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Career Directions for Researchers

Applying for academic funding

Explore the funding landscape and identify ways to fund research in academia.

Funding is an essential component of developing an academic career. A variety of funding sources could be subsidising your employment or studies, research projects or a fellowship and it is important to understand the context of funding in higher education, the main sources of funding options available and the support available to help you with your applications.

Main sources of funding

There are various sources of funding avaiable:

One of the main sources of funding is public funding, administered through the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI comprises of 9 separate research councils; 7 of which are all subject-specific.

Each research council will have advice specific to your research area covering funding advice and detailed guidance on applications. They also have career development advice, providing suggested frameworks to help you identify which source of their funding is most appropriate for your career stage, for example the Medical Research Council’s advice on the skills and experience you need to win support.

Charitable organisations also fund research, including charities like Wellcome and Cancer Research UK. Use your knowledge of your specific research area to identify relevant charitable organisations and explore funding opportunities in your field.

Professional bodies or membership organisations in your discipline may offer small funding or grants to support with research. An example is the Royal Society of Biology who offer travel grants. Check the websites of each organisation directly.

Universities will have their own sources of funding available for researchers within their institution.

Current Cardiff University staff members can see all available funding opportunities on the intranet. Many universities also offer funding for internal research placements for current students, typically over the summer. This funding usually means being able to pay for a student to support a research project over the summer months (usually six weeks to two months). At Cardiff University, this scheme is called the on-campus internship scheme and academic staff can apply for funding for short-term student support with their research.

There are international funding providers that UK-based researchers can access, a good example of which is the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Research Fellowship Programme. The UKRI has further advice on international funding and support.

Fellowships

Fellowships are fixed-term funding opportunities that allow academic researchers to focus on their research. Typically fellowships fund some or all of your salary and sometimes some of the associated research costs too. As such, fellowship applications are part funding application and part job application, and are typically addressed to the funding body, rather than your host institution.

You can read more about the fellowship support available for early career researchers at Cardiff University on the staff intranet. The UKRI also has useful information about fellowships.

Support to apply for funding

You are not on your own in the quest to find and apply for funding! Cardiff University has dedicated support to help you. You can find out more on the staff intranet. If you are a current Cardiff University staff member, you can also use your Cardiff University log-in credentials to access the Research Professional, an online database of funding opportunities.

You could also consider the following:

  • Attend workshops run by Cardiff University on funding and/or fellowships
  • Engage with the Cardiff Researcher Programme, a free programme of training and development for all staff employed at Cardiff University within the Research Career Pathway
  • Keep an eye on any funding updates at college level – if you are a current Cardiff University staff member, you may also receive information about funding in the weekly university newsletter, Blas
  • Check with your research group, principal investigator or supervisor
  • Attend workshops regularly hosted and run by Cardiff University – sometimes funders participate in these
  • Contact funders directly if you have any queries not directly addressed on their website

Equality and diversity

As the largest major public funder of research in the UK, the UKRI has strong policies to support equality, diversity and inclusion within academic research, with specific research councils also committing to ensuring the research base in the UK is diverse.

The UKRI actively addresses under-representation and active participation through initiatives such as providing funding to increase diversity, allocating funding which supports culture change and introducing a standardised narrative CV format for grant applications.

Further resources

Use the below resources to explore this topic further: