Frequently Asked Questions for Contract Researchers

A. Fellowships

There is an excellent York Fellowship Programme that provides training and support for ECRs working towards a fellowship as well as supporting those who have successfully gained their fellowship. 

The programme is for ECRs who have a clear idea of their proposal and the scheme they wish to go for, and are aiming to apply within the next 12 months. The 'Preparing for Fellowship Success' programme provides access to professional support staff, existing Fellowship holders, external speakers and Fellowship Mentors with an intensive 'retreat' - normally held in April/May - to help you work on your application. You can email: fellowships@york.ac.uk  to find out more about PfFS. 

There is also a fellowship fortnight - normally held in May/June - this is for those considering or developing a fellowship and provides an opportunity to hear from existing fellowship holders. Take a look at last year's programme to get an idea of what is covered. Several senior colleagues within the department will also be happy to help you develop a fellowship proposal, so be in touch with your line manager if you are considering this, and they can link you up with senior colleagues who can support you. 

B. Internal funding

There are quite a number of internal funding opportunities that ECRs can apply for. These can act as a real launch pad for your career as an independent researcher by providing exploratory data, gaining insights from a range of stakeholders, including communities and patients and helping you to establish the connections needed to apply for further funding. There are small awards of £2000 which are relatively easy to apply for (just talk to the research impact leads) and can be a real help in taking forward your ideas visit the small awards website for more info.

The University of York is part of the World University Network, and this is another good source of funding with small grants such as the Research Development Fund which provides grants of up to £10,000 to foster research collaborations among academic staff members at WUN universities focusing on global challenges (e.g. inequalities, urbanisation, mental health - so very relevant to PH&S).

C. Talk to your line manager

Your line manager will have gone through the ECR stage and be familiar with available funding sources and what will make a strong application, so do talk to them about your ideas and plans. You can highlight your plans through the PDR, and setting yourself goals
to put in applications - whether for internal funding, external grants or a fellowship - will really help you and your manager to plan how you can carve out the time to work on your own development in becoming an independent researcher. There will be time within your contract for this personal development, so it is worth talking through how best to make the most of this.

D. Find a coach or a mentor

The University has two well-developed schemes to support staff to reflect and develop their research career. You can sign up to have Coaching - this is where your coach can help you to find your own solutions and make your own decisions, often in relation to a
specific area that you identify as in need of development. you can apply at any time. The university mentoring scheme is set up to link you with a more senior staff member (they can be in your subject area , or not, depending on your needs) and they advise and help you to identify your goals and work towards them over (normally) a 6 month period. You can apply for a Mentor in May or November when scheme is open for applications.

E. Have a look at Futurelearn

During 2023 the University was part of a scheme which allowed access to a MOOC on Career Management for Early Career Academic Researchers MOOC on Futurelearn. The website hasn’t been updated for this academic year yet, but this may well be available in 2024, so keep checking the link.

All kinds of academic citizenship are valued. To a large extent it is up to each of us to frame our contributions to academic citizenship, with appropriate description when needed. Examples of when we need to do this include: in applications for promotion, in performance review, in applications for fellowships and funding.

Check out the guidance around academic citizenship in the promotion process at York. Note that you need to be able to demonstrate that your academic citizenship activities benefit the University. You have to be able to give evidence at every level which demonstrates effectiveness, scale, quality, impact and importance of achievements. So, they are not saying that one kind of activity is valued more than others, but that activities that make a more significant contribution are clearly going to be valued highly.

There is no one answer to this question, as PhD supervision often occurs in many different ways. We've tried to consider as many ways as we can, but this is by no means exclusive.  

A. Tell people you are looking to supervise

This is probably the easiest, but most effective way of getting more opportunities to supervise PhD students.  We receive a large volume of inquiries about supervision and it can actually be a struggle to find a suitable (and free) supervisor. It would be great to let people like the PhD programme lead, your research group lead and your line manager know. Some people also put text on their web page to let people know that they are looking to supervise students (and in what subject areas). Lastly - dont forget to tell your external colleagues too (including at conferences etc.).

B. Look for funding

If you already have a person (or project) in mind for a PhD,  you will usually need to seek funding. There are many fellowship opportunities available for PhD (NIHR Fellowship, Marie Curie, BBSRC, MRC etc).  These are very competitive and usually take a while to write.

If you haven't already got experience in supporting someone through an external fellowship application like this, we recommend you get a bit of extra help (e.g. ask someone who has, and the RSS may be able to help). Other pots of money can also become available and its worth keeping an eye open for PhD funding opportunities that are regularly promoted in our DoHS emails. One of these is the White Rose fellowship - which the UoY is eligible to apply for. There are also local funding opportunities provided on the department's webpage. If you don’t already have someone in mind for a PhD fellowship, you can still apply and then advertise the studentship.   Lastly, when you are writing project grants, look to see if the funder will pay for studentships. This is a great way to supervise PhD projects whilst providing added value to your research project. 

