Dr Chris H. Hill

Sir Henry Dale Fellow

If at first you don’t succeed…

I graduated from my PhD in 2015 and joined the MRC-LMB for my first postdoc, where I was encouraged to apply for several early-career postdoctoral fellowships. These applications were not successful but they made me realise that writing grants is very different from writing papers, and they gave me valuable experience in how to better organise my ideas and demonstrate independence. During this time I did manage to get a fellowship at one of the Cambridge colleges. This came with a small amount of money to attend international conferences, so I was able to boost my profile and meet potential collaborators.

Talking to the funders

After two years in a second postdoc, I felt ready to make the transition to independence, and I was encouraged to do so my my supervisor. However – I had mixed messages from mentors and other PIs in my department. Some said I wouldn’t be successful without a “big paper”. Others advised to delay until I had more preliminary data, or expressed concern that I would be working in a similar area of biology to my supervisor. Talking to advisers at Wellcome was an invaluable way of dispelling myths – For example, they said that preliminary data wasn’t always necessary, and encouraged me to apply with preprints rather than wait for published papers.

Write, write and re-write

I produced the first draft of my fellowship application relatively quickly and immediately circulated it to several friends, collaborators, collegaues and mentors. This was enormously valuable, as I had taken for granted my own background knowledge and failed to make some key things clear to non-specialists. My case for support was completely restructured as a result and I have no doubt that this contributed to the success of the application. I also arranged mock interviews with senior academics in my department. Their constructive feedback allowed me to identify weaknesses and prepare coherent responses in advance.

Flexibility and long-term support at York

My research programme combines structural biology, biochemistry and biophysics to investigate pathological translation events in viral infection. The Department of Biology were highly supportive when I approached them as a potential sponsor, arranging a visit for me to meet future colleagues and view the available space and facilties. They also helped me to identify potential mentors and PhD programmes that I was eligible for. Due to my structural biology requirements, they were very happy for me to have a formal joint affiliation with YSBL. Importantly, they were able to commit to long-term career support beyond the end of the fellowship by offering me a proleptic lectureship contract. This will enable me to apply for grants and take new PhD students in the later years of my fellowship.