Prize Fellow in Drug Discovery
Department
Life Sciences
Salary
Starting from £47,389, rising to £56,535
Contract Type
Full Time, Fixed Term
Closing Date
Tuesday 26 May 2026
Prize Fellowship in Drug Discovery
The Departments of Life Sciences and Chemistry invite applications for a Prize Fellowship in Drug Discovery, an exceptional opportunity for an emerging research leader to develop an independent, internationally recognised programme at the interface of chemistry and biology. The position will be run as a joint appointment across the two departments.
This prestigious Fellowship is aligned with the new Centre for Drug Discovery (CDD), a cross-faculty initiative bringing together chemists, biologists, data scientists and engineers to accelerate drug discovery through innovation in synthesis, screening, computation and translation. CDD will focus on emerging modalities and enabling technologies from cyclic small molecules, peptides, antibodies and macrocycles that explore new 3D chemical space, to AI-guided synthesis, flow automation and direct-to-biology screening. By coupling Bath’s strengths in synthetic chemistry, chemical and structural biology, and advanced delivery science, the Centre will provide a distinctive environment for developing next-generation molecular tools and therapeutic leads.
We seek a creative and collaborative scientist tackling fundamental challenges in contemporary drug discovery, ideally with a strong grounding in chemistry and an interest in applying molecular or computational technologies to biological problems.
While we encourage applications from a range of backgrounds, we particularly welcome candidates whose research aligns with one or more of the following areas:
* Medicinal chemistry for emerging modalities such as peptides, molecular glues, PROTACs, ADCs or covalent inhibitors
* Innovative screening approaches, e.g. DNA-encoded libraries, affinity-selection mass spectrometry, chemoproteomics or AI/ML-driven virtual screening
* Computational drug discovery, including molecular design, macrocycle conformations, docking, or predictive models for permeability and pharmacokinetics
About the Prize Fellowship
The Bath Prize Fellowship offers three years of protected research time and the opportunity for a permanent academic appointment, subject to performance. Fellows will have access to state-of-the-art laboratories for automation, high-throughput synthesis, compound screening and advanced computation, and will join a vibrant cross-faculty community engaging with industry, the regional GW4 innovation network and an opportunity to benefit from the South-West Life Science network.
About Drug Discovery at Bath
Drug discovery at Bath is driven by close integration between the Departments of Life Sciences and Chemistry, uniting expertise in peptide design, synthetic chemistry, chemoproteomics and computational modelling. Core strengths include chemical and structural biology, pharmacology and antibiotic discovery, with projects spanning early-stage molecular design through to pre-clinical mechanism-of-action studies.
Life Sciences provides cutting-edge laboratories for molecular and cellular biology, microbiology and pharmaceutical sciences, including tissue-culture suites, automated liquid handling and a zebrafish facility for in vivo pharmacology. Chemistry complements this with world-class infrastructure for automated and flow synthesis, compound characterisation (MS, NMR, DReaM Facility) and access to Bath’s High-Performance Computing and AI/ML platforms for virtual screening and molecular design. Both departments have a strong track record in innovation with a number of spin-out companies.
Together, these resources offer an exceptional environment for innovative researchers to develop and test new approaches to molecular discovery.
Informal enquiries & application
For informal enquiries, please contact Dr Scott Lovell, Life Sciences or Dr Alex Cresswell, Chemistry, co-leads of the Bath Centre for Drug Discovery. Please ensure applications are submitted via the University’s online system. Alongside the online form, please upload a full CV.
We are committed to providing a supportive and inclusive working environment for all staff, including mentorship and flexible working arrangements. The Departments of Life Science, Chemistry and the University currently hold Athena SWAN Silver awards, and we are working to further improve equality, diversity and inclusion for the benefit of all staff. If you would like to discuss any issues or other aspects of the working environment with a member of staff who is not involved in the recruitment process, please contact Prof Stephen Husbands, Director of Research in the Department of Life Sciences.
What we can offer you:
We're continually expanding our benefits package to better support you and enhance your experience with us, and the below is just an example of some of the many great benefits we offer:
* Free counselling services through Health Assured
* Cycle to work scheme
* Electric vehicle salary sacrifice scheme
* Staff discount at Team Bath gym
* Staff discounts on postgraduate tuition fees
* Staff discount on language courses
* Generous employer contributory pension schemes
* Generous annual leave allowance with an additional 5 discretionary days so that you can enjoy a positive work-life balance
* A wide range of personal and professional development opportunities, including Apprenticeships, LinkedIn Learning and more
* Free entry to the Holburne Museum in Bath
* Local discounts and more
* A family-friendly workplace
* An excellent reward package that recognises the talents of our diverse workforce
* Relocation allowance
* Visa reimbursement and Interest-Free Loan to help with the cost of some immigration expenses
Find out more about our benefits on our website and watch the video to hear from our staff about what makes the University of Bath a great place to work, as well as following us on X and LinkedIn.
Right to Work in the UK: We do not assess immigration or right to work status until offer stage. Being invited to interview does not guarantee you are eligible for visa sponsorship, and all offers are conditional on meeting right to work requirements. Further information is available on our application support webpage.
Anonymous shortlisting: We are constantly seeking to reduce the unconscious bias that enters any assessment process, with the goal of creating an inclusive and equal assessment process. To support this, personal details such as your name may be removed from application forms at the initial shortlisting stage.