Opportunity status:
Open
Funders:
Funding type:
Fellowship
Total fund:
£225,000
Maximum award:
£225,000
Publication date:
30 June 2025
Opening date:
7 July 2025 9:00am UK time
Closing date:
16 October 2025 4:00pm UK time
Apply for funding to lead engaging the public with Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) supported science, technology or facilities.
You must be based at a UK research organisation eligible for STFC funding.
Leadership fellows are expected to:
* act as academic leaders for public engagement in your organisation
* raise the profile of public engagement in your institution and professional communities
* encourage and develop capacity and networks for public engagement activities in your organisation
The full economic cost (FEC) of your project can be up to £225,000. STFC will fund 80% of the FEC.
Project duration is 24 to 36 months.
Who can apply
To lead a project, you must be based at an eligible organisation. .
Who is eligible to apply
STFC leadership fellowships in public engagement are open to applicants who can demonstrate a strong track record of leadership in their field and public engagement, appropriate and proportionate to their career stage. This can be either, or:
* in an STFC-funded area of science and technology
* as regular user of STFC’s national or international laboratories and facilities
The STFC leadership fellowship in public engagement is a single funding scheme that can support individuals at different stages of their careers (early careers and established).
You must hold a contract of employment for the duration of the proposed fellowship
Who is not eligible to apply
This funding opportunity is not available to anyone:
* outside of STFC’s academic communities
* not based at an eligible organisation within the UK
Equality, diversity and inclusion
We are for all funding applicants. We encourage applications from a diverse range of researchers.
We support people to work in a way that suits their personal circumstances. This includes:
* career breaks
* support for people with caring responsibilities
* flexible working
* alternative working patterns
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) can offer during the application and assessment process.
What we're looking for
Aim
This funding opportunity aims to:
* support talented people, at early and established career stages, from STFC’s communities to lead extended programmes of high-quality, STFC focused public engagement that supports capacity building within the host organisation and relevant networks
* make a substantial contribution as a leader of public engagement to the wider community of highly skilled practitioners and networks that are under the STFC umbrella
* highlight the achievements of STFC science, technology and facilities, demonstrating the excitement of research and the value of science, technology, engineering and mathematics to the UK
* inspire and involve colleagues, students and members of the public with STFC science, technology and facilities
Duration
The duration of this award is a minimum of 24 months and a maximum of 36 months.
Typically, this fellowship would be for between 20% to 40% of the fellow’s time for a period of between 24 and 36 months.
Funding available
The FEC of your project can be up to £225,000.
STFC will fund 80% of the FEC.
Within the overall £225,000 there is funding available for provision of up to 50% of full time equivalent (FTE) for administration and logistics.
What we will not fund
We will not fund applications where the proposed engagement plans do not have STFC-related activities at their core.
Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I)
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is committed in ensuring that effective international collaboration in research and innovation takes place with integrity and within strong ethical frameworks. Trusted Research and Innovation (TR&I) is a UKRI work programme designed to help protect all those working in our thriving and collaborative international sector by enabling partnerships to be as open as possible, and as secure as necessary. Our set out UKRI’s expectations of organisations funded by UKRI in relation to due diligence for international collaboration.
As such, applicants for UKRI funding may be asked to demonstrate how their proposed projects will comply with our approach and expectation towards TR&I, identifying potential risks and the relevant controls you will put in place to help proportionately reduce these risks.
See, including where you can find additional support.
How to apply
We are running this funding opportunity on the new UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Funding Service so please ensure that your organisation is registered. You cannot apply on the Joint Electronic Submissions (Je-S) system.
The fellow is responsible for completing the application process on the Funding Service, but we expect all team members and project partners to contribute to the application.
Only the lead research organisation can submit an application to UKRI.
To apply
Select ‘Start application’ near the beginning of this Funding finder page.
