The Attachment Programme

The 2026 call for Attachments to the Francis Crick Institute is now open for Imperial researchers, deadline for applications is 24^th April 2026

The Crick-University attachment programme was established in 2015 to enable university groups to work in the Crick, with the intention of bringing together researchers from the Crick and its partner institutions to improve the opportunities for collaboration.

The scheme is open to scientists (clinical and non-clinical) leading research groups and aims to attract people and groups with skills that are complementary to the Crick’s core talents and capabilities and to identify research projects that will best benefit from Crick interactions. Candidates in research areas allied to biomedicine such as physical and chemical sciences, engineering, computational sciences and artificial intelligence are encouraged to apply. These are strategically important research areas which would strengthen scientific relationships between, and bring strategic benefits to, the partner universities and the Crick. Another aim of the scheme is to support career development of new Group Leaders and, as such, applications from early career PIs are particularly welcome.

Attachments are flexible and can take different forms:

• Secondment: A PI might transfer all or the majority of their research group to the Crick for up to 6 years. Usually, the Crick becomes the primary research base for the group and the PI spends the majority of their time at the institute. However, the PI can also keep part of their group at their university and share their time between the two institutions.

• Satellite: A PI might transfer a subset of their staff to the Crick, possibly on a part-time basis. The group’s primary research base remains at the home university, with the PI visiting the Crick occasionally. The scientists may be embedded within a single Crick research group or STP working on a defined project or could work with multiple groups or STPs.

• Sabbatical: Whilst remaining a university employee, a PI might spend up to a year on sabbatical (full or part-time) working in a Crick research group, for example to learn new techniques or undertake a hands-on collaboration.

These definitions are not intended to be exclusive and there is room for flexibility; in all cases the proposed attachment will be assessed primarily on its added value to the applicant, the University and the Crick whilst ensuring the group can be accommodated within the spaces allocated to each University.

Applicants should discuss their proposal with their University Partnership Manager before starting their application.

Applicants should submit their application with a CV to their University PM crick.partnership@imperial.ac.uk  by the 24^th April 2026.

Reverse satellite: A Crick Group Leader might transfer a subset of their staff to the partner University possibly on a part-time basis. The group’s primary research base remains at the Crick, with the Group Leader visiting the University occasionally. Reverse attachments comprise small groups of researchers (usually one to three) embedded into the university research group for up to three years.

Applicants to the reverse satellite scheme should submit their application with a CV to the Crick uni-partnership@crick.ac.uk by the 24^th April 2026.

Required forms and Guidance:

• 2026 Attachment information
• 2026 New Attachment- Guidance
• 2026 New Attachment- Application Form
• 2026 Existing Attachments and Expansions- Guidance
• 2026 Existing Attachments and Expansions- Application Form

Please read the guidelines fully before completing an application form

Applicants should submit their application with a CV to the Research Office crick.partnership@imperial.ac.uk by the 24^th April 2026.

Full Timeline:

Faculty representatives: Each Faculty has an assigned Crick representative who you may wish to reach out to for strategic advice. 

Faculty of Engineering 
Professor Daniele Dini (profile)
Vice-Dean (Research) for FoE 
Email: d.dini@imperial.ac.uk

Faculty of Medicine 
Professor Graham Cooke (profile) 
Vice-Dean (Research) for FoM 
Email: g.cooke@imperial.ac.uk

Faculty of Natural Sciences 
Professor Ramon Vilar (profile) 
Vice-Dean (Research) for FoNS 
Email: r.vilar@imperial.ac.uk

Approved attachments: The following individuals (in no particular order) either currently hold an attachment at the Crick or have held an attachment at the Crick in the past. 

• Faculty of Engineering: Molly Stevens (Materials), Adam Celiz (Bioengineering). 
• Faculty of Medicine: Avinash Shenoy (ID), Clare Lloyd (NHLI), Wendy Barclay (ID), Xiaodong Zhang (ID), Holger Auner (I&I), Teresa Thurston (ID), Vanessa Sancho-Shimizu (ID), David Riglar (ID), Aylin Hanaloglu (MDR), Faith Osier (Life Sciences). 
• Faculty of Natural Sciences: Gunnar Pruessner (Maths), Cristina Lo Celso (Life Sci), Doryen Bubeck (Life Sci), Ed Tate (Chem), Marco Di Antonio (Chem), Morgan Beeby (Life Sci), Paul French (Phy), Vahid Shahrezaei (Maths), Sadra Sadeh (Brain Science), Rachel Edgar (Infectious Disease).