Royal Academy of Engineering Research Fellowship 2025/26 – institutional selection process

Scheme overview

The Royal Academy of Engineering offers Research Fellowships each year to outstanding early-career researchers to support them to become future research leaders in engineering. 

The scheme provides funding for five years to encourage the best researchers to remain in the academic engineering sector. Each application is capped at a maximum contribution from the Academy of £625,000 over the five-year period, at 80% of full economic costs.

Research Fellowships can be held part-time, either to balance personal commitments or to hold another source of employment outside the university e.g. in industry, government or other stakeholders (this is a change to the scheme in this round).

Research Fellowships must begin between 1 August 2026 and 31 October 2026. 

In addition to the direct financial support, the scheme benefits include:

• Mentoring support from an Academy Fellow to offer advice on research and career development.
• Reduction of teaching and administrative duties to dedicate time to research.
• Training and additional funding opportunities.
• Networking opportunities with other Research Fellows and Academy Fellows.
• An opportunity to establish a strong research track record which will improve the chances of securing additional funding and expanding their own research teams.
• Be part of the RAEng Awardee Excellence Community.

Eligibility

The Academy welcomes applications from early-career researchers worldwide who have been awarded their PhD no more than four years before the submission deadline of 17^th September 2025 (with a 3-month margin). 

This time period includes applicants’ work experience in academia or/and in industry. If applicants have had maternity/paternity leave or other extenuating circumstances (e.g. extended sick leave, national service, or caring responsibilities), this will be taken into consideration and should be noted on their institutional application.

The proposed research project must be in an engineering subject area (civil, construction & environmental; materials & mining; chemical & process; aerospace; transport & mechanical; manufacturing & design; electrical & electronic; energy & power; medical & bioengineering; computing & communications).

Sheffield can submit up to four candidates and at least two of these candidates must self-identify as being from a group that is persistently underrepresented within the engineering profession in the UK. The RAEng have identified the following groups that are currently clearly significantly underrepresented in UK engineering research for this call:

• women
• Black people, including those with any mixed ethnicity with Black ethnic background(s)
• disabled people

Institutional selection process (deadline: Thursday 8^th May 2025, 12 noon)

Step 1: Prospective candidates should review the scheme information available on the RAEng website: Research Fellowships, where you can also download the full application guidelines on the How to Apply tab. 

Step 2: Register here for the online information session to take place on 25^th March which will include a Q&A with two existing RAEng Research Fellows in the faculty. The session will be recorded for anyone unable to attend.

Step 3: Download and complete the pre-application checklist below to review your suitability for the scheme. This should not be submitted but should help you to make an informed decision about whether to apply. 

RAEng Pre-Application Checklist  (Word, 9kb)

RAEng Pre-Application Checklist  (pdf, 56kb)

Pre-application checklist (view only)

If you cannot answer yes to the majority of these questions, then you are unlikely to be competitive for this scheme at this time. 

Are you within 4 years and 3 months of the award of your PhD at the time of submission (17 Sept 2025)? This does not include career breaks (e.g. for extended sick leave, national service, or caring responsibilities).	Yes/No If no, you cannot proceed.
Are you able to devote all of your working time (full or part-time) to the fellowship (i.e. you are not involved in other grants or fellowships from the time you will be due to start the fellowship)?	Yes/No
Do you have a strong research publication track-record for your career stage where you can demonstrate the impact of your work? Ideally you should have some lead-authored papers/outputs.	Yes/No
Do you have evidence of relevant collaborative work and visits with other researchers, research organisations, industries, or other beneficiaries, both nationally and/or internationally?	Yes/No
Do you have a track-record of securing grants/funding/awards etc? This could be as co-l or leading on a small grant/KE funding/seedcorn funding/early career funds/machine time/doctoral award etc.	Yes/No
Does/will your research show some evidence of having an impact on improving the quality of life?	Yes/No
Can you articulate how this fellowship will develop your career and lead to a step change in your career?	Yes/No
Can you describe 3-5 significant achievements in your research career so far? This is not confined to publications. The Academy equally values other outputs including, but not limited to, code, patents, spin-out companies, events, public engagement, and policy engagement.	Yes/No
Can you articulate your research in a way that is understandable to a non-specialist reader?	Yes/No
Is your proposed research timely and novel? Is it different to research being carried out by others in the same area?	Yes/No
Are you connected to a wider network than just your research group/the host institution, to access appropriate skills, mentoring and expertise to enhance your research and its impact? Can you explain who you will/want to work with and why?	Yes/No
Can you identify specific groups in society that will benefit from the research, as well as any positive societal and economic impacts it will have?	Yes/No
Have you thought about how the results and outputs will be shared and how you will engage with audiences beyond the research and engineering communities? Participation in public outreach activities is an important element of a Research Fellowship.	Yes/No
Can you clearly articulate why you have chosen the University of Sheffield as your host institution?	Yes/No

Step 4: Download and complete the CV template and EOI form below and submit to rsresearchgrowth@sheffield.ac.uk by 12 noon on Thursday 8^th May 2025. The EOI is a shortened version of the full application. You must state clearly in your email which School you are applying through. This must be in the Faculty of Engineering or Maths and Physical Sciences in the Faculty of Science.

CV template  (word, 2.4kb) CV template  (pdf, 46kb)

EOI form  (word, 205kb) EOI form  (pdf, 205kb)

Timeline

8^th May 2025 – deadline for submission of EOI and CV

26^th May 2025 – decision communicated about which candidates have been selected by their School to go forward for full institutional review

13^th June 2025 – decision communicated about which candidates have been invited to interview

18^th June 2025 – selected candidates may be invited to give a short pitch to panel followed by interview 

20^th June 2025 – final institutional selection decision communicated. Applicant begins work on full application

12th September 2025 - costing approval deadline

17^th September 2025 – final funder deadline. 

Contact 

For any queries about the scheme, eligibility or the institutional selection process, please contact kim.redgrave@sheffield.ac.uk.