Independent Research Fellowships

The Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering is a world-leading research, innovation and education centre in automatic control and systems engineering.  

We look to develop innovative solutions to address global challenges in a diverse range of application fields from Aerospace, Transport and Manufacturing to Life Sciences and Healthcare, Energy and the Environment. Our underpinning research covers Data Science and Machine Learning, Robotics and Autonomous Systems, as well as Signal Processing and Control.

We are an innovative, dynamic and ambitious department that is renowned for fostering multidisciplinary research activities involving partners from academia as well as major industry players, including Unilever, IBM, Rolls-Royce, Airbus, Siemens, Jaguar Land Rover, Ricardo, GKN Aerospace and more.

We aspire to be a welcoming and inclusive environment for researchers, and recognise that many researchers – especially female and ethnic minorities – do not receive the same support as their peers in applying for fellowships and career progression. For this reason, we are especially encouraging members of under-represented groups to apply to hold an independent research fellowship with us.

We are proud that in the REF 2021, our engineering submission came joint 1st in the UK for our research environment. We came 8th in the UK in terms of the quality of our research and 96 per cent of our research was rated as world-leading or internationally excellent. Our impact submission is rated 10th nationally, showing our research is playing a fundamental role in tackling the greatest challenges of our time and making a real-world difference to peoples’ lives around the world.

We support fellowship holders towards building their independent research, to strengthen their case for a permanent academic position. Support for fellowships will be considered on a case by case basis.  We are committed to supporting researchers from diverse backgrounds with clear fellowship plans at every step of their application, and beyond, as they base their career in our research community.

Independent Research Fellows in the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering will benefit from the following package:

• Structured career support, towards research independence;
• Support towards applying for an academic position after the Fellowship;
• An allocated mentor during the application, application support and peer review;
• An allocated mentor during the fellowship;
• Start-up package to accelerate research in the first year (cash and in-kind).

To be considered for Research Fellowship with the Department of Automatic Control and Systems Engineering please send the following to acse-reshub@sheffield.ac.uk

1. A CV detailing your eligibility, postdoctoral experience and leadership potential.
2. A draft research proposal to determine your alignment to available funding opportunities (proposals can be revised after the selection process).

Examples of research fellowship opportunities: 

• EPSRC: Postdoctoral Fellowships (Early Career Researchers)
• EPSRC: Open Fellowships (Mid or Later Career Researchers)
• UKRI: Future Leaders Fellowship (Early Career Researchers)
• RAEng : Research Fellowships (Early Career Researchers)
• Royal Society and EPSRC: Dorothy Hodgkin Fellowship (Suitable for those requiring flexibility or with caring responsibilities)
• Leverhulme Trust: Research Fellowships (Short term)
• UKRI - Daphne Jackson Fellowship (To support return to work)