AgriFood ‘Rising Star’ Fellowships launching soon

The University will shortly launch a new AgriFood ‘Rising Star’ Fellowship scheme, funded by the National Institute for Research into Dairying (NIRD) Trust, to help build on our world-class reputation for research leadership in agriculture, food and connected disciplines.

At a time when we are facing national and global challenges related to: access to healthy and sustainable diets; diet-related disease; the consequences of climate change for food production; the need to enhance ecosystem biodiversity that impacts on our food system, these Fellowships have never been more important.

The intention is to appoint at least two Fellows in 2022/23 with a minimum of a further three Fellowship appointments in 2023/24 and 2024/25. Applications are sought from individuals who can push the boundaries of their discipline, who are willing to build and lead interdisciplinary research teams, and who can demonstrate the potential to deliver ground-breaking research discoveries.

Each Fellow will be appointed on the Lecturer scale as a Research Intensive contract, initially for three years with the potential to extend for a further two years if probationary targets have been met. The expectation is then that the Fellow will transition to a permanent academic post in their home School.

A generous support package will be provided to aid the development of each Fellow (£20k p.a. research expenses, peer support, mentoring, leadership training and a PhD studentship fund equivalent to one UK student fee, stipend and research training and support grant). Applicants will already have some post-doctoral experience and be able to evidence high quality publications and their potential to obtain external funding.

The following priority areas have been identified for the first cohort and are particularly seeking appointments in the first two areas. However, applications are welcome from people representing any discipline who have the potential to develop a transformational research programme relevant to the challenges facing agriculture and food:

• Addressing the interactions between climate and food systems
  
• Working with big data across the food system, but particularly in connection with improving farm animal health and welfare
• Ensuring food safety and authenticity
• Dealing with the challenges of ultra-processed food
• Evidencing policy to underpin food and farming
• Effective solutions for antimicrobial resistance in farmed animals

The call will be externally released later in February and potential applicants will be asked to submit an abstract by 27 March as the first stage of the application process. Successful applicants will then be invited to a Fellowships Open Day on 31 May at the University (travel costs will be supported) where they will be able to have scheduled discussions with potential mentors and collaborators and tour the campus and relevant facilities. The deadline for submission of final applications will be early October.

Staff are asked to consider any potential applicants or connections that may be interested and ensure they receive full details as soon as the main call goes live externally. Full details, call guidance and assessment criteria will be released later this month.