How to apply

ROUTE 1:  For Marie Curie and Royal Commission 1851  applications

At least 8 weeks before funder deadline
Please contact a member of academic staff within the Department who is involved in research in your area of interest. You will need to ask if they would be able to act as your sponsor – this is an important role as your sponsor will guide you through your application to submission and will need to host you in their research space within the Molecular Sciences Research Hub.

At least 6 weeks before funder deadline

Please contact chemfellowships@imperial.ac.uk highlighting your intention to apply and confirming the name of your mentor. We will need to confirm this with them and that they are able to host you in their research space. 

10 working days before funder deadline

Work with your mentor and the Department's costing team to prepare the costing for your application. Completing your costing can be a lengthy process so please liaise with Angie Cass [a.cass@imperial.ac.uk] at least 10 working days before the funder's deadline to start this process. You will need to have finalised your costings at least 5 working days in advance of the funder’s deadline to allow your application to be fully checked with College's central Research Office pre-submission.

ROUTE 2: For Independent fellowship applications and/or those requiring Departmental contribution (e.g. UKRI FLFs, Royal Society URFs and Wellcome Trust Early Career Fellowships) 

Each request for support must undergo internal peer review so that we can make a decision on whether or not we will be able to support your application. For these Fellowships, we invite applicants to submit an expression of interest at 5 points during the year:

• 23rd January 2026, 9AM
• 13th March 2026, 9AM
• 12th June 2026, 9AM *[see below for RS URF applications]
• 11th September 2026, 9AM
• 20th November 2026, 9AM

Your expression of interest will need to be submitted to chemfellowships@imperial.ac.uk by the relevant Departmental deadline (~2 months in advance of the funder deadline) and must comprise:

• A draft costing for your application. Please liaise with Angie Cass [a.cass@imperial.ac.uk] regarding this. Preparing your costing can be a lengthy process so please ensure that you notify Angie at least 5 working days before the internal deadline so that the costings team have sufficient time to prepare this with you  
• A 2 page (max.) CV
• A 2 page (max.) summary of your proposed research including your space requirements (in particular, bench space requirements and any large equipment requests) and briefly summarising: 'Why you', 'Why this research' and 'Why Imperial'. For candidates wishing to remain at Imperial, please also briefly explain your planned route to independence and your key reasons for staying. Any references should be included in the 2 page limit.

Please note that independent fellows will need to identify an academic mentor but this doesn't have to be finalised at the point of application to the Dept/internal round. Once awarded their independent fellowship (e.g. FLF/ URF), fellows will occupy space in their mentor's research group initially and have the opportunity to gain independent research space during the life of their fellowship. 

For applications for Royal Society URFs, please apply to the 12th June deadline with: i) a 2 page research proposal (see above guidance for key points to include) and ii) 2 page CV. A Dept panel will consider applications and those shortlisted will then have the opportunity to prepare a costing once the RS call opens in July. 

Decisions to support all applications are be made by a Departmental panel based upon: budget constraints (some fellowships require significant financial contributions from the Department) and the quality of the applications. In general we typically receive many high quality applications per scheme making processes competitive. Please note that if budget is not available or the quality of applications is not sufficiently high, the Department may end up not supporting any candidate in a given round.