The Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) Research Fellowships award funding over five years to support outstanding early career researchers, from anywhere in the world, conducting an ambitious programme of research while based at a higher education institution or research organisation in the UK.

The fellowships are co-funded by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) and are intended to provide long-term support to enable researchers to gain research independence and work towards becoming future research leaders in engineering. Proposals are invited in any engineering subject area. The awards are a maximum of £625,000 over five years to fund salary and costs on an 80% FEC basis.

Applicants should be early career researchers, from anywhere in the world, who have been awarded a PhD no more than four years prior to the application deadline. There are no restrictions on age or nationality. Applicants holding a permanent academic position are also eligible to apply.

The fellowship must be held at a UK university/HEI, or a UK research organisation that is eligible to receive UKRI funding. The host institution for the fellowship can also be the same institution where the applicant gained their PhD.

The fellowship can also be conducted on a part-time basis, to a maximum of 50% of full time equivalent, or convert from full time to part time, and vice versa. In a change to previous years, fellows are now able to hold another source of employment in addition to the fellowship, providing it is external to the host organisation, such as industry, government or other stakeholder.

Host institutions are normally permitted to submit up to two applications – or up to four if including applicants from groups underrepresented in engineering fields. RAEng also offers Access Mentoring Support to assist applications from individuals from groups underrepresented in engineering fields.