Fellowship applications
Externally funded Fellowships
If you are interested in holding an externally-funded personal fellowship based in CAR, we will be pleased to hear from you. Either contact a CAR member of staff working in a research field related to your own, or contact Prof. Kristen Coppin, the Centre Director, to discuss options. More details (including any internal deadlines) for some of the most popular individual fellowships are given below. If you're particularly interested in applying for a fellowship not listed here, please contact us well in advance of the deadline (before or as soon as the call opens, ideally) as some schemes require a department- or university-wide approval procedure which will need to be followed before we can put you forward.STFC Ernest Rutherford Fellowship (ERF)
A quota for applications for each UK university is applied by STFC. If you wish to apply to hold one of these hosted at the University of Hertfordshire starting in 2026, please see the Ernest Rutherford fellowship information on the UKRI funding finder service for more information on the scheme and the application process and deadlines. We will select the applicants to support within our STFC-imposed quota by an internal evaluation process -- to be considered for this you should contact us to obtain STFC's Expression of Interest (EOI) proforma, identify a member of staff in your area in CAR (the Director of CAR will be happy to advise) and work with them to prepare the EOI. Please submit your completed EOI form and your CV to the Director of CAR (Prof. Kristen Coppin) by our internal deadline this year of Friday July 4th, 2025 (noon UK time) to be given full consideration. The published STFC closing date for the ERF is on Wednesday October 1st, 2025 (16:00 hrs UK time).
Royal Society University Research Fellowship (URF)
Full details of all The Royal Society fellowship schemes can be found on their website; the URF is aimed at outstanding early-career researchers who are ready to lead their own independent research programme, with between 3 and 8 years' postdoctoral experience (career breaks are taken into consideration). If eligible and interested, please express interest in applying for this scheme as early as possible (scheme opens on 15th July 2025), and by 18 July 2025 at the latest for the 2026 intake by contacting the Director of CAR in the first instance, as you will need support from the University of Hertfordshire Research Office for costing up and submitting your application by the published deadline (TBC but usually early September each year). No quota is applied by the Royal Society for this fellowship opportunity.
Future Leaders Fellowships (FLF)
Round 10 of the UKRI FLF scheme has been recently announced, and again is aimed at early career researchers and innovators who are looking to establish or transition to independence across UKRI’s remit (which includes STFC astronomy). There is no minimum or maximum award value and your project can last for up to four years, with the option to apply to renew for a further three years. We recommend reading further details, including the full UKRI-published eligibility and scheme guidance notes before getting in touch. Interested candidates who wish to be considered towards our University's quota (2 applications this year) for Round 10 we would be delighted to hear from you - please contact our School's Associate Dean of Research (ADR), Prof. Pandelis Kourtessis, as soon as possible to discuss your suitability for the scheme and support in principle - and the UH Research Office and/or the Director of CAR to obtain the EOI form (incl a Resume for Research and Innovation CV) that you must submit to the ADR above by noon on March 7th 2025 to be eligible for our University-wide internal application sift. A similar timeline for internal selection will follow future FLF schemes and to register interest please get in touch with the UH Research Office directly - UHResearch "AT" herts.ac.uk. The outcome of the sift will be available thereafter, with full applications from our University quota-selected candidates due 18th of June 2025 (funder deadline).
Royal Astronomical Society Research Fellowship
Applications for this RAS Research Fellowship scheme will be sought every three years, and next in 2027. The purpose of these fellowships is to enable outstanding candidates to pursue research in the UK in the disciplines advanced by the RAS ie astronomy, solar system science, geophysics and closely related branches of these sciences. The Norman Lockyer Fellowship is similar to the RAS fellowship and applications will be next sought in 2025, and 2028. Thus in 2025, the Norman Lockyer Fellowship will be available (for a fellowship starting October 2026), with applications normally due mid-October - so please get in touch with us well in advance of the deadline (~early September) to discuss support your application.