C. Offer to be a TAP member

This is a great way to learn more about the supervision process and is therefore very helpful to those of you who have not supervised before, or who are new to the University. If you are new, you will also have to find another supervisor who has had previous experience of supervision (to completion) to co-supervise with you.  

D. Training

Regardless of whether you are a new or experienced supervisor, the University requires all supervisors to do mandatory training. There is a University of York Research website and you can see more information about the type of training you need (and/or want) to do.

A. Presenting at our webinars and seminars

Inviting and encouraging our PhD students to present at internal and external events that we are all involved in is a great way of hearing more about their studies, but also to support them to gain skills in presenting their research.

B. Getting involved in our research programmes

Understanding how large research programmes function can be really insightful for PhD students, particularly if they have not worked on major research programmes before. Even if there are not opportunities for them to take on paid roles then they may be interested to join key meetings and events to contribute, get involved and understand more about our research.

C. Social media

Following each other and amplifying PhD students' work is another good way of strengthening our connections.

D. Getting involved in teaching

There are several ways PhD students can get involved in teaching, whether it is supporting module leads, acting as a contact point with students, delivering teaching or tutorials or helping with marking. This is another way that PhD students can also benefit from paid
work, whilst also building their academic CV. Ensuring PhD students are well supported and mentored to teach - with access to all the training available on supervision/teaching etc - is key to a positive experience for both the PhD student and the masters/undergrad students being taught. 

E. Be sociable

Make sure we invite PhD students to events and social get together... they can often end up on the wrong email list and get forgotten.

A. Contributing to the development and writing of grant applications 

Early in your career you may have opportunity to support more senior colleagues in the preparation of proposals and applications, this might take the form of doing rapid literature searches, supporting PPI work, doing reconnaissance on study sites, helping to co-ordinate meetings or contributions from the co-applicant team, proofreading and referencing (and many other things). Assisting in this
way can give you a real insight into how grant applications are developed and the key processes and timelines required. In some circumstances if your contribution is significant enough and the intention is that you might work on the project if it is funded, there may also be an opportunity for you to be costed in as a named researcher (this usually means that you don't have to apply for the
role through a formal recruitment process if the funding is successful). Regardless of your status in relation to a particular application, you should always mention and describe your contribution to the development of grant proposals on your CV and any promotion applications. This kind of contribution is recognised/valued and demonstrates your potential to make your own applications in
the future.  

B. Co-investigator/co-applicant roles

Opportunities for co-investigator roles on grants will come with time, as you build your expertise and profile both within the department and externally. Building your publication profile helps with this as well as networking. Internal funding applications can be a good first opportunity for co-applicant roles, as well as small grants. Sometimes you might have an idea for funding but funder rules mean that you don't yet have the requisite experience or seniority to apply in your own name, in these instances you might work with someone more senior (e.g. your line manager) who could act as the PI to develop the idea. You would do the heavy lifting on the application and although you have co-applicant status rather than lead applicant status, again you can stipulate your significant
contribution on CVs and applications for promotion (most academics reviewing CVs and promotion applications will have been in similar situations at one time or another).    

C. Co-PI roles 

Many funders, e.g. NIHR, ESRC and MRC are keen to support the development of early career researchers and encourage grant applications where less experienced researchers share co-PI status with a much more experienced colleague. Some funding schemes are more amenable to this than others, so check the guidance, talk to your line managers and other colleagues in the group, and for
NIHR proposals you can also check in with the Research Support Service (RSS, formerly known as RDS). You will probably need some small grants or internal funding under your belt, and some experience leading a work package on a project before putting yourself forward for a co-PI role.

Mentoring at York is a supportive relationship where a less experienced member of staff can be matched with someone more experience and benefit from their knowledge and experiences. The University already has three formal mentoring schemes (for researchers and academic staff, support staff and PGRs), all of which allow you to express a preference for a mentor within or outside the department. Details of the schemes and links are below.

You might also consider taking on a mentoring role, the University accepts rolling applications from potential mentors to all of the schemes. It's a great opportunity to share your experiences and support colleagues at earlier stages of their careers, and an excellent opportunity to demonstrate academic citizenship. 

Mentoring for researchers (inc. post docs) and other academic staff

Mentees are invited to apply for a mentor at two points in the year:

• In and around November, for a mentoring relationship from January to June
• In and around May, for a mentoring relationship from July to December.

Details of the scheme and how to apply can be found on the mentoring webpage.

Mentoring for support staff

Mentees are invited to apply for a mentor at two points in the year:

• In and around November, for a mentoring relationship from January to June
• n and around May, for a mentoring relationship from July to December.

Details of the scheme and how to apply can be found on the mentoring for support staff webpages.

Mentoring for PGRs

Mentees are invited to apply for a mentor at two points in the year:

• In and around November, for a mentoring relationship from January to June
• In and around May, for a mentoring relationship from July to December.

Details of the scheme and how to apply can be found on the PGRs mentoring scheme webpage. 

The University does also offer a coaching scheme. This is a more formal and intensive process that requires support and involvement from your line manager. To find out more about coaching and whether it might be for you, have a look at the webpages.