1. ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship Applications
UCL, Bloomsbury and East London Doctoral Training Partnership
ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship Applications

2. The UBEL DTP
One of 14 ESRC DTPs, largest in London/3rd largest in UK, 50+ studentships per year
Collaboration between five universities, led by UCL in partnership with Birkbeck, LSHTM, SOAS and UEL
Seven overarching groupings relating to different areas of disciplinary/ interdisciplinary social science activity (e.g., Social Processes, Cognition, Health and Welfare)
Groupings comprise 25 pathways
Majority of pathways are cross-institutional, and groupings are designed to increase collaboration

3. ESRC Postdoctoral Scheme
Designed to
a) build bridge between PhD and other ESRC Early Career Researcher schemes, especially New Investigator Grants
b) support development of other research career paths on from PhD
Administered by DTPs/CDTs – each has allocation of awards, and fellows must be located in specific pathway
Awards provide 1 year FTE PDF salary (exceptionally 18 months), costs for mentor support, funds for training and limited research support

4. ESRC Postdoctoral Scheme
Primary objective to support development of doctoral work in terms of dissemination, networking, impact, planning of new grants, limited amount of teaching – new research limited to 25% of activity
Specific activities should be tailored to aims of fellowship and intended career path

5. Eligibility
Graduate/graduand of DTP/CDT institution, though not necessarily funded by ESRC
Not in established academic post
Have been awarded PhD or passed subject to minor corrections at time of submission
Have had no more than one year active postdoctoral experience at competition closing date
Must have an identified mentor (usually not doctoral supervisor)

6. UBEL application process
Deadline for applications March 2018
Submit via PDF application portal (live shortly) on UBEL DTP website (
Key initial actions:
- Check intended host Dept for any internal processes
- Identify mentor, with assistance from DTP Pathway Leaders if necessary (see Guidance Notes)
- Discuss shape of intended programme with mentor
- Obtain host Dept support
- Develop various sections of application
- Obtain formal costing of budget

7. UBEL application process
Application on portal must comprise:
- Completed sections of application proforma
- Case for Support (max 6 pages)
- Justification of resources (max 2 pages)
- CV (max 2 pages)
- Bibliography for case
- Head of Dept statement (max 1 page)
- Mentor statement and CV (max 2 pages)
- Referee statement (max 1 page)
- Letters of support (optional)

8. What happens next... No interviews, just scrutiny within DTP:
- Two pathway reviews
- Graded applications and reviews go to single DTP panel (institutional/pathway reps plus external scrutineer)
- Panel identify/rank order top set of applications
- Top among these will be offered awards, with conditions if necessary, rest put on reserve list
- Awards notified by 29 June 2018 – with two week window for response
- Any conditions must be met by target date

9. Assessment criteria
Quality and coherence of proposed programme of work
Value for money
Impact and output plans
Consideration of ethical issues
Suitability of applicants’ development plans and identified mentors’ capacity to support these

10. Questions?