Newly appointed members of staff are strongly encouraged to create an Idox Grantfinder profile to receive funding alerts and keep up to date with the latest funding opportunities.


Career Development

The Postdoc and Fellows Development Centre provides a series of training activities such as workshops on "Preparing Successful Fellowship Applications", one-to-one support and mock interviews.

ECRs who wish to find out about the technicalities of preparing a grant proposal are welcome to visit the research office website which has valuable information and advice on grant proposal preparation, costing and project management.

Please also have a look at our FoNS website where we give some guidance on How to Apply For Funding.

Fellowship Opportunities

A wide-range of research council and EU fellowships are available to early career researchers who want to join Imperial College. Please see our Fellowships list for more information.

Imperial College also offers its own prestigious Managed Fellowship Opportunities scheme. These fellowships sustain the brightest and best early career researchers from across the world, providing a level of commitment and support that is rare from a UK university.  If you have any queries about our ICRFs, please contact us.

Industry Engagement

The Faculty of Natural Sciences offers short-term funding to engage with SMEs. Early Career Researchers are encouraged to apply for this strategy funding to start new collaborations in view to develop long-term relationships with end-users. Please see the FoNS Strategic Fund website for further details.

ECRs are encouraged to broaden their research portfolio and collaborations by engaging with end-users and industry beyond the Faculty SME engagement fund. A good way to engage with corporate partners is by applying for leveraged funding schemes from Research Councils and other government funding bodies:

  • MRC Industry Collaboration Awards (MICA)
  • Techcelerate - An Imperial programme that gives postdoctoral researchers the opportunity to test their ideas in the marketplace and develop entrepreneurial skills. The three-month programme provides masterclasses and venture review sessions and culminates in an entrepreneurial journey showcase

  • Short Royal Society Industry Fellowships - Enables scientists employed in industry or academia and/or their postdoctoral researcher to have shorter more dynamic engagements between academia and industry, working on a mutually beneficial and collaborative project. For up to one year part-time. 
  • Agilent Early Career Professor Award - USD 50K award for research over two years, which can be used to purchase equipment at 50% discount. Level is for staff equivalent to Imperial’s lecturer position, ten years post PhD
  •  MedTech SuperConnector - An Imperial-led accelerator programme offering PhD students and early-career researchers support to turn ideas for medical technologies into ventures. Over 6 months researchers are provided with funding, training, mentorship and access to industry partners. The current round, delivered in partnership with GSK Consumer Healthcare Next and Beyond, is focused on understanding and treating pain.
  • Impact Acceleration Accounts also provide an excellent route for engaging with end-users and maximise the impact of Research Council funding.

If you wish to expand your industrial collaborations and are seeking new partners and funding, the Industry Partnerships and Commercialisation team is here to help you. Please contact Dr Viraj Perera, or visit the Industry partnerships and commercialisation website.