Managed External Calls

Open Calls

RAEng Research Fellowships

The Royal Academy of Engineering have launched this year’s Research Fellowships scheme. The Academy welcomes applications from early-career researchers worldwide who have been awarded their PhD in the last four years.  Each application is capped at a maximum contribution from the Academy of £625,000 over the five-year period, at 80% of full economic costs. Applicants must have a PhD, which was awarded (or the PhD has been unconditionally approved) no more than four years before the submission deadline: Wednesday 18 September 2024.

Please note, there are two changes this year:

• Unlike previous rounds, the 2024/25 round would only include the Research Fellowship scheme and the Engineering for Development Research Fellowship (EDRF) scheme has been removed. However, they will continue to accept applications under the EDRF umbrella in the current round and they would be treated no differently to Research Fellowship applications.
• Applicants can now apply if they hold a permanent academic position, previously, holding a permanent academic post would make a candidate ineligible.

The College is permitted to submit up to 4 applicants to RAEng, but 2 of those must be from an under-represented group.

Departments are permitted to submit 2 applications each to the internal process (to be submitted by the HoD or their delegate) to researchoffice.fundingstrategy@imperial.ac.uk by Tuesday 14 May at 1700.

Applicants should include the following papers:

• Completed RAEng Research Fellowship Application form 2024 (Word doc) and any permitted supplements (e.g. figures and Gantt chart, see form for full details)
• Up to 3 letters of support from collaborators
• Letter of support from HoD

Please note that Worktribe costings ARE NOT REQUIRED at this stage, they will only need to be completed by candidates selected to submit to RAEng.

Timeline for this opportunity:

If any prospective candidates have further queries regarding the opportunity, please contact Mark Bambury 

Recurring calls

AXA Chair and Fellowship

For further detail contact researchoffice.fundingstrategy@imperial.ac.uk

There is one opportunities per year to put someone forward for an AXA Chair or Fellowship position (note Fellowship calls are for specific research areas). Imperial is only permitted to submit one candidate per call, and the process is managed centrally. More information about these opportunities can be found on the AXA Chair position webpage or the Fellowships webpage

AXA Chair

2023 round completed. 2024 timing TBC; normally launched in Autumn

The Chair scheme is primarily to attract an individual to the College and Departments should initially approach researchoffice.fundingstrategy@imperial.ac.uk stating the individual that they wish to attract and the strategic benefit to the College of pursuing an application. If the Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise) is convinced of the strategic need, and the College has not met its application limit, the department will be informed of the next steps to continue the process. 

AXA Fellowship

2024 – internal deadline 10^th April 2024

For the 2024 round, the AXA Research Fund is seeking to support postdoctoral research geared towards assessing, identifying, quantifying, and understanding the socio-economic impact of misinformation and exploring solutions to mitigate it. They will fund innovative and transdisciplinary research projects focusing on the following areas:

1. Investigating AI’s impacts on media and information ecosystems, the actors at play, motivations, and strategies;
2. Examining the societal and economic impacts of AI modified information ecosystem (on public health, economic growth, climate policies, social cohesion, and political stability…);
3. Exploring the implications for democratic institutions and processes as well as other political regimes
4. Investigating the role of private sector firms in operationalizing AI in a safe and ethical way;
5. Investigating ways on how to best regulate new emerging technology systems to avoid increasing polarization;
6. Assessing the effectiveness of different mitigation and prevention strategies (including digital literacy as a proactive strategy and practical tool to combat misinformation).

Interested candidates' Departments should initially approach researchoffice.fundingstrategy@imperial.ac.uk stating the individual that they wish to put forward/attract, why AXA is the best route to support them, and the strategic benefit to the College of pursuing an application. The deadline for initial contact is 10^th April 2024.

If the Vice-Provost (Research and Enterprise) is convinced AXA is an appropriate fit for the candidate, and the College has not met its application limit, the department will be informed of the next steps to continue the process.

NERC 'Pushing the Frontiers of Environmental Science Research' rounds (July and January closing dates)

For further detail contact researchoffice.fundingstrategy@imperial.ac.uk

In 2015, NERC introduced a Demand Management quota system, whereby institutions whose 6-round success rate for the former Standard Grants (response mode, including New Investigator grants) fell below 20% received a cap on the number of proposals they could submit for that financial year's rounds. Imperial is currently subject to this demand management quota, which is being applied to the new Pushing the Frontiers scheme. To manage the cap and increase the quality of proposals being submitted to avoid future restriction, an internal review group has been established to aid in the support (and selection where required) of bids. For more information view the NERC Demand Management webpage.

For further details of how to submit your proposal to the internal NERC Proposals Review Group and the key dates for the next upcoming round under Demand Management measures, please visit our dedicated NERC Internal Demand Management page.

EPSRC Strategic Equipment Outlines

For further detail please contact Mark Bambury.

EPSRC have relaunched their strategic equipment call as a responsive mode opportunity for which the College is permitted to submit up to 6 applications in the period to 18 June 2025.

Funding is for either:

• purchase and set-up of infrastructure
• resources to support existing infrastructure

The full economic cost (FEC) of your infrastructure must be at least £400,000.

The resources to support existing equipment applications must have a maximum duration of two years.

Interested parties should complete the EPSRC Strategic Equipment Outlines Application Proforma (.docx).

The completed form should be submitted to researchoffice.fundingstrategy@imperial.ac.uk, outlines will be considered at the College’s Research Advisory Group (RAG).

Outlines will be considered three times across 2024/2025 as per the following timetable.

Applications should be submitted to EPSRC no more than four weeks after approval to submit by RAG.

Additional information can be found on the EPSRC Strategic Equipment process webpage

Below are the calls that have been pre-announced and are expected to need management. A process for these calls will be announced as soon as possible.