Career Development
Annual Review Converstaion (ARC) - all eligible Postdocs and Fellows are expected to have an annual ARC, monitored by the Department.
DoLS has a pool of volunteers who have agreed to provide their advice and help to support all postdocs who would like additional/specific guidance and advice on their grant applications. Please contact DoLS Executive Assistant in the first instance at least 6 weeks before their application deadline.
Information on fellowships available in the life sciences can be found on the DoLS Research Opportunities web-page.
For more information about funding click on the following:
Carer's support
There are two schemes offering financial support:
- Financial support for carers attending work-related events taking place outside of College
- Financial support for College-based events relevant to career development held outside of core hours or during half term holidays.
Further details about these schemes are listed here.
Department of Life Sciences Travel Awards
The Department of Life Sciences has generously allocated funds to support travel awards for our Postdoctoral Research Associates, Research Fellows and PhD Students for the purpose of presenting at conferences or attending scientific workshops. The scheme operates on a twice yearly basis (deadlines in March & September) and is currently open for submissions. It forms part of the Departmental Athena SWAN Action Plan in that it addresses the action points from the Feedback and Networking Session with the Postdoctoral Research Associates of the Department.
The Life Sciences European Studies Fund
This funding is exclusively for European travel (not travel within the UK) and can cover travel and subsistence, conference registration fees.
Up to £1k of funding available
You can find a collection of profiles of people who have made the transition from academia to industry at http://research-careers.org/
This fund aims to provide postdocs and early-career fellows in the Department of Life Sciences with funding to undertake career-related activities that will contribute to their career progression. These activities may include:
- Training courses (both for academia and outside academia)
- Collaborations and research visits with academic and non-academic partners
- Attendance at events relevant to your career progression
- Job secondments (e.g., science policy)
- Organisation of workshops or events
- Generation of preliminary data for independent fund/fellowship
The amount requested can range from £100 to £5,000, with a strong justification required for the level of funding requested. Applicants may use their 10 development days to implement their proposed plan. Participation should be discussed with PIs and/or line managers. Further eligibility details are included in the Applicant Instructions document below.
To apply to the fund please use the template in the DoLS Postdoc & Fellows Fund - Applicant Instructions to prepare your application, then complete and submit using this LINK before the end of September!
Successful applicants will be confirmed towards the end of November 2025 and the funds made available soon after. We will run the next funding call in March 2026! If you have any questions about the funding feel free to contact one of your Postdoc and Fellows Reps.
