We are pleased to announce that Round 1 of the Royal Society’s 2026 Wolfson Fellowships scheme will be opening on the 7th January 2026, and the University’s internal selection process will now commence. The programme is to enable UK Universities to strategically recruit and attract outstanding international researchers to the UK’s scientific community. This can be achieved through one of the following routes:
This strand focuses entirely on recruitment, enabling UK institutions to enhance their offering with a £300,000 fellowship award to international research leaders wishing to relocate to the UK. The funding can be used flexibly to conduct high-quality research as part of their start-up package. The funding can cover salary enhancement of up to 20%, research expenses at 100% fEC, research assistants at 80% fEC, 4-year PhD studentships, and other justified research costs. Award holders are expected to hold a full-time post at the University. Please note, for the five-year fellowship the start date of appointment and the start date of the Fellowship must correlate and fall within the six-month period beginning nine months from the funder deadline. Based on the dates of previous rounds, we anticipate this period to be August-January 2027, and expect it to be confirmed in the updated scheme notes document when it is published.
This strand allows excellent international researchers a flexible 12-month sabbatical period at a UK university with an award of up to £125,000 to build and develop international collaborations and networks with the host UK university. The fellowship can be held full time for 1 year or flexibly over 2 years – but the total period of the sabbatical must always amount to 12 months. The funding can cover bursary for visiting fellows up to £80k, research expenses including small equipment up to £10k, and other justified costs. The scheme requires for the candidate to be employed at an overseas institution.
Eligibility for both strands:
Note on funding:
Please note that this funding (both strands) cannot be used to cover salary on-costs (employer’s NI and pension contributions) or Estate and Indirect costs directly associated with the Fellow.
Assessment criteria:
Internal applications will be assessed using the Royal Society criteria:
University Internal selection:
Institutions nominating more than one candidate across both strands will be expected to: (1) make a strong case against the organisation’s strategic priorities, (2) outline internal selection process to the funder, and (3) detail what other support (direct or in-kind) will be provided to the applicants. Therefore, this call will be managed according to the University’s restricted calls procedure.
If interested in nominating a candidate, departments are requested to complete our online form by 28th January 2026. For your convenience, the attached document outlines the questions asked in the online form as it cannot be saved and/or returned to for future editing. If asked to log-in, please use your Raven details.
Internal deadline: 28th January 2025
Funder deadline: 4th March 2026
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact researchstrategy@admin.cam.ac.uk
Posted on 02/12/2025