1. Confirm you are the fellow.
2. Sign in or create a Funding Service account. To create an account, select your organisation, verify your email address, and set a password. If your organisation is not listed, email
Please allow at least 10 working days for your organisation to be added to the Funding Service. We strongly suggest that if you are asking UKRI to add your organisation to the Funding Service to enable you to apply to this opportunity, you also create an organisation Administration Account. This will be needed to allow the acceptance and management of any grant that might be offered to you.
3. Answer questions directly in the text boxes. You can save your answers and come back to complete them or work offline and return to copy and paste your answers. If we need you to upload a document, follow the upload instructions in the Funding Service. All questions and assessment criteria are listed in the How to apply section on this Funding finder page.
4. Allow enough time to check your application in ‘read-only’ view before sending to your research office.
5. Send the completed application to your research office for checking. They will return it to you if it needs editing.
6. Your research office will submit the completed and checked application to UKRI.
Where indicated, you can also demonstrate elements of your responses in visual form if relevant.
When including images, you must:
* provide a descriptive caption or legend for each image immediately underneath it in the text box (this must be outside the image and counts towards your word limit)
* insert each new image on a new line
* use files smaller than 5MB and in JPEG, JPG, JPE, JFI, JIF, JFIF, PNG, GIF, BMP or WEBP format
Images should only be used to convey important visual information that cannot easily be put into words. The following are not permitted, and your application may be rejected if you include:
* sentences or paragraphs of text
* tables
* excessive quantities of images
A few words are permitted where the image would lack clarity without the contextual words, such as a diagram, where text labels are required for an axis or graph column.
For more guidance on the Funding Service, see:
* * *
References
References should be included within the word count of the appropriate question section. You should use your discretion when including references and prioritise those most pertinent to the application.
Hyperlinks can be used in reference information. When including references, you should consider how your references will be viewed and used by the assessors, ensuring that:
* references are easily identifiable by the assessors
* references are formatted as appropriate to your research
* persistent identifiers are used where possible
General use of hyperlinks
Applications should be self-contained. You should only use hyperlinks to link directly to reference information. You must not include links to web resources to extend your application. Assessors are not required to access links to conduct assessment or recommend a funding decision.
Generative artificial intelligence (AI)
Use of generative AI tools to prepare funding applications is permitted, however, caution should be applied.
For more information see our .
Deadline
STFC must receive your application by 16 October 2025 at 4:00pm UK time.
You will not be able to apply after this time.
Make sure you are aware of and follow any internal institutional deadlines.
Following the submission of your application to the funding opportunity, your application cannot be changed, and applications will not be returned for amendment. If your application does not follow the guidance, it may be rejected.
Personal data
Processing personal data
STFC, as part of UKRI, will need to collect some personal information to manage your Funding Service account and the registration of your funding applications.
We will handle personal data in line with UK data protection legislation and manage it securely. For more information, including how to exercise your rights, read our .
Sensitive information
If you or a core team member need to tell us something you wish to remain confidential, email
Include in the subject line: [the funding opportunity title; sensitive information; your Funding Service application number].
Typical examples of confidential information include:
* individual is unavailable until a certain date (for example due to parental leave)
* declaration of interest
* additional information about eligibility to apply that would not be appropriately shared in the ‘Applicant and team capability’ section
* conflict of interest for UKRI to consider in reviewer or panel participant selection
* the application is an invited resubmission
For information about how UKRI handles personal data, read .
Publication of outcomes
STFC, as part of UKRI, will publish the outcomes of this funding opportunity at .
If your application is successful, we will publish some personal information on the .
Summary
Word limit: 550
In plain English, provide a summary we can use to identify the most suitable experts to assess your application.
We usually make this summary publicly available on external-facing websites, therefore do not include any confidential or sensitive information. Make it suitable for a variety of readers, for example:
* opinion-formers
* policymakers
* the public
* the wider research community
Guidance for writing a summary
Clearly describe your proposed work in terms of:
* context
* the challenge the project addresses
* aims and objectives
* potential applications and benefits
Core team
List the key members of your team and assign them roles from the following:
* fellow
Only list one individual as fellow.