anticipated that there will be at least 30 awards in total, over at least 6 years. The value of each Fellowship will be up to £8 million to support individual researchers and their teams. Awards will be open to applicants from around the world who want to pursue their research in the UK.

The scheme will be open to all STEM areas, including the Government’s priority science and technology areas, with two broad themes – Frontiers of Science and Science for Resilience and Prosperity.

The Royal Society and others in the research community have repeatedly identified a funding gap for mid-career level researchers in the UK and have previously called for funding to fill this gap.

Full details of the scheme will be announced early in 2024.