A range of opportunities to nurture professional growth and support a skilled, diverse and inclusive research culture.
Alzheimer’s Research UK is rolling out a mentorship scheme across all 12 Network Centres. Mentees will be matched with mentors from a different Network Centre to their own.
We hope that the scheme will help ECRs in their career development and progression, encourage collaborations, and facilitate successful cross-network relationships. The scheme will be administered centrally by the charity. Please keep an eye on the website and Researcher Newsletter for updates.
Application for the first round of the mentorship scheme is now closed.
Read a blog by Dr Josie Fullerton about her experience with the mentorship programme.
The award, worth £25,000 in research expenses with a £1,500 personal prize, is presented each year to the most outstanding early career researcher in the field of biomedical dementia research. Applications open around July each year.
We invite ECRs to observe the Grant Review Board meetings, which occurs twice a year, to gain insight into the grant review process.
Read a blog by Dr Lauren Walker about her experience or listen to a podcast from observer Dr Mike Daniels.
Applications to observe the January 2023 meeting is now open. Apply before Tuesday 10 January 2023.
The Board will meet virtually over two days on 19-20 Jan 2023. Observers will be joining online. In this round, the Board will be reviewing applications for Research Fellowships, Clinical Research Fellowships, and Pilot Projects.
We are looking for applications from Early Career Researchers:
- from final-year PhD students to Senior Research Fellows
- who can display clear intention of applying for the relevant grants discussed this round (Senior Research Fellowships and Major Project Grants will be reviewed in June 2023 and we encourage those interested to apply next time).
- from groups underrepresented at senior academic levels, including women and those from minority ethnic backgrounds. We hope to support researchers from diverse backgrounds and experiences.
We will be piloting the set-up of groups of ECRs, led by a mentor, that meet regularly to support each other on key areas such as career planning, writing grant or job applications, and developing leadership skills.
As part of your funding application (for Fellowships, PhDs and Major Project Grants), we encourage you to ask for costs for ECR training, if it is not already being offered at your host institution. The training must help you advance in your dementia research career.
You can ask for up to £1,000 annually per person for this training, just remember to justify these costs in your application.
The costs can be for career development, technical and research skills training. Examples include:
- Leadership training, for example the EMBO leadership and management course.
- Grant management skills.
- Budget and people management.
- Reproducibility and integrity.
- Equality, diversity, and inclusion.
At Alzheimer’s Research UK we aim to support and accommodate flexible working arrangements for staff employed on any of our grants, if the employing institution agrees to the request. Please get in touch with our Research team prior to submission if you intend to undertake an award part-time.
If you’re funded by us and your circumstances change, you can request flexible and part-time working. We will try to accommodate changes to your grant, as long as they are in line with the original objectives and the employing organisation agrees.
When applying for ARUK funding, reviewers will take career breaks, part-time working or other commitments into account when assessing your record of outputs, research achievements and career progression.
This may include, but is not limited to, clinical and teaching commitments, secondments, volunteering, part-time working, time spent in different sectors, periods of parental or long-term sick leave, caring responsibilities, or other personal circumstances. You may also wish to detail any periods where you were unable to work or where your work was disrupted because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
If you’re funded by us and are planning to take a period of leave, the Alzheimer’s Research UK Research team can support you by pausing or extending your grant.
Researchers from outside the UK are eligible to apply for a fast-tracked visa if they are named on a grant from Alzheimer’s Research UK. The grant must be for more than two years and have a value of over £30,000 per year.
International researchers can apply for a Global Talent visa via two routes:
- Endorsed funder route
- Global Talent Visa fast-track Fellowship Route
The following ARUK Fellowship schemes are eligible for the Global Talent Visa fast-track Fellowship Route:
- Senior Research Fellowship
- Research Fellowship
- Clinical Research Fellowship
- Clinical Research Training Fellowship
Holders of any of these Fellowships can apply for fast-track Global Talent Visa endorsement up to 5 years after the end of their fellowship.
More information about the UK Global Talent Visa Fast-track can be found on the UKRI website.
