Fellowship Support
| Frequency | once per term |
| Upcoming deadline | 09 October 2025, 12pm |
| Funding Amount | up to £30,000 |
| Funding Duration | up to 3 years |
This funding call is designed to contribute match or top-up funding towards an externally awarded Early Career Fellowship to be held at the University. This includes Early Career Researchers who:
- Are applying for fellowship funding and need evidence of contributory funds
- Hold an offer of an externally funded, competitively awarded Early Career Fellowship that requires matching funds or falls short of the University’s basic salary or cannot cover a full-time position. For example, Royal Commission 1851 Fellowships
- Require an additional modest consumables budget which cannot be provided by the host institution
The INT supports the Leverhulme Trust’s Early Career Fellowship scheme under a dedicated programme – see Leverhulme Early Career Fellowships.
The named applicant should be a PI or independent researcher currently supervising the Fellow in question. In cases where this is not possible, the applicant should be the Head of institution.
Please note that the INT does not reconsider unsuccessful applications for the same project unless there has been a substantial material change in circumstances.
The INT strives to be as flexible as possible to ensure the success of your research project. Therefore, if your proposed project costs are not covered by this summary, please ask.
All applied for costs must be compliant with the existing Fellowship terms and conditions. Your department research grants team should be consulted if you are unsure of this.
Eligible Costs:
- Contribution to consumables where an external fellowship explicitly excludes such provision and cannot be provided by the host institution
- Salary support where the Early Career Fellowship does not cover the minimum PDRA salary at Grade 7 point 041. INT funds can be used to bring the salary up to this minimum. Applicants must be clear about the net salary they are receiving from the other funder and whether National Insurance or pension contributions are being made. The INT will consult with the host department about any contribution to these on-costs that might be appropriate
- Salary support, up to spine point 044, where the Early Career Fellowship does not cover a full-time position. If the Fellow is currently paid at a higher spine point, it is expected that any difference in salary is met using alternative funding
- The Early Career Fellow may work on a part-time or full-time basis. If they are working part-time, this cannot be used as justification to pay salary costs higher than spine point 044 or extend the project further than 3 years
Ineligible Costs:
- Funds already promised by the host institution as part of the application to the external funder
- Funds implicitly included in an institution’s acceptance of a College JRF. Trustees expect that the College will have assured themselves that the resources are available to allow the JRF to conduct their research in Cambridge
- Funds that must, under terms agreed by the University, be met by the Department
- Apprenticeship levy
- Bench fees
- ‘Buying out’ PI time or contributions to PI salary
- Conference Hosting
- Equipment purchases
- Overheads and indirect costs
- Publication and open access costs
- Relocation or Visa costs
- Studentships
- Visitors
Applications must be completed by established PIs from the University, with the assistance of your departmental Research Grants Administrator. Calculating staff costs in a Worktribe standalone budget is recommended.
Applications should be submitted using our online Fellowship Support Application form.
You will be asked to upload:
- The project academic case. This should be no longer than 4 sides of A4, including references. All text within your academic case should be no smaller than font size 11, Calibri, Aptos, or Arial. All A4 margins should be set at a minimum of 1 inch
- A completed Financial Summary Table. Please download the Fiancial Summary Table template here
- A completed Head of Institution Support Form. Please download the Head of Institution Support Form template here
- Reference statements from 3 referees. Please see information below regarding referee eligibility. These collected references should be concatendated into a single document and should:
- Review the strengths and weaknesses of the project,
- Assess the suitability of the researchers and the proposed methods for the study,
- Comment on the likelihood of the project being achieved within the timescale proposed,
- Be transparent about how they know the applicant.
- Information about the Fellowship and offer letter if already awarded. You should provide a copy in English of the terms of the Fellowship offered by the other institution, showing duration, net salary, and whether research funds, pension or insurance or any other benefits are paid
- A copy of the applicant CV and the Fellow’s CV. CVs should be no longer than 4 pages
Referee eligibility:
- None of the experts must be from the Institution making the application
- At least 2 of these reviews must be provided by an individual from outside the University of Cambridge
- Reviewers should not be co-authors of papers, co-editors of projects, or co-applicants for grants
- Reviewers should not be former PhD supervisors of any member of the application team during the last five years
- If there is existing independent peer review feedback available for this project, such as from a bid to UKRI, you may use these in the place of up to 2 references
All decisions are made at Trustee meetings, which happen once a term on the dates given below. Please note that the INT will not consider applications made between the advertised funding rounds or by those from outside of the University of Cambridge.
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|
Michaelmas 2025 |
Lent 2026 |
Easter 2026 |
|
Application Deadline |
09 October 2025, 12pm |
05 February 2026, 12pm |
04 June 2026, 12pm |
|
Trustees' Meeting |
20 November 2025 |
19 March 2026 |
16 July 2026 |
|
Outcome Announced |
27 November 2025 |
26 March 2026 |
23 July 2026 |
