UKRI Policy Fellowships 2025 – Bridge the Gap Between Research and Public Policy

The UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Policy Fellowships 2025 at the moment are open for functions.

Spend 18 months as a UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) core coverage fellow, a Natural Hazards and Resilience coverage fellow or a What Works Innovation fellow to tell coverage to deal with urgent nationwide and world challenges.

You will:

• co-design analysis with the host organisation to tell coverage on a precedence space
• assist enhance the change of information between coverage and tutorial establishments

You should:

• be based mostly at a UK based mostly using organisation eligible for UKRI funding
• have a PhD or equal expertise
• be a researcher in an eligible self-discipline in accordance with the particular place utilized for

Award vary:£180,000 – £280,000

Closing date:15 July 2025 4:00pm UK time

About the Programme

The UKRI Policy Fellowships are 12-month full-time or as much as 24-month part-time placements embedded inside host organisations. Fellows work on an outlined space of coverage curiosity, co-produced with the host, with the aim of producing sensible insights, suggestions, and proof that immediately inform authorities decision-making.

This programme gives researchers a uncommon alternative to:

• Contribute to the growth of impactful public coverage.

• Gain sensible expertise inside coverage environments.

• Develop a deeper understanding of how authorities departments use proof and analysis.

• Build lasting networks throughout academia, authorities, and the wider coverage ecosystem.

Eligibility Criteria

To lead a venture, you have to be based mostly at an eligible organisation. Check if your employing organisation is eligible.

Who Can Apply

• Applicants have to be based mostly at an eligible UKRI analysis organisation (e.g., UK college or analysis institute).

• Open to teachers with a PhD or equal analysis expertise related to the chosen coverage fellowship space.

• Applicants should not be at the moment enterprise or have already accomplished a UKRI coverage fellowship.

Career Stage Requirements

Definitions:

• Early-career researchers: Not but totally unbiased; might not have led their very own initiatives.

• Mid-career researchers: Have demonstrated independence (e.g., venture management, important publications), usually consists of assistant or affiliate professors.

Person Specification

Applicants should reveal:

• Subject-matter experience related to the particular fellowship.

• Strong interdisciplinary or analytical expertise.

• Ability to work collaboratively and ship outcomes shortly.

• Excellent communication expertise to convey advanced concepts to non-academic audiences.

• Experience making use of analysis outdoors tutorial settings.

• Stakeholder engagement and collaboration expertise.

• Interest in working inside a authorities or policy-making surroundings.

• Capacity to steer information change between analysis and coverage communities.

Additional Requirements

• Must meet any particular standards or safety clearance listed in the host organisation’s Fellowship Opportunity Description.

• Fellows should:

  • Sign a proper fellowship settlement with the host and using organisation.

  • Comply with related insurance policies (e.g., Civil Service Code, Official Secrets Act if relevant).

  • Be out there for in-person attendance and journey as required by the fellowship and cohort-wide actions.

• Applicants claiming PhD equivalency should reveal postdoctoral-level analysis expertise, not simply enrolment in a PhD programme.

Institutional Support

The using organisation should:

• Provide mentorship, together with assist with venture growth, engagement, and knowledge/methodological assist the place wanted.

Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion

• UKRI encourages functions from various backgrounds and profession paths.

• Flexible preparations, together with part-time work and assist for carers or these getting back from profession breaks, are supported.

• Disability and accessibility lodging can be found throughout the application course of.

Duration

The period of this award is eighteen months, comprising:

• three months inception section for venture arrange
• 12 months principal placement with host
• three months information change section

All fellowships inside this funding alternative are anticipated to start out in February 2026.

Your begin date shouldn’t be earlier than 1 February 2026. Your grant must be a proposed period of 18 months. Please be sure the begin date and period is consistent with the required begin of the inception section and period of the core placement for the fellowship you’re making use of for, as detailed in the particular fellowship positions.

Key Dates

Application deadline: 15 July 2025 at 4:00pm UK time.

You will be unable to apply after this time.

Make positive you’re conscious of and comply with any inner institutional deadlines.

Following the submission of your application to the funding alternative, your application can’t be modified, and functions is not going to be returned for modification. If your application doesn’t comply with the steerage, it might be rejected.

Application Process

Start application

To apply:

1. Review the Fellowship Opportunity Descriptions on the UKRI website.

2. Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, choose your using organisation, confirm your electronic mail deal with, and set a password. If your using organisation is just not listed, electronic mail assist@funding-service.ukri.org
   Please enable a minimum of 10 working days in your using organisation to be added to the Funding Service. We strongly counsel that in case you are asking UKRI so as to add your using organisation to the Funding Service to allow you to apply to this chance, you additionally create an organisation Administration Account. This will probably be wanted to permit the acceptance and administration of any grant that is perhaps provided to you.
3. Your Project title have to be the Specific Position Title, indicated at the high of the particular fellowship place, for instance, DBT Economy Growth and Productivity Analytical Fellowship.
4. Answer questions immediately in the textual content packing containers. You can save your solutions and come again to finish them or work offline and return to repeat and paste your solutions. If we want you to add a doc, comply with the add directions in the Funding Service. All questions and evaluation standards are listed in the How to apply part on this Funding finder web page.
5. Allow sufficient time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view earlier than sending to your analysis workplace.
6. Send the accomplished application to your analysis workplace for checking. They will return it to you if it wants enhancing.
7. Your analysis workplace will submit the accomplished and checked application to UKRI.

Where indicated, you may also reveal parts of your responses in visible kind if related.

When together with pictures, you could:

• present a descriptive caption or legend for every picture instantly beneath it in the textual content field (this have to be outdoors the picture and counts in direction of your phrase restrict)
• insert every new picture on a brand new line
• use information smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format

Images ought to solely be used to convey essential visible info that can’t simply be put into phrases. The following should not permitted, and your application could also be rejected in case you embrace:

• sentences or paragraphs of textual content
• tables
• extreme portions of pictures

A couple of phrases are permitted the place the picture would lack readability with out the contextual phrases, comparable to a diagram, the place textual content labels are required for an axis or graph column.

For extra steerage on the Funding Service, see:

Applications will probably be reviewed by a joint panel of UKRI representatives and host organisations. Selection will probably be based mostly on alignment with the chosen FOD, analysis excellence, potential affect, and the applicant’s capability to contribute to and profit from the fellowship.

Full steerage and application supplies can be found on the UKRI website.

Benefits for fellows

The UKRI Policy Fellowship scheme gives an thrilling alternative to develop your profession and improve your understanding of making use of analysis in authorities contexts.

Benefits for profitable fellows will embrace:

• the alternative to undertake innovative analysis, improve information and probably entry new and novel knowledge
• the alternative to tell decision-making on the most urgent coverage issues of our time
• a greater understanding of presidency evaluation, operations, policymaking, knowledge utilization, and precedence areas for analysis
• the capability to construct your community of coverage and analytical professionals inside authorities and throughout the What Works Network
• actively taking part in a cohort of coverage fellows to boost affect potential and additional profession growth
• the alternative to entry a public coverage targeted mentoring provide
• the potential to affect future policy-academia collaborations
• the alternative for publication throughout coverage and academia, topic to clearance processes

During your placement you’ll have line administration and assist from the host organisation, and all through your fellowship additionally, you will frequently interact with and obtain assist from UKRI.

In addition, in case you are an early profession researcher you’ll profit from funded mentorship assist from a extra senior researcher in your using organisation.

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For extra alternatives, please go to Opportunities For Youth.

